Minit - Review

Anyone who has read some of my previous posts knows that I'm a fan of Limited Run Games.  They basically release limited runs of games that are normally only available as digital downloads.  Recently they advertised that they were running a new title Minit.  The game is made by Devolver Digital, the dark minds that brought us Hotline Miami, Not A Hero and Mother Russia Bleeds.  Starfish Nolls and I decided to play it together this weekend so the review is a combined effort, hope you like it.


Yay, it eats a lot of chocolate eggs and potentially get diabetes Sunday!  We both still like chocolate eggs but wonder how much of our excitement and enjoyment comes from the nostalgia of having them as kids. Nolls particularly loved the simple black and white pixellated look of the game and that it features Tamagotchi style characters - something else she loved as a kid. Playing Minit we both wondered did it appeal simply because of nostalgia, or if there was something of substance here.

Story

So the story...mmm there is a lot to say.  Basically, you are a duck Tamagotchi, Q*Bert looking character called Minit, they head to the beach and finds a cursed sword that causes you to die every sixty seconds, proving once again nothing in life is free.  The aim is to try to remove the curse and help a few of the people/creature things around you.


Overall, the character interactions are fun but the story itself is extremely lacking and even a little more would have made the game significantly more engaging.

Visuals

The only colours used in Minit are black white, and variants on them and it looks like a game from the eighties.  But that's not a negative, in fact, despite these limitations Minit offers some great visuals.  This is why games from the early eighties which looked like this are timeless.


Overall the visuals are pleasantly simple, the pixelated starfish, seahorses, scorpions and other creatures in the world look great, as well as a submarine and spooky old house having fascinating appearances. The use of simple black and white is simply great.  In our opinion, the visuals are one of the strongest parts of the game.


Music


The soundtrack is both fun, whimsical and never gets old listening to it.  The soundtrack is composed by Finish composer Jukio Kallio.  He has created music for multiple games including Nuclear Throne, Dave The Diver and Luftrausers.


The soundtrack runs little over thirty minutes and has some great tracks including, 'Minit's Awakening', 'Sabasaba Desert', 'New Home', 'Jukebox: Speed Metal', and 'Sharp Business'.


Overall the music is perfectly suited to the game and helps keep you calm when you're struggling to figure something out.

Gameplay


The controls are simple but the gameplay itself is often far from it.  There are two buttons, attack and die.  You will die a lot, but this is actually all part of the game.  Every sixty seconds Minit will die and respawn at his closest home.  Dying as often as you do encourages you to learn the simplest way to get somewhere and figure out puzzles quickly.  Playing the game with someone else certainly make it more fun and helps point out things one of you may have missed. Nolls, used to Circle on the Playstation controller being a 'Back' button, frequently killed herself in the early stages of the game, but it was never annoying, just funny. We'd definitely recommend this as a two-player experience.


There are many things essential to complete the game but there are a lot of extra things too meaning there is a lot of replayability and you are even offered a plus game once you have completed it.  There was one thing that stumped the two of us and we couldn't figure out how to proceed further.  Right on the edge of the screen, there is an almost impossible to see bush and behind it is the water can.  It seemed awkward to find for the sake of it and once we got it plowed through everything else.  It may seem like a small complaint but seemed a little out of keeping with the rest of the game, as we had to look up a walkthrough for that solution but otherwise figured out and stumbled upon all of the essential things, and many optional ones too.


Overall there was some great gameplay and we enjoyed our time with Minit.




Final Thoughts

So, after three hours of playing how did we both feel?  Not bad.  The story was lacking which was a shame - it felt like there was an intriguing concept there, but it was never revealed.  The visuals and music were perfect.  The gameplay has a lot to offer, utilizing simple concepts well and with the exception of one or two annoying parts, it was fun.  We both enjoyed Minit but feel it never quite lived up to its full potential, so this one gets a 3 out of 5 (although a replay might bring it up to 4).