Minit Review

A delightfully charming, simple game well worth your time.

I first heard about Minit courtesy of the great Jim Sterling (thank God for him). I couldn’t be happier that it was brought to my attention as it is a fantastic little gem. It served as a nice palette cleanser from big budget AAA games. As you can see from the screenshots, the game is presented in a simple black and white color scheme. This simple style comes with a great soundtrack which complements the game perfectly.

Minit is an Indie game and its premise is fairly simple. After you find a cursed sword lying on a beach, you get one minute (imagine that) to explore and find a way forward before your character dies. Fear not, however, as you awaken each time you die at your house at which point the minute restarts and you must explore some more. You may be thinking that 60 seconds isn’t much to do anything but you will be surprised. The time limit is restricting but gives you plenty of time to figure out the lay of the land. If you make a mistake, never fear as you will simply restart at your house. As your adventure progresses, you will unlock new safe houses in which you can respawn.

On your adventure, you will primarily be doing four things: fighting monsters, completing quests, finding usable items, and looking for hearts and coins. The monsters are usually one hit kills except for the bosses. They usually take a combination of dodging and striking at the right moment. You will receive quests from an assortment of goofy characters you meet on your travels that range from killing monsters, finding lost hotel guests, and even changing the music on a jukebox. Quests will yield rewards that help you move forward in the game like flippers and a watering can to collectibles like hearts and coins. Hearts are important as they act as your health bar. Each hit subtracts a heart so its always good to keep a look out for them. Coins can be spent at a shop later in the game to get running shoes (which is very helpful in a game like this).

The exploration can very enjoyable but also annoying at times. As you only get a minute, you are very limited in how far you can go. It is sometimes very unclear what you are supposed to be accomplishing or even looking for. I spent a good half an hour in a later portion of the game trying to advance farther along. I eventually figured it out but it did get frustrating. On the flip side, the map is full of secrets to find and you open up shortcuts that make it much easier to get from one far flung corner of the map to the other. Hell, I finished the game but my save file says I’ve only completed 54% of it. There is still much to be found and I may have to return to it someday to find everything. Also, there’s a new game + mode (called Second Run) once you complete the game the first time. Second Run shortens the time limit to 40 seconds and only gives you one heart to work with the entire time.

My only problems with the game (besides being unclear about what to do next) was that I sometimes got stuck on objects when turning a corner and that boxes are finicky to move. In addition, it may be my own incompetence but I would strike with my sword in a complete opposite direction of where I was pointing my analog stick (I played on my PS4). These problems are not major and do not detract too much from the overall experience.

In Conclusion:

If you are looking for a game with big explosions and car chases then Minit certainly isn’t for you. If you enjoy quirky games with an old-school charm and presentation, then look no further than Minit. You will be occasionally frustrated throughout your adventure yet it is well worth it in the end. Minit is charming, occasionally witty, and obviously passionately designed by its creators. I highly recommend it.

Final Score: 8/10

Thanks for reading and tune in next week for Part 2 in my exciting Japanese Games on Xbox series!