The release calendar has been busy, but these three games are easy to separate once you stop treating critic scores as a shopping list. Mina the Hollower is the focused adventure. PRAGMATA is the left turn: a sci-fi action game that makes shooting and hacking share the same beat. Mixtape is the softer pick, a coming-of-age trip carried by memory, music, and the messiness of being young.
They are different games, and that is the point. Here is what the reviews say, what each one is trying to do, and where it belongs in your backlog.
Mina the Hollower is the compact adventure pick
Released on 28 May 2026, Mina the Hollower comes from Yacht Club Games, the studio behind Shovel Knight. IGN awarded it 10/10. Metacritic lists a 90 critic score from 64 reviews in the result checked for this roundup.
IGN's Samuel Claiborn praised the game's strange, dreamy world and its mix of gothic fantasy with steampunk technology. The useful takeaway is less the perfect score than the shape of the praise: Mina gives you a dense adventure with mysteries to chase and combat that rewards attention.
That makes it the cleanest recommendation here for anyone who wants a game with a clear identity and very little interest in padding itself out. You burrow, fight, explore, and keep finding another reason to check the next room. The retro presentation is doing real work, too. It gives the world a readable silhouette without making it feel like a museum piece.
Mina is the one to pick when you want a focused adventure and a world that gets under your skin quickly.
PRAGMATA makes its gimmick earn its place
Capcom released PRAGMATA on 16 April 2026. The game follows Hugh and Diana through a lunar facility overrun by rogue AI, pairing third-person shooting with a hacking mechanic. Gamesplanet's review roundup reports an 88 Metacritic score, while IGN describes the game as an action-shooter built around a specific gimmick that executes its important parts well.
That last bit matters. Plenty of games have one idea they want you to admire. PRAGMATA has one it wants you to use. Shooting handles the immediate danger; hacking changes how you solve it. The two systems are meant to collide, so fights become small problems to read rather than simple rooms to clear.
It is also the most obviously divisive choice of the three. Mina is chasing a confident retro-adventure shape. Mixtape is chasing a feeling. PRAGMATA is asking whether its combat puzzle is enough to carry a full sci-fi campaign. If that sounds like your kind of question, the 88 is a useful signal rather than a verdict.
Pick PRAGMATA when you want something mechanical to chew on, especially if familiar action-game rhythms have started to blur together.
Mixtape is the memory-first choice
Mixtape arrived on 7 May 2026. Developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive, it follows three friends on their last night together. Steam's listing records a 10/10 from IGN and quotes the review calling it a distinctive experience with nostalgic charm, humor, and poignant moments.
The setup tells you what kind of game this is. Mixtape is less interested in building a giant system than in moving through a collection of memories. Its soundtrack is not decoration around the story; it is part of how the game remembers its characters. That gives the adventure a warmer, more personal rhythm than the other two games in this roundup.
The risk is obvious. A story about one last night depends on whether its characters land, and no critic score can make that personal connection automatic. But if you want a shorter, more emotionally direct game after a run of enormous open worlds, Mixtape has a strong case.
Choose Mixtape when you want the game equivalent of finding an old playlist and discovering that every song still knows exactly where to hurt.
Which one belongs on your backlog?
- Choose Mina the Hollower if you want a tightly focused adventure, retro presentation, and exploration that keeps opening new doors.
- Choose PRAGMATA if you want action with a puzzle layer and a sci-fi setting built around shooting and hacking.
- Choose Mixtape if you want a music-led coming-of-age story with a smaller, more personal scale.
You do not need to play all three. That is the nice part. A shortlist should reduce the noise, not create another assignment. Save the one that matches your mood, then record what you thought in Perthro after you play. You can track your backlog, rate the game, write a review, and share the recommendation with friends. Find the app on the community or get help through support.