Dungeons of Hinterberg is a component dungeon-crawler and half life-simulator, sprinkled with the indie spirit of the Life is Unusual video games. Extra importantly, it appears like an offspring of Zelda and the Persona video games, however one that’s extra relaxed and fewer outgoing.
I used to be pleasantly stunned by how unabashedly Dungeons of Hinterberg wears its many notable inspirations and the way effectively it interweaves them into its various gameplay programs.
Whereas a few of its concepts don’t really feel as unique as many fashionable indie titles, Dungeons of Hinterberg nonetheless effortlessly manages to carve an expertise that’s price seeing by way of to the tip.
Dungeons of Hinterberg takes place in a not-so-quaint mountain village within the Alps. Ever because the magical dungeons appeared, Hinterberg had grow to be a extremely commercialized journey spot for thrill seekers or slayers who come to beat obstacles and slay legendary monsters residing in and out of doors these magic-infested dungeons.
You play as Luisa, a burned-out lawyer from Vienna who has simply arrived within the village of Hinterberg in search of a much-needed respite from her chaotic metropolis life.
![Lusia talking to Hannah.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-attack-conduits.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Like many others in Hinterberg, Luisa finds herself immensely fascinated by the looks of one thing unworldly in an in any other case too-real world and seeks to discover it with all her coronary heart.
That inexplicable drive to pursue one thing magical, each actually and symbolically, pushes Luisa (you) to discover its many intricate dungeons, bond with distinguished locals and vacationers, and spend peaceable moments alone soaking within the breathtaking cel-shaded vistas and considering life.
![Luisa spending the evening by campfire.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-campfire.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
All these gameplay programs are a part of a time construction, which may be very harking back to the trendy Persona video games. You spend the mornings in one of many 4 areas of the Hinterberg exploring dungeons, finishing quests, or just enjoyable at one of many many chill spots scattered throughout the map.
Indulging in any of these actions quick forwards the time to the night when you’ll be able to discover the city, hang around with NPCs, or take part in one of many few solitary actions like watching a film within the native theater or taking a ship journey. Lastly, at night time, in your bed room, you’ll be able to learn a ebook, watch TV, or go straight to mattress.
Having a time constraint provides a way of realism to this vacation journey, to not point out extra weight to your on a regular basis actions. This creates an adventurous but enjoyable vacation simulator, which is made extra distinctive due to Dungeons of Hinterberg’s refreshing Moebius-esque artwork model that’s simple on the eyes.
![Luisa in her bedroom.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-sleepy-luisa.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
By means of its serene, existential indie movie-style opening, Dungeons of Hinterberg shortly units the tone for the sort of expertise it’s about to supply. Nonetheless, a lot of that expectation flutters and reaches new heights as you get to know extra about Luisa’s previous, kind bonds with Hinterberg’s many residents, and discover its diligently crafted dungeons.
![Luisa spending the afternoon at one of the relaxing spots.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-luisa-woods.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
The story kicks off as an adventurous escape for Luisa from her on a regular basis life, however after an unruly incident within the beginning dungeon, it shortly turns into an investigative journey about discovering the character of the magic that resides within the space and the corrupted forces which can be making an attempt to take advantage of it.
Beneath the glamorous outlook of the village’s slaying tradition, one thing sinister is brewing that threatens not simply Hinterberg however the complete steadiness of the world.
The story ventures off in awfully predictable instructions which can be quite common amongst tales of quaint mountain villages that have been changed into commercialized hotspots.
![Luisa talking to Marina.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-marina_985374.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
There’s a pivotal second midway by way of the story the place it appears like it might department off in two completely different instructions, providing you with extra freedom to decide on your individual path because it does in different areas of the sport, however plot-wise, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a fairly linear expertise.
That’s okay, although, as a result of the narrative beats in Dungeon of Hinterberg are only a instrument to enhance your bond with different characters and affect your on a regular basis actions in Hinterberg.
It’s not the overarching narrative however the thought of merely current in Hinterberg that compels you to push ahead.
![Lusia strolling through the village of Hinteberg.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-village.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Architecturally, Hinterberg appears like a real mountain village. From its slanted streets to brightly coloured outlets, distant mountain passes to the gothic clocktower, every thing feels proper in place. It’s not too large or too small; it simply feels ample. By the tenth day, I had involuntarily memorized each road in Hinterberg and located nice consolation in realizing how acquainted I had grow to be with this place.
