Mina the Hollower draws obvious inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, Mina can actually increase her level, or levels, to further increase survivability later on. While it’s not that hard to do, like everything else in Mina The Hollower, the player does not really get an explanation as to the inner workings of this feature to go off of. So here is a quick rundown on how you level up your skills to hit harder and survive more.
The leveling system looks a little like the Dark Souls game, in which you don’t gain experience but materials as you explore. In this game, they are called Bones, and you find them pretty much everywhere. They might be hanging over gaps in the clutch of a bat, or sticking out of the ground, requiring you to hollow, the ability in which you jump and hold the jump button to dig underground. Bones could just be sitting out in the open as well. In the lower right corner of the scree you will see a tracker to see how many bones you have stored.
Enemies also give you Bones, though not like the ones you find lying around. Killing an enemy causes a number to appear, which looks like it might be a score counter, but it converts to bones in your stash. Now that we have bones, you can check the main menu. You have three different level counters you can improve, each having 10 levels total. You can improve Mina. These are attack, defense, and special attack that improve the secondary weapons you collect. Underneath the tracker is a second number that showcases the number of bones you need to level up, and it always tracks the lowest-costing one.
Upon hitting that, no matter where you are, you get the Bone up option that sends you into the menu to improve a skill. This is not required, and if you are saving up for a higher-cost improvement, you can exit this menu and keep your bones. You might notice there are four actual options featured in here, but only three are levels; one allows you to convert an amount to bonestone, which isn’t needed, but does protect those bones from being lost.
Dying is similar to a Souls game as well, but with a twist. Mina has sparks that are lost when she dies, attaching to an enemy who killed her, or they might just drop on the ground. You do not lose any bones if the spark is lost, so you do not need to regain your haul, but if you die without a spark, you will lose everything. This said, if you gain enough for a level even without a spark, you will have that option, lessening the cost if you die before you reach it.
This is the basics of leveling up in Mina the Hollower; however, there is a store in Ossex to keep an eye out for. It is just south of the main square with a dilapidated roof. You will grow to recognize it by the hand reaching out to occasionally grab you. There are several improvements Mina can buy there, also with bones, such as health upgrades and extra trinket slots. Pretty much everything he sells you is well worth it, so visit this store often.
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