Welcome to Indie Watch, a regular feature here at P2 where our Editorial team take it in turns to highlight 2 or 3 Indie titles that have them excited. It is our chance to show off some games that you may have missed and a way to help boost the things we love most about the industry. Join us each week for a new edition.
Indie Watch - Mina The Hollower & Moonlighter 2
Mina The Hollower
Developer: Yacht Club Games
Release Date: October 2025
Format: PC, Xbox, PS5, Nintendo Switch
Purchase Mina The Hollower here:
I’m an enormous fan of Yacht Club Games’ other main work, Shovel Knight. I backed it on Kickstarter, and adored the experience when the game finally launched in 2014, but seriously Yacht Club, it has been more than a decade since you launched that title and you’ve put nothing out that is 100% your own. Finally a few years ago, the team announced Mina The Hollower, a Link’s Awakening DX inspired title that embraces Gameboy Colour aesthetics, Gameboy Colour era design and gameplay, and blends that with the fantastic sense of style and personality that Yacht Club is known for, to great effect.
I checked out the recent Steam Next Fest demo for Mina The Hollower and was shocked by the initial choice of weapon, from daggers to mace, and a hammer. Dagger in hand I took off and thrived in some of the game’s tighter spaces as I swung rapidly and dropped foes even quicker. I also really enjoyed the burrowing mechanic that allows me to flank enemies, cover ground quickly, and even clear large gaps as I burst from the surface. There are some really cool mechanics underpinning the game, and I’m desperately keen to play more.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault
Every now and then you have that indie title that springs up out of nowhere, seemingly nobody really knows about it, and its explodes due to its incredible quality and being the right game at the right time. I was proud to be at the very tip of the spear with the original Moonlighter. The gameplay loop of visiting dungeons to collect stock to sell in your shop, before using the profits to improve your gear, fuelling the next trip back into the dungeon was super addictive, and very well executed, and while it has been one hell of a long time between the original 2018 release and the impending 2025 release of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, I’m just delighted to be getting more.
I never expected a potential sequel to Moonlighter to move from gorgeous 16-bit era pixel art, to 3D visuals, but that’s the direction that the development team and Digital Sun have gone, and I must admit, it has worked far more than I ever thought that it would The game again looks stunning, but thankfully the game’s visual identity hasn’t been lost in transition.
Moonlighter 2’s combat feels greatly expanded over the original, and if anything, it feels a bit more puzzle-like, but if you want to grow your shop and get the wheels of capitalism greased, then you’re going to need to persist a bit – and it’s well worth doing that.
The core pillars of this sequel feel greatly expanded, which says a lot given the incredible quality of the original game and with some recent hands-on due to Steam Next Fest, I’m 110% on board for the game’s release later this year.