Hinterberg is an extremely comforting place to be in. That is primarily evident from Luisa’s many inner introspective monologues (extra on that later) and her philosophical conversations with fellow vacationers, and likewise by way of the sport’s vibrant however non-contrasting colour palette and its ambient pop rating that lightly breeze previous your ears.
Every part is downright endearing in Hinterberg. From the way in which Luisa’s hair bobs up and right down to the characters that stroll like they’re straight out of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, all of it feels too cute.
There’s even a professor named Albert who at all times retains his face lifted in a approach that appears like an previous individual posing for a selfie. It by no means stops being humorous.
![Luisa spending the evening by campfire.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-campfire-2.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Each character you’ll be able to befriend in Hinterberg is teeming with character and has a novel tackle the dungeons and the magic that envelops them, which might usually result in some actually intriguing conversations.
As an illustration, early on, whereas hanging on the campfire, Alex, one of many first individuals you meet in Hinterberg, casually breaks the fourth wall and says that it’s okay to lookup dungeon puzzle options on the web, whereas Renaud, being a purist, says in any other case.
Nearly each character’s arc feels plausible and has a satisfying ending that I felt compelled to see by way of to the tip. A few of my favorites embody the Spanish pupil Marina, who, regardless of struggling to handle a number of jobs, is at all times in excessive spirits, and the introverted slayer Renaud, who seems like a mafia boss however is definitely a warm-hearted one that struggles to speak in confidence to different individuals.
There’s additionally Thea, the rebellious native teenager who’s hell-bent on determining the rationale behind the uncanny occurrences taking place throughout Hinterberg and stopping it as soon as and for all. However when she’s not role-playing Naoto Shirogana, Thea is an everyday small-town teenager with on a regular basis points who finally learns to open up to Luisa. There’s such an enormous sibling vitality in all their conversations, and it’s all very healthful.
![Luisa talking to Renaud.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-renaud.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
As an introverted grownup who would in all probability by no means discuss to a stranger in a vacationer spot, it’s liberating to strategy and bond with so many distinctive characters in Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Spending time with these characters isn’t only for attending to know them; it additionally comes with many gameplay advantages. Like Persona, spending your night with a selected character can elevate one in every of your 4 social stats – Amusement, Familiarity, Rest, and Renown.
Moreover, it could unlock extra gameplay perks, like new Assault Conduits (extra on that later) or extra MP slots. There are additionally extra attention-grabbing ones, such because the breakfast choice possibility that you simply get by getting acquainted with Marina. With this, you’ll be able to select one in every of three breakfast cuisines to eat each morning to extend your HP slot, Mana slot, or Assault Conduit recharge fee earlier than heading right into a dungeon.
![Kai social link.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-kai-social-link.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
It’s admirable how successfully these gameplay perks synergize with the character of the characters who present them. As an illustration, elevating your bond with Renaud, among the best slayers in Hinterberg, can unlock a combo counter, permitting you to stack combos in fight to achieve passive boosts like elevated MP regeneration fee. Likewise, elevating your bond with a Hinterberg native like Thea can get you a key that may open all locked treasure chests within the space and get you hefty reductions at most village outlets.
An identical synergy carries over to your social stats as effectively. Spending time with somebody like Thea will improve your Familiarity, whereas hanging out with a famend slayer like Renaud will improve your Renown.
![Luisa interacting with Kai.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-amused.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Like Persona, sure characters received’t spend time with you till you might have raised a selected stat to a sure degree. Therefore, if you wish to grow to be greatest buddies with Renaud, you’ll first want to extend your Renown to at the least 80.
It’s price noting that you could’t really date anybody in Dungeons of Hinterberg, which works in its favor, as courting can as a rule really feel compelled and misplaced in video games like these, and Hinterberg appears like a extra real and healthful expertise with out it.
You’ll find which character offers what gameplay perks within the Individuals’s tab in Luisa’s vacationer information. Narratively, it’s a bit immersion-breaking, as Luisa herself mocks it by saying that’s no strategy to make buddies. Gameplay-wise, nevertheless, it could save up lots of your time, particularly when you’re seeking to unlock a sure capacity or elevate a sure stat shortly.
Nonetheless, since there are greater than a dozen characters, it feels virtually inconceivable to bond with and expertise everybody’s story in a single playthrough, however that’s okay as a result of Hinterberg appears like a spot you’ll wish to come again to time and again.
Greater than any character, nevertheless, I loved spending time with Luisa. She’s a really likable protagonist, primarily as a result of she is very easy to narrate to.
