Mina the Hollower has a secret ending, but good luck seeing it

This article contains spoilers for Mina the Hollower

The fact that Mina the Hollower has a secret ending is not, in itself, remarkable. Yacht Club Games' fathomless, Zelda-inspired action-adventure is exactly the kind of game that would have a secret ending, riven with mysteries and surprises and optional paths as it is. What makes it remarkable is how you unlock it. Accessing the secret ending is a preposterously convoluted process seemingly designed to drive completionists to distraction.

Indeed, calling it a process is probably the wrong way to describe it, because unlocking the secret ending relies more on what you don't do in Mina the Hollower than actions you take. The, er, method was catalogued by YouTuber ChickenSoup (via Polygon), who has been sleuthing his way through Mina the Hollower to discover all its secrets.

According to ChickenSoup, unlocking Mina the Hollower's secret ending involves avoiding doing anything which Lionel—the game's final boss—can accuse Mina of having done over the course of the game. That includes—but is not limited to—sealing the Duke in the crypt, defeating the Mock Moon boss, using the train any time other than when you first visit Coltrane Peak, and also doing anything that harms another character.

You're also not allowed to restore the Hollower Guild, view the ribbon cutting ceremony at the start of the game, or get the fishing rod. You can't even destroy lamps or candles, the latter of which often contain useful items, because Lionel considers this to be damaging the island. Attaining the secret ending rules out most of the side quests—and the rewards you get from them—thus making the mainline game much tougher to complete.

Alongside all these things you can't do are several activities you must do, namely ask Cappy to accompany you after the opening ship crash, rescue the three children in Septemburg, and give bones to all the beggars who ask for help.

It's an incredibly stringent list, the kind that only the most die-hard Mina fans are likely to complete (or not complete, as the case may be). If you pull all this off, however, Lionel will ask Mina to join him on his own quest, doing which will trigger the game's hidden ending.

Naturally, you probably shouldn't try to access the secret ending on your first run. Not only because doing so would be tremendously difficult, but also because you'd miss out on some of the best side quests in any game from this year. Mind you, we'd expect nothing less from one of the best games of 2026 so far, as described by Kerry Brunskill in their Mina the Hollower Review.