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  • 16 hours ago
The massive free expansions for Shovel Knight were a gift to fans, but they grew far beyond the developers' original plans. Learn how that experience is shaping the development and future of their new gothic adventure, Mina the Hollower.
Transcript
00:00Mina the Hollower has secured its position as the best-rated game of 2026,
00:05but the developers Yacht Club Games are certain they don't want to repeat one major part of
00:09their previous hit Shovel Knight's legacy. All that DLC. No free DLC, programmer David
00:16DeAngelo tells Kotaku. Mina the Hollower's original Kickstarter didn't offer stretch goals
00:21before major post-launch content, unlike the fundraiser for Shovel Knight, which included a
00:27wide array of vaguely defined stretch goals. The developers imagined these goals would be
00:32fulfilled with simple minigames and lightly remixed levels. Instead, they snowballed into
00:37extensive all-new campaigns and spin-offs. Those DLC expansions were far, far more extensive than
00:43what they'd pictured when they added those goals to the Kickstarter, which is why Mina the Hollower's
00:48stretch goals were a lot more specific and deliverable. That's not to say that DLC is
00:53entirely off the table for Mina, but DeAngelo says the team has literally never talked about
00:58a major expansion, but they do have some pretty clear ideas for a potential sequel.
01:04We think of Mina like Shovel Knight, he says.
01:06It's a tentpole game of our studio that we want to keep going.
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