Time to review a game about beating a Zelda-like adventure 60 seconds at a time. Developed by JW, Kitty, Jukio, and Dom, let’s take a look at Minit.

Minit is a game similar to the first Legend of Zelda. Vague directions, an open world, and a basic sword with four directions of attack. However, there is one big difference- every 60 seconds the game restarts from your base and you’re required to try and achieve a new objective, while keeping the items you gained along the way.

It’s a cool concept and one that plays out in creative ways. Sometimes the challenge will come from actually performing a given task within a certain amount of time. Other times it will be more about fitting various pieces of a puzzle together in these small chunks of gameplay.  Either way, many missions require dexterity, quick thinking, and problem solving skills to be used in order to complete the objective.

The majority of the game has to do with exploring. Discovering new places in the world and figuring out how to get around as efficiently as possible. While the time limit may imply that the world is small, eventually new areas will open up with the help of additional hubs to respawn from, a fast travel system, and the ability to restart any day at any given time, taking away much of the tedium thes types of game can sometimes come with.

Visually the game is pretty unique, going for a detailed black and white style with cute cartoony visuals. Most of the time with works really well and adds to the simplicity of the design, but every once in a while you’ll get that, “Oh, that’s what that’s supposed to be?” moments, which can be frustrating even as rare as they are.

Townspeople will have little quips or hints that aren’t necessarily funny, but add to the cute atmosphere of the world. The music is okay, with basic electronica playing over the entire game. It’s nothing special and can even become grating when exploring the same area for long periods of time, but it’s relatively harmless.

Combat is pretty basic, with a four directional sword swing that gets one or two upgrades over the course of the game, but the issue here is that it’s incredibly slow. Unlike the instant gratification of a swing in Zelda, this game makes combat feel like a chore, which is pretty disappointing.

What’s worse is the game’s lack of direction concerning its main mechanic. For example, some tasks such as growing a plant take place over the course of multiple lives, making each restart seem like a skip to the following day, while others such as blowing up a few bombs to enter a cave are permanently unlocked once completed in a single day, and then some require the player to complete the same task every day regardless of completion status, like in Groundhog Day.

It’s not game breaking, but it does make things pretty confusing, which isn’t helped by the sometimes obtuse puzzles within the world. Many areas are poorly marked and hints or clues as to where things are are either sparse or nonexistent. 

I understand the adventuring aspect of the game, but when there’s a massive area to explore and only 60 seconds in which to do so, it does make the concept of exploration much less exciting and at times irritating.

All in all, Minit is a fun little game that’ll keep you occupied for an hour or two and feels satisfying to complete. While it has its moments of frustration, the unique concept and mostly well designed world are more than enough to make the game worth its $10 purchase price, which is why it gets a 7.5 out of 10. I hope you enjoyed the review, if you did, please consider subscribing for more. And until next time, have a mighty nifty day today!