Minit (

2018

) ½

I never got into speed-running games. Speed-running requires the user to play the same game again and again, with an almost obsessive dedication that I normally reserve for coding or film criticism. Sure, I love Dark Soul [2011], but I don't want to play it all the dozens of times it would take to chart a fully optimized course through Lordran. I'd much rather spend the time playing a few other games, and even if they're not as good, the act of playing and analyzing them would just make the virtues of my favorite games shine all the brighter. No offense meant to the dedicated speed-runners, I'm sure that taking the time to fully understand and master a game is rewarding in its own fashion, all I'm saying is that up until now I was pretty sure it just wasn't for me. My opinion hasn't changed much, but after playing through Minit I found myself at least a bit better disposed towards the idea than before. That's because Minit's unique gimmick basically makes this “Speed Run” the game.

Early on in the game, you pick up a cursed sword, which kills you after sixty seconds elapse, when you die (be it from either from the countdown timer or the other hazards) you'll be kicked back to your starting house. I really appreciate that there is a diegetic reason for the countdown timer, as just accepting the mechanic of the constant countdown timer would be a tall order, and this sort of harmony between the narrative and gameplay is something that is always beneficial for immersion. The only way to undo the curse is to seek out the cursed sword factory that forged this sword and destroying it once and for all. Of course, getting to the factory will be no easy feat, for starters the countdown timer means that just moving from place to place will be something of a challenge. The game's map, while small compared to similar games, is still way too big to sprint across in a measly sixty seconds. Moreover, there are all sorts of obstacles blocking your way. The easiest to manage, oddly enough, are the actual enemies. Just about everything can be killed with a swing or two of the cursed sword (save one pissed off bull and the game's final boss). Most of your time will be spent figuring how to manage various puzzles, which range from World of Warcraft level complexity (kill five crabs in exchange for a cup of coffee) to children's party games (at one time you look for an object as another character tells you if you are getting hotter or colder). Other times you will be directly wrestling with the countdown timer, as you try desperately to reach a checkpoint or snag a permanent upgrade before the timer expires and your character with it.

Apparently, someone told the developers that all games are inherently political, so Minit has added in a subtext denouncing the evils of reckless industrialism. I feel bad criticizing it because obviously, I agree that industrial waste should be disposed of responsibly and not just tossed into rivers but the preachiness of this feels like I'm watching an episode of Captain Planet. Indeed, it doesn't even make sense that the factory is dumping toxic waste into the rivers, especially not when there is a perfectly serviceable desert right next door. However, that wouldn't paint the factory as evil enough, so the only place they dump waste barrels in the desert is in the tiny oasis. Seriously, the factory is making cursed swords that kill/make the wielder into an immortal, I already get that they are evil, there's no need to make them litter-bugs on top of that.

The main problem with Minit is that aside from the timer gimmick the game does absolutely nothing original. Seriously, this thing is just The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [1991] or The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening [1993] with a smaller map and fewer color. If you’ve played either of those games then you’ve basically played Minit already. Those that can’t stand the 16-bit Zelda games will find nothing to draw them in and even fans of the genre will probably find Minit lacking. When compared to its predecessors Minit’s world just looks small and shallow. There are only a few distinct environments and they are all on the small side (not counting the empty desert and ocean which stretch on forever seemingly forever). The world is cramped, and the characters who occupy it are flat figures, usually boasting only a single line of dialogue. Combat is somehow more simplistic than the original Legend of Zelda [1986], as is limited to a basic sword thrust in any of the four cardinal directions and (later on) a move that throws your sword in one of the four cardinal directions.

Even the gimmick is hardly unique, games have had timed sequences for decades, and some games like Super Mario World [1990] had a time limit on every stage. All Minit does is scale down the time limit to match the minuscule world it takes place in. To be fair, the game does occasionally take advantage of the limit to tell a good joke, like the old man near the lighthouse who delivers his dialogue at a comically slow speed. This is the kind of thing that just wouldn’t work without the tight time limits. Additionally, some of the challenges take advantage of the game mechanics, like the dungeon that requires you to run through an obnoxiously intricate maze that resembles the kind of thing you end up building in a tower defense game. However, most of the game’s content is unaffected by the timer, as evidenced by Mary’s Mode, an unlock-able setting that disables the timer altogether (and switches your character model to a ghost). I would have preferred it greatly if Minit had committed to the bit of its ludicrous central gimmick more and made more of the game revolve around unlocking shortcuts, new paths and faster forms of locomotion to get a bit further from your starting point each time. However, this is just not the case. After the initial shock of being forced into speed-run mode wears off, you realize that the timer is just a way of arbitrarily increasing the game’s length.

Now, that at least I can understand because even with the constant countdown, the game still takes around one and a half to two hours to complete once. This is boosted slightly if you want to go for 100% and gather all the hidden collectibles (coins, hearts, and oddly enough tentacles) then you’ll probably be looking at another hour or so. These collectibles range from the obvious to the well-hidden to the frustratingly well hidden (like the one you have to glitch through the wall to find). Generally, the rewards for finding all these are not worth the effort (save for the first seven coins, which net you a pair of running shoes that increase your speed). Hearts are basically worthless after getting two or three because you’ll only ever die to the timer at that point, and the reward for getting all the tentacles is a faster attack speed for your sword but by the time you find all the tentacles you’ll be practically done with the whole game anyway, so that doesn’t help much. After beating the game, a NG+ is opened up where you have decreased health the sixty-second countdown to death is reduced to 40 seconds. However, by this point, you should be pretty familiar with the game’s tiny world, and an extra couple seconds off the countdown timer shouldn’t slow you down much. Especially since most of the difficulty is in figuring out the puzzles rather than the combat. All told, you’ll really have to work to get four hours of playtime out of the game. At least it’s only retailing for $10, unlike the Fullbright walking simulators with half the content that cost twice as much.

That said, the little world of Minit is not devoid of charm, I’m not such a fun-adverse misanthrope that the idea of talking fish flopping about on the shore and saying how much better life on dry land is, doesn’t kindle a momentary flash of amusement. The black and white pixel-art is somehow even more primitive than its antecedent Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening [1993] (which was released on the original Gameboy) but looks a whole hell of a lot better thanks to the contrast if nothing else. Then there are all the little optional side quests, like bringing a bone to your dog or watering the plant the grows in your yard that adds an extra layer of adorable fun to the game. The main character’s hyper-deformed big-lipped face is in-and-of-itself rather amusing.

The real star though is the soundtrack, particularly the main theme that plays when you wake up in the main house (it’s titled Minit’s Awakening if you still doubt the influence of Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening [1993]). It’s a gorgeous song that really makes you feel like the start of a great new adventure. It makes dying after failing to achieve your goal not so bad, though let’s be honest most of the time you’ll die not from failing to do something but from not knowing what to do. It brings to mind the old MIDI compositions of Megaman [1987] and its sequels, though obviously using a technology that’s a bit more sophisticated. I have to question the wisdom of composing a four-minute song in a game where you can only possibly listen to one minute of it at a time, but hey that’s just a technicality.