Developer: Microbird Games
I was starting to get worried because although I have been playing a lot of new games this year, many of them have just been "alright”, making it seem like 2024 might be a slow year. However, I happened to jump right into Dungeons of Hinterberg when it released on GamePass and it took me on a quite a journey. Dungeons of Hinterberg is an action-adventure dungeon-crawler game set in a tourist town in the Austrian alps. Dungeons of Hinterberg scratched that classic Zelda itch for me with its puzzle-filled dungeons, but it also surprised me with a thoughtful and relevant story.
You play as Luisa, a lawyer from Vienna who travels to Hinterberg for a long, much-needed vacation. You are quickly introduced to the reason for Hinterberg's recent rise in popularity as a tourist destination: magical dungeons that appeared as if from nowhere 3 years ago. These magical dungeons are full of traps, dangerous terrain, and monsters. However, the town of Hinterberg turned this magical anomaly into a tourist attraction by allowing visitors to become "slayers", taking down monsters and completing dungeons. It’s a wild concept even within the game’s own story, especially in a version of Europe that's otherwise deeply rooted in our real world. Luisa is here to try her hand at being a slayer as an escape from her everyday life, but while in Hinterberg, she'll make new friends as well as stumble upon unexpected secrets about this town and its magic.
Dungeons of Hinterberg has a cell-shaded style that seems comic book-like, that bringing to life the sometimes dark dungeons as well as the various colorful landscapes of Hinterberg. The town as well as some of the surrounding areas accurate elicit the vibes of a European town in the Alps. Even when you’re not in dungeons, you want to see more of all of these places. The icy but surreal "planet-like" dungeons of Kolmstein were especially beautiful, and probably also my favorite gameplay-wise. The music for this game takes you through the high-intensity boss fights as well as the laid-back exploration, with a defined Austrian classical music feel. I’d like to pick it up if it’s released on Bandcamp as there were some really cool tracks I’d go back to.
You never know what to expect in a new dungeon. I had an absolute blast zooming through this snowy landscape.
The dungeons themselves are really fun: in my opinion, there's the right balance of puzzling vs. fighting, much like what you would see in Zelda games. Most of the dungeon is spent using your abilities to solve puzzles, but you'll also fight monsters to pave ahead, as well as occasionally some really interesting dungeon bosses. The fighting isn't meant to be incredibly hard, but you'll need to make sure your armor and sword are up to par. Also, each different area/biome of Hinterberg has its own unique magic abilities that it grants you to use in it's dungeons. I really liked the way this is done, as each area has its own gameplay style and challenges that are solved by using that specific area's features and moves. One of my favorites was the ability to make a big goopy block of jelly. You can use it to overcome tall ledges, but also to trap monsters inside of. There's a few fights I really struggled with, but you can really improve by making better use of the combination between dodging, slashing, magic, and attack conduits (special moves). Eventually, you get to have a good rhythm of how to handle a large amount of enemies at once.
During the rest of the day when you're not slaying, you can shop, explore the town, and decide which villagers of other slayers you'd like to spend time with. There's a lot of characters I thought were cool and relatable right away, but… I also had to strongly consider the rewards that came with their friendship. There’s different ones for each character so yes, I'm going to befriend the standoffish loner guy if he gives me some really powerful weapons. Hypothetically there's so many different paths you could take in this game in terms of what you decide to do during your evenings - there's a few characters I barely got to know, but overall I was able to get to know most of them at least a little bit. There’s influencer-famous tourists, local teens, and even a dog you can be friends with. It was rare for me to take a solo day like going to the movies or a boat ride, but that has its own benefits to your game as well. In between some tough dungeons, you can even take the day off and just take in the scenery.
I picked up Dungeons of Hinterberg based on its stylish visuals and its unique take on dungeon-crawling, but it’s the story that I got hooked on once I started playing. Luisa starts off simply as a tourist and beginner slayer, acknowledging how bizarre of a tourism concept "slaying" is but focusing mostly on improving her own skills. However, the more she gets to know the townspeople of Hinterberg and how the mass tourism of slayers had affected them, the more she begins to have doubts about this whole situation. She seems to have a natural knack for magic, which allows her to discover some secrets in dungeons that are painting a different picture. I won't go too into detail, but I think this game does an excellent job of shining a light on a complex topic regarding the ethics of mass tourism and whether it benefits the natives or not. Although this Hinterberg is a fictional town, it’s really worth thinking about the places that are facing this kind of issue right now, not just in Europe but in different hotspots around the world. I wasn’t expecting to see this story from the Hinterberg perspective as well – it posits the idea that it's not a simple black-and-white issue, and just because tourist money comes in to a town it doesn't mean that it improves the life of the locals. Not to mention that the commodity here in Hinterberg is literally magic, something outside of human control.
Dungeons of Hinterberg gives you so much to do in a day – slay dungeons, relax and take in the environment, socialize, explore, and even investigate some unusual happenings. In one regular run of the game, you won’t be able to do it all, but it makes your personal experience of it feel unique. I wish I’d gotten to know more characters, so I would consider playing the game again for solely that reason. Dungeons of Hinterberg is an excellent dungeon-crawler with a very unusual but thoughtful premise that I think anyone could be really drawn in by. If you enjoy puzzle-heavy dungeons, exploration, and character development, I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is available on PC and Xbox Series S|X
Played on: Xbox Series S
Last Played: 8/14/2024
Playtime: 20 hrs
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