2.5/5 ★ – SoftLockJake's review of Minit.

Minit is like if Deathloop, Link's Awakening, and A Short Hike had a freakish chimera baby. Minit is a game that lives and dies by its unique mechanic, that being a 60 second time limit to beat a whole Zelda game. It's quirky, charming, and has a pretty striking art style, but every bit of the game's design has to be built around this 60 second timer which really limits its overall ability to flesh out much. The constraint certainly breeds creativity, particularly with map design and metroidvania-lite elements. But, at the same time, I think it's enough to hold the game back — make it feel more like a demo than a whole game. The 60 seconds to beat the game is kind of a misnomer, as it's literally impossible to play the whole game in a minute. The main hook are permanent upgrades or world changes that happen based on tasks you accomplish for NPCs, obstacles that you move, or items you receive. It might take you a whole 60 seconds to walk from spawn to an area, but then you can unlock a shortcut that stays open on subsequent runs to get there in 5 seconds. That and there are multiple spawn points which you can start the minute timer from. All that is to say that the idea is there, this was a good idea for a game. But I think it needed some more time in the oven. Much of the game just feels empty or overly-simple to compensate for your constant feeling of being rushed. I liked the overall experience but there were certainly long stretches of confusion and simply just walking back and forth doing nothing as the challenge for much of the game is just walking slowly against a timer to get to a new area without doing much in between. The game is pretty surface-level, the writing is hit or miss, the soundtrack is serviceable, and the moment to moment gameplay is about as interesting as it sounds. SO, I think Minit is a good experience, but leaves a lot on the table that could have made it a great game. However, the final boss is pretty sick and is worth playing through to see!