The protagonist of Dungeons of Hinterberg is at a crossroads in her life. Feeling burnt out by her massive metropolis job, Luisa travels to the easygoing city of Hinterberg, Austria, to take a look at the sights, lower free within the social scene, and check out her hand at monster slaying to attain some candy loot. Dungeons of Hinterberg is what you get whenever you mix the comfy vibes of a Persona-style social-sim RPG with the sprawling journey of The Legend of Zelda – and all wrapped in an enthralling package deal that strikes a chord for these eager for a break.
In my prolonged preview of developer Microbird Video games’ action- RPG, I acquired to play the early hours of this oddball but delightfully charming dungeon crawler that duties you with making essentially the most of your monster-filled trip within the Austrian Alps.
When a mysterious magical power has turned the city of Hinterberg and the encompassing mountains into an precise high-fantasy realm full of legendary monsters and dungeons, the small neighborhood turns into a vacationer scorching spot for thrill seekers and social media influencers. WhenFollowing Luisa’s first crack at a dungeon run results in an sudden boss battle with the legendary Krampus, she resolves to stay along with her trip and study the ropes of being an adventurer and citizen of Hinterberg.
As Luisa, you spend your “slaycation” in Hinterberg attending to know the quirky residents and exploring the encompassing magical zones exterior of city. Inside a day by day schedule, it’s important to handle Luisa’s time whereas out and about throughout Hinterberg – which incorporates getting some high quality “me-time” by testing factors of curiosity whereas deciding on which dungeons or overworld actions to dive into. Alongside the way in which, you may improve Luisa’s expertise in fight and exploration to make her a extra succesful adventurer and uncover what led to magic forces seeping into the actual world.
What instantly jumped out to me was Dungeons of Hinterberg’s beautiful visible model. The vibrant colours and stylized characters all come collectively to provide off a heat and thrilling vibe to the journey. It is very a lot giving a comic book book-style aesthetic, and matched with the comfy vibes and customarily thrilling exploration, it is a distinctive tackle a dungeon crawler that is all about making essentially the most of your time and having fun with your self whereas doing it.
A median day for Luisa begins with catching up with buddies to find out about present occasions on the town earlier than spending her afternoon exploring the magical wilderness of Hinterberg, which incorporates mountainside plains, dense forests, and different weird locales infused with magic. To cap off her day of adventuring, Luisa spends her night bonding with one of the various characters on the town, such because the proprietor of a spell store or an aloof pop-culture journalist not impressed by the magical metropolis, to earn an improve or stat bonus. You possibly can flip in for the evening or keep up late to look at TV or learn a ebook, however on the price of decrease well being for the next day.
On the floor, this looks as if a strict construction that may put some stress in your actions, however in follow, it really works as an enticing sport loop that retains me targeted on what type of threads I need to observe. Dungeons of Hinterberg retains a mellow tempo even when you may solely do a restricted quantity of day by day actions. Furthermore, you may revisit social threads and take a look at areas you could have missed within the following days.
And regardless that it is a dungeon crawler RPG – which carries some expectation of stress and problem – Hinterberg maintains that “trip” vibe all through, particularly when taking up the meat of the expertise with the exploration and fight. The beginning zone of Doberkogel is a wonderful onboarding that reveals off the scope on supply, and the inherent quirkiness of seeing a contemporary neighborhood making an attempt to embrace magic.
As you discover the zones, you’ll struggle monsters in engagements that really feel impressed by each Nier Automata and The Legend of Zelda, with Luisa having the ability to dodge assaults, counter with follows, and whip out some highly effective spells or fight strikes to take out her foes. Nevertheless, it may be simple to wander into some fights that you simply’re utterly outmatched for. Whereas I generally felt the slowed tempo and considerably dodgy digital camera in motion added some unintended challenges, I used to be impressed by how diversified the battle mechanics had been, and seeing Luisa dish out some really beautiful strikes was notably satisfying.
Luisa’s versatility additionally comes into play in the course of the titular dungeons. With 25 bespoke dungeons to discover, every presents distinctive puzzles and fight encounters that lean into the zone-specific magical spells you may must grasp. Some of these encounters contain some Legend of Zelda-style pondering to resolve, comparable to utilizing magical bombs to explode teams of enemies or open passages. It was tremendous enjoyable to see how every dungeon and set piece occasion felt distinctive, leaning into explicit ability units to make it to the tip.
Dungeons of Hinterberg leans into its quirky setting, particularly the forged of characters — many are both irritated by the elevated consideration the city has acquired or welcome the alternatives the notoriety brings. One of my favourite moments noticed the Mayor of Hinterberg tout the neighborhood’s recognition by saying the filming of a brand new streaming sequence on the town and unveiling a monster slayer-themed statue, which the residents rapidly dunk on for wanting ridiculous.
What makes Dungeons of Hinterberg such a neat tackle a dungeon crawler is that it not solely reveals a self-awareness of the kind of sport it’s, nevertheless it makes use of that conceit to give attention to build up Luisa and her buddies inside Hinterberg. Exploring the city is an pleasing and intriguing exercise, because the neighborhood has a lot persona. I typically walked round simply to listen to some of the quirky dialog and see the sights.
It is such a contemporary tackle a dungeon crawler, and the expertise of embracing new horizons in an unfamiliar but nonetheless inviting setting and the chums you make alongside the way in which make this such a novel tackle a well-recognized conceit. From my early hours, Dungeons of Hinterberg and its laid-back method to an motion RPG present some nice promise, and it might find yourself being a pleasing shock for these in search of a decidedly new sort of dungeon crawler to dive into.