| Game Title: | Dungeons of Hinterberg |
| Developer: | Microbird Games |
| Publisher: | Curve Games |
| Release Date: | 18th July 2024 |
| Platforms: | XSS/XSX/PC |
Dungeons of Hinterberg is the first action role-playing game developed by Austria-based small Indie game company, Microbird Games. It's currently an Xbox Console Exclusive game. It was announced back in 2023 and finally was released in July 2024.
Story
In Dungeons of Hinterberg, you take the role of Luisa, an ex-lawyer tired of her normal and boring life. Luisa is trying to experience new things and wants to run away from her routines back home, and found her way in a beautiful Alpine village called Hinterberg.
Dungeons started appearing in Hinterberg several years ago, and people have gone there to enjoy "Slaycation" which is as simple as it is, "Slaying" & "Vacation". Many people have paid a lot for the past few years to stay in Hinterberg to challenge the dungeons and experience "Magic". People who come to conquer dungeons in Hinterberg are called "Slayers", and our protagonist, Luisa, is trying to enjoy her Slaycation as a newcomer Slayer. Little did she know that it would change her life forever.
The story of Dungeons of Hinterberg starts as simple as that. You are enjoying a change of scenery in Hinterberg, where you can challenge dungeons as a part of your Slaycation. But of course, as you start clearing those dungeons, you'll understand more about what's happening in Hinterberg, why dungeons suddenly appear there, and the real truth behind Hinterberg.
Total of 25 dungeons for you to explore
The story is really easy to follow as it's pretty much straightforward, and the plot twist is cleverly thought out as well, and kind of realistic in a way.
On top of that you are given the opportunity to connect with the locals to learn more about their background & stories. All the other supporting characters are unique as well, each with different personalities. By connecting with the locals and increasing your relationship with them, you'll get more insight into what's happening in Hinterberg as well through the sub-quests, giving you much more depth in terms of the plot. It's simple, and nothing too complex about it. It fits the direction of the game as well. So, no complaints for us in that area.
One thing that we noticed is that the longer you spend your time in Hinterberg, the game itself stops pushing you to clear all the dungeons.
Gameplay
The game system is basically divided into 2 parts:
・Slaying & conquering dungeons.
・Spending your time in Hinterberg.
Slaying & Conquering Dungeons
For the Dungeons part, there are a total of 25 dungeons in Hinterberg, spread across 4 different areas. Your mission is basically to enjoy your stay in Hinterberg while challenging yourself to clear all dungeons in Hinterberg.
Each dungeon has its own recommended power level. You are free to clear it as long as you reach the recommended power level (Starting from 1, up to 10). This can be achieved by upgrading your equipment (Weapon & Armor), as there is no experience point or level in the game.
What's interesting is that there are 4 areas for you to explore, and each area has different magics/skills that you can use. Makes the gameplay a little bit more interesting each time you enter a new area.
In Kolmstein your Main/Traversal magic is Hover
And your ranged magic is Light Ray
You will also have to make use of the magic for clearing dungeons as well. There will be simple puzzles in each dungeon for you to solve, but honestly nothing too frustrating and complex.
You have to choose which area you want to explore every day
Find the perfect place to relax on top of the mountain
Doing this will increase your stats
And the next thing that is related to the Dungeon Slaying is the combat system. There is nothing too deep about it. Basically, you have the weak attack or strong attack, and only 1 pattern of combos for each type of attack. Unfortunately, it's not as fluid as other current-gen action games & the combat felt clunky from time to time. Other than the normal attack, you can also use the magic that is different based on the area you are in. It spices things up a little bit when you reach a new area and gives you some new ways to defeat your enemies as well.
Other than magic, you will be able to use attack skills called "Attack Conduit", which you can obtain by buying it in the store, or getting it from treasure chests when exploring Hinterberg.
You can equip up to 3 Attack Conduits
Luisa using the Meteor Shower attack conduit
One thing that surprises us is that the weapon's visual changes as you equip different weapons. Things like this are something that we really appreciate in an Action RPG. But, other than the weapons, Luisa's appearance won't change when you equip different armor which is such a letdown.
Check out Luisa's Weapon Skins
As for customization, there is nothing too deep about it. First of all, you can equip some skills to your skill slot (You can shrink the slots needed for the said skill using some materials you find during your explorations).
You can shrink the slot by using materials you got from exploring
And then you can customize your weapons and armor as well, but this won't unlock automatically as you have to befriend Hannah first before you can customize your equipment.
For the armor, it's quite simple as you can upgrade each armor twice which will increase the stats of the armor.
You can upgrade each armor up to Lvl 3 (Max)
As for the weapon, depending on the slot that the weapon has, you can equip up to 3 additional stats on your weapon. Super straightforward and nothing too confusing.
You can equip up to 3 stats (depending