![Luisa spending the afternoon at one of the relaxing spots.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-relaxing-spot-2.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Like most younger adults, she’s at all times in battle together with her interior state. Each transient second of respite, whether or not it’s on a calming spot on prime of a mountain cliff or a night boat journey within the Hinterberg lake, peels off one other layer from Luisa’s previous, giving us glimpses of the basis of her existential disaster earlier than she arrived in Hinterberg.
These retrospective moments with Luisa really feel unprecedentedly therapeutic. They’re honest and heartfelt. It appears like a journal entry.
They jogged my memory of these ambient moments from the Life is Unusual video games the place the protagonist would sit round and unravel their ideas beneath a wide ranging background and ambient music. These quiet moments have been surreal in Life is Unusual, and they’re equally if no more efficient in Dungeons of Hinterberg.
![](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-abandoned-mineshaft-dungeon_5959fb.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Having a Persona-esque time construction amplifies the sense of journey you get each morning if you exit to discover Hinterberg’s countryside, however that heightened sense would have simply been diminished if the dungeons weren’t so thrilling to discover.
All 25 dungeons are scattered throughout 4 completely different overworlds of Hinterberg. These are: Doberkogel, Hinterwald, Kolmstein, and Brünnelsumpf.
All 4 overworlds are visually and structurally distinct and are house to completely different magical talents, which you should utilize in fight and for fixing puzzles.
Doberkogel, the primary overworld you acquire entry to, is a nice climbing floor stuffed with golden pastures and cable vehicles. Hinterwald, alternatively, is an autumn-struck woods with trails main to large mushrooms and medieval windmills. They’re all related in size, however the way you traverse and full dungeons inside them is determined by the magical talents you possess inside that area.
![Luisa spending the afternoon at one of the relaxing spots.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-hinterwald.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Each overworld affords two distinctive magic abilities so that you can use. The principle ability is extra of a traversal capacity, whereas the ranged ability is one of the best of each worlds that aids in fight and puzzles.
As quickly as you strategy a dungeon, the tone drastically intensifies, like you’re on the point of undertake a cardinal process. Structurally, these dungeons really feel like Zelda’s shrines, with intuitive puzzles which can be difficult however satisfying to finish.
Tread off the overwhelmed path, and you’ll usually discover a treasure chest containing stats-buffing Charms (extra on that later) or a higher-tier gear piece.
Every area’s dungeons additionally play by the strengths of its magic talents. As an illustration, one of many magic talents in Kolmster permits you to conjure a snowboard, so the dungeons within the space characteristic extra open areas and have time-gated puzzles that require you to effectively use the snowboard.
![Luisa rail gliding in a Kolmstein dungeon.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-rail-gliding.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Likewise, one of many talents in Brünnelsumpf permits you to conjure an electrical ball, which you should utilize to unravel many pinball-esque puzzles within the dungeons of that space.
It could possibly take as much as 20-25 minutes to complete a dungeon in Dungeons of Hinterberg. All of them really feel surprisingly hand-crafted, with distinctive and cleverly designed puzzles that reward experimentation and curiosity.
Like each different facet of Dungeons of Hinterberg, puzzles draw fairly a bit from many fashionable action-adventure titles. Some in Hinterwald are very harking back to the flame explosive puzzles within the first Darksiders, whereas some in Kolmstein jogged my memory of the rune puzzles within the newest God of Struggle titles.
That stated, it’s additionally the realm the place Dungeons of Hinterberg actually push the needle by way of creativity and complexity, with some mid to late-game dungeons forcing you to rethink your strategy to tackling puzzles.
There may be one known as Snow Summit in Kolmstein, whose ultimate puzzle made me each infuriated and enchanted on the similar with its sheer sense of scale.
As you progress the story, you acquire entry to extra dungeons in each area of Hinterberg, and you’re free to hop onto whichever ones you need.
![One of the puzzles in the Prisonkeep Island dungeon.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-castle-puzzle.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
It’s at all times refreshing to take a break from clearing dungeons in a single area and return to a different, because it forces you to readjust your muscle reminiscence to the magical talents of that space.
That is additionally why dungeon hopping by no means turns into a chore in Dungeons of Hinterberg, as you’ll be able to at all times swap gears and discover a very completely different one.
That stated, generally, it could additionally make issues irritating, notably when going from Brünnelsumpf to Hinterwald. There have been cases the place I needed I had entry to Brünnelsumpf’s Jelly Dice capacity in Hinterwald, as it might have made sure puzzles much less tedious.
Not each dungeon is ideal in Dungeons of Hinterberg, with one tier 9 dungeon in Brünnelsumpf feeling too easy with a copy-paste design unfold all through its three areas.
