Mina The Hollower Team Explores Ideas for a Potential Mina 2

Mina the Hollower just hit the scene last week after more than four years of development, so it might be a bit premature to dive into discussions about “DLC” and “sequels.” However, considering that Yacht Club Games had to wrap up a decade of free DLC for their previous title, Shovel Knight, before they could even start on Mina, I felt it was worth asking about their future plans.

“No free DLC,” programmer David D’Angelo responded right away when I inquired about lessons learned from Shovel Knight’s Kickstarter and release that they applied to Mina. “Basically, we’re not making any promises that—whatever we commit to is what we intend to deliver, no questions asked. We established a clear vision for the game, and that’s what we presented on Kickstarter. That’s what we ultimately delivered. So, yeah, it’s about avoiding vague promises that we’re not entirely sure about.”

D’Angelo is referencing the numerous stretch goals from the original Shovel Knight Kickstarter that turned into ten years of free content for the studio. Initially, these goals were vaguely defined, like “Playable Boss Knight” and “4 Player Battle Mode.” Over time, they transformed into three full campaigns featuring the original game’s enemies, multiple re-releases with new features, and a slew of free updates that included a body swap mode, challenge mode, and more. Yacht Club was still rolling out new Shovel Knight content as recently as 2024, adding 20 playable characters, online multiplayer, rewind features, save states, and other enhancements. That’s pretty wild for a game that started as a simple, single-player Mega Man-style adventure.

Mina, however, is a different story. D’Angelo isn’t completely ruling out DLC, noting that the team has some quality-of-life updates and a randomizer mode in the works. “But we’ve literally never discussed [major DLC] or even considered it. The game is already massive, and we’d have to really think about how to add anything to it.”

That said, D’Angelo mentions that Yacht Club is eager to spend more time with Mina. While he’s not making any announcements right now, the team has had extensive discussions about a potential sequel. A lot.

“We have some clear ideas, and we’ve dropped hints in Mina about where it could go. No one’s going to catch those right away. But if we did make Mina 2, it’d be like, ‘Oh, they included that on purpose, right?’ We’ll see how everyone feels about it in a couple of weeks, but I suspect people might want to take a break from Mina. Still, we view Mina as a cornerstone title for our studio that we want to keep developing.”

Mina the Hollower has already sold 300,000 copies in just three days and is currently the highest-rated game of the year. Its co-founders are optimistic about seeing that number grow, and D’Angelo emphasizes that sales will significantly influence the studio’s next steps. “If we sell a couple hundred thousand, we can make a certain type of game. If we sell millions, we can create something different or expand our studio size. We’re hoping for a Shovel Knight-level success in the end. That’s what keeps us motivated. Even if it sells half as many units as Shovel Knight, it might boost Shovel Knight’s sales.”

Sales figures are crucial for any studio, but they hold particular weight for Yacht Club, which has steadfastly maintained its independence and avoided funding from major publishers. This independence is one of the reasons they turned to Kickstarter initially and returned for Mina. “When you take other people’s money, it comes with strings attached, right?” D’Angelo explains. “Unless someone offers funding with no strings attached, we’re not really interested.”