Finally finished everything in the game! Unless something incredible comes out of nowhere, this is my game of the year.
Short Review
Mina the Hollower is a retro top-down adventure game, it's a mix between Zelda, Castlevania, and Bloodborne - with references to all three in particular.
The game is just fantastic all around. The combat is tight, the music and art are incredible, and the horror atmosphere of the whole world is just amazing. The game has hands-down some of the best level and world design you'll see in games, it's so full of secrets and shortcuts and manages to feel huge and fun to explore without being too confusing. The game also boldly does not have a map, but it does guide you in the general directions you need to go.
You will get lost, especially at the start, but you'll slowly have a grasp of how the whole world connects as you play. The biggest issue people have is the game's difficulty, but I can say that the game gets easier as you keep playing and explore. After the first area or two, you'll start stacking trinkets that make life a whole lot easier, even in late-game areas. There are some really good trinkets near the start of the game that are easily missable, so be sure to look around - don't try brute forcing the game!
I also want to add that the game has toooons of modifiers that you can enable on your save file. Some make the game easier, some make the game harder, some are weird and let you break the game (like a super high jump modifier) as well as a lot of visual stuff. The good stuff though is unlocked after beating the game, there are crazy modifiers like a built-in randomizer, or a modifier that removes RPG mechanics and equalizes difficulty, or one that mirrors the world... The game is built from the ground up to be replayed in many different ways and has built-in challenge runs. If you're into these things, you can keep coming back to the game and play it for a loooooooong time. I'm already getting ready for New Game+ before doing any of the crazier ones.
That's pretty much it. It's such a great game. Go play it!
Honestly kinda surprised that you disliked it, Orrery is one of my favorite areas and the black holes didn't give me much trouble. The trinket you get from the race ghost made the platforming sections way easier for me.
As for the manor, it's not my favorite area but I still enjoyed it. It gets hard, no doubt. Those moustraps hurt a lot, but I never found it annoying. In fact, I kinda liked the Hyrule castle-esque massive dungeon they had going on, it was a big culmination of all these different mechanics you went through.
I kinda get what you mean by the final boss though. He was alright but there are tons of better bosses. I'm still kinda surprised there would be people that didn't like the Orrery though, it's one of the most creative levels ever.
This is what I mean with Wallower's, they simply weren't annoying for me because I practically skipped the sections where they were relevant. Much of the game past finding Wallower's is like this. This factor is actually the biggest detractor for the game imo, it was like they added the item with absolutely 0 mitigation for how it would interact with what they'd already made.
Also I did not complete the racing ghosts challenge, but looking at the trinket; it is yet another trinket that should just be an upgrade you can't miss (the movement is not good enough to warrant the race in the first place, let alone one of the best movement upgrades being tied behind it). Wallower's should be an upgrade, Iron Lung should be an upgrade, like half the trinkets should either be upgrades or should be baked into other trinkets.
I think the game is a solid 7/7.5 out of 10 — certainly a platform for the devs to push off of. MtH2 might be god tier, they certainly have the potential.