Hidden Bad Ending Discovered in Mina the Hollower
A hidden “bad” ending in *Mina the Hollower* has been discovered, and it’s notoriously tough to achieve—and pretty grim!
Getting to this secret ending involves some serious spoilers, so here’s a brief overview for those who haven’t completed *Mina the Hollower* yet. You won’t accidentally stumble upon this ending. The game typically has one ending, regardless of your choices, unless you meticulously avoid a long list of specific actions throughout your playthrough. If you manage to do this, a key cutscene before the final dungeon will change, giving Mina a choice. One option leads to the standard ending, sending you into the final dungeon and battles, while the other skips the dungeon and boss fight entirely, taking you straight to the credits after a rather bleak cutscene.
That’s about as much as I can share without diving into spoilers about how intriguing both the ending and the discovery of this secret are. Brace yourself, as we’re entering major spoiler territory for the conclusion of *Mina the Hollower*:
Before reaching the final dungeon, Mina attends a banquet hosted by Lionel for the town’s elite, celebrating the relighting of the generators. Mina knows about Lionel’s betrayal but must engage in polite conversation. As she tries to expose Lionel as the true villain, he counters by pointing out that Mina isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue either. He lists a series of crimes and sins she’s committed throughout the game, reminiscent of the infamous trial scene from *Chrono Trigger*, but turned up to eleven. The game recalls your actions and decisions, whether it’s accidentally harming a leaf man on your way to Septemburg or breaking too many candles or even stealing a gift from an orphan. This moment hits hard because, until now, you had no idea there was a morality system at play. You likely performed these actions without a second thought, highlighting Lionel’s point: destruction is acceptable for you if it serves your goals, but suddenly it’s wrong when he does it.
Despite Lionel being a villain, in a typical playthrough, Mina endures this criticism, gets thrown out a window, and heads to the final dungeon. But what if you manage to avoid committing any sins throughout the entire game?
It turns out, it’s possible, as shown by a YouTube account that seemingly exists solely to share this discovery. They posted a run of *Mina* lasting just over 16 minutes, successfully skipping every single crime, including those that seem unavoidable. This run was done on New Game+ with modifiers enabled, as certain skips may not be feasible without the mods unlocked after completing the game once.
While a complete list of every crime and how to avoid it hasn’t surfaced yet, the account does include a few in the description. At the game’s start, you must repeatedly talk to Cappy to ensure he joins you instead of being left behind on a burning ship. You need to skip the orphanage ribbon-cutting scene, save all the kids from the Carving Man in Septemberg, donate to all the beggars, sell at least one item to the pawn shop, climb to Coltrane to bypass the entire train sequence and prevent the train crash, avoid smashing candles, steer clear of stray piles of leaves, and definitely stay away from the kids kicking the can in Ossex.
That’s quite a list! The outcome is intriguingly dark. When you reach the banquet, Lionel acknowledges your exemplary behavior and offers you a chance to join him. If you refuse, he still throws you out the window, and the ending continues as usual. However, if you accept, you’re taken directly to the credits, featuring a scene of Lionel and Mina escaping Tenebrous Isle. They gaze out over the ocean at the island, with Lionel declaring it thriving on spark and that Thorne’s rebellion has been crushed, and that’s the conclusion! As one commenter pointed out, it’s ironic that by committing no “crimes,” Mina ultimately commits the greatest sin of all, aligning herself with a wealthy tyrant and dooming the entire island.
This discovery seems to be one of the “secrets” that players hadn’t uncovered, as hinted at earlier this week, and it sounds like there are more surprises in store. I recently interviewed the developers about both the past and future of *Mina*, and I’ll be sharing insights about the game’s remarkable ending sequences soon.
