Minit is a strange game that doesn’t give the player much guidance. The main character wakes up one morning and finds a sword on the beach. Without a second thought, he picks up this sword, and lo and behold: it’s cursed. This sword might allow our little hero to fight off enemies and get past the grass, but now he only has a minute to live before he respawns in his home of choice. Minit is a fun game because every death is a chance to discover a new path. While players will often delve into the same route repeatedly, every death; leads to discoveries.
Maybe in one quick run, players will almost complete a quest, can rush to finish it the next time. The world refreshes as the player dies, but the jobs remain finished. The player will collect many different items that will stay in their inventory. They can water people: or things with a watering can or light up dark tunnels with a lantern. The objects are always interesting, and it’s cool to see what he picks up on his quest. This game is a nod to old school Zelda games, and I love that. Minit might be a game with a lot of death, but it is also one with a lot of heart.
The characters all have issues, and the main character needs to help them solve them. He might be dying every minute, but he has a heart of a hero. He won’t let anyone live their life like this and do all he can to save the day. The game might not have challenging puzzles, but solving them still feels good. Players might need to have a specific weapon of sorts to head deeper into a dungeon. They might have to leave their sword at home and run in without losing to a single monster to complete a task. It’s nothing too intense, but it is nice to complete tasks in this game.
While initially, the music is a little quiet, the player can change it at the cafe. Doing so will change the music, and some of the songs are pretty good. It’s great to change up the music from time to time, as it can get a little stale, but the music tracks are all pretty good, so it’s easy to do. The monochromatic world is also beautiful. Not many games these days would dare be in black and white, but Minit thrives in it. The world is magical because players can imagine what colors the world has in it. Though, the world would most certainly lose its charm if its monochrome world was in full-color.
Minit is a weird and whimsical Zelda-like adventure with a lot of death, but it’s cute, so that’s fine. The world expands as players play and discover new items to use and maybe even abuse. The game isn’t long, but it is just long enough to be exciting the whole way through. It might honestly be a great first roguelike experience of sorts, realizing that each death is a stepping stone to greatness. While it’s not as challenging as roguelikes now, it is a roguelike. The hero has to save the day; will the player give up a few minutes to help him?