Minit is a pretty cool adventure/puzzle game inspired by some of the classic Legend of Zelda titles with a very interesting twist; What if your character could only be alive for 60 seconds before automatically dying and respawning at your house? Playing with this core mechanic to create a really interesting puzzle game that does not overextend its welcome, you go around the map, collecting items, figuring mysteries around, fighting some foes and ultimately get rid of the curse that makes you die constantly. I really enjoyed it!
Starting very simple, you walk around a map not unlike Link’s Awakening, and you pick up a cursed sword that starts the timer; Every sixty seconds your character will die and respawn (and you can also do that at any time). The locations that you can access are pretty explicit; With the sword you can mow bushes, with the ‘coffee’ you can push boxes, another item lets you cut trees down, it’s easy to figure out where you have to go next. Most of the puzzles are pretty straightforward; A NPC will talk about what you need to do next, and when you do the rewards you get usually stay even after you die and reset.
Some optional quests are more obtuse than others (I have not 100% completed the game) because the NPCs giving hints for them are at some other point in the map and it’s not obvious what to do, but the rewards you get are not game breaking - extra heart containers (the rare mandatory fights in the game are quite easy and generous with checkpoints) or coins to let you buy shoes to increase your speed. The feeling of exploration is great even if the world isn’t super large because with the limited amount of time you have, unlocking new starting spots (and even a basement with a teleporter) makes the world feel so much bigger than it is.
I really enjoy every aspect of this game, the characters are funny and the puzzles are clever. Some of them have to be completed within one sixty second chunk, others can be spread around, some use specific items that you carry around (I have not managed to make the camera work, the game says something about a website? Thankfully this is optional) and others are more combat-focused. The writing is very witty and the game left me with a very good impression. It could’ve stretched too thin, but it didn’t! If you enjoy puzzle or adventure games, you should check out Minit, it’s real neat!