Nonetheless, there are just a few amongst all 25 dungeons that don’t really feel like they have been lovingly crafted, but it surely’s such a small quantity that it’s simple to look previous them amidst all of the spectacular ones.
![Luisa fighting the monsters.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-combat.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
One space the place Dungeon of Hinterberg doesn’t really feel fairly as impeccable is its fight. It’s not just like the moment-to-moment motion isn’t satisfying, however the lack of enemy selection and fight instruments makes it repetitive after 20 hours. Some extended late-game encounters additionally harm the sport’s total pacing.
That stated, I nonetheless loved utilizing many of the Assault Conduits, that are particular talents in Dungeons of Hinterberg, and tinkering with all of the completely different stats-buffing Charms to spice up my fight effectivity was at all times a pleasant distraction from fixing puzzles and constructing relationships.
Dungeons of Hinterberg’s fight does get its second if you find yourself about to take down one of many 4 dungeon bosses. These gigantic monsters based mostly on legendary creatures from the Alps are tough to beat, particularly since it’s important to discover a strategy to decrease their shields earlier than dealing any injury.
![Luisa fighting a boss.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-bosses.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Boss fights in Dungeons of Hinterberg are memorable encounters that take a look at your fight abilities, particularly on the highest problem. I simply want there have been extra of those and fewer of these common monster encounters in different dungeons.
For essentially the most half, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a elegant expertise on PC, however not with out its share of quality-of-life issues. One challenge that notably bothered me was Luisa’s weird behavior of excitedly diving from a floor and falling into the pit to satisfy an premature dying.
Naturally, it may be irritating, particularly when it occurs after fixing a tedious puzzle or clearing a bunch of monsters, and it’s important to re-run these encounters as the sport masses up from an earlier location.
It’s additionally price mentioning that when you die and boot again up, you’ll have to loot the chest within the space once more because the sport doesn’t have a separate development system for collectibles and loot.
I additionally skilled a weird glitch in one of many dungeons in Brünnelsumpf the place my character died, however she didn’t fairly die, and I might nonetheless use my Assault Conduits to deal injury to enemies. Ultimately, I did handle to kill all of the enemies, however since I couldn’t do anything, I needed to restart the checkpoint, which surprisingly kicked off in that very same space however no enemies. A constructive glitch, if I have to add.
Nonetheless, these have been simply minor inconveniences in an in any other case stellar expertise however nonetheless price mentioning.
![Luisa spending the afternoon at one of the relaxing spots.](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dungeons-of-hinterberg-relaxing-spot-4.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
Whether or not you spend a night underneath a campfire with different slayers discussing nerdy stuff, snowboarding gleefully throughout the Alps valley, wracking your brains to unravel one other puzzle in one in every of its many spectacular dungeons, or use up a primordial morning retrospecting alone within the woods, there may be an idyllic appeal to every thing Dungeons of Hinterberg has to supply.
It immaculately captures the idyllic spirit of a small mountain village with its vibrant characters, and the heightened sense of journey that comes from exploring its many intricately designed magical dungeons. However between permitting you to make buddies and doing magic shenanigans, one of the best factor it does is it by no means allow you to overlook that the true purpose you’re right here in Hinterberg is to chill out.
Midway by way of the story, chances are you’ll really feel obliged to clear dungeons as an alternative of enjoyable at an exquisite spot. However the sport understands that notion and by no means forces you to decide on one over one other. Typically, it even encourages you to select the latter, and there’s one specific occasion by which if you select to chill out, Luisa asks herself why is it that she feels her time is price one thing if it yields one thing tangible.
Dungeon of Hinterberg is fast to negate your intrusive ideas and remind you that you’re on trip, and that’s its largest achievement. It does this continually by offering you with instruments to carve your individual enjoyable or adventurous trip with out imposing many restrictions.
Therefore, regardless of having a predictable story, refurbished design parts, and a few minor quality-of-life points, Dungeons of Hinterberg appears like a one-of-a-kind, refreshing vacation expertise.
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Dungeons of Hinterberg immaculately captures the idyllic spirit of a small mountain village with its vibrant characters, and the heightened sense of journey that comes from exploring its many intricately designed magical dungeons.
Execs
- Fascinating artwork model.
- Vibrant characters.
- Intelligent puzzles.
- Cool magic talents.
- Likeable protagonist.
- Very cozy and enjoyable.
Cons
- Lack of enemy selection.
- Repetitive fight.
- Minor quality-of-life points.
A replica of this sport was supplied by the writer for assessment. Reviewed on PC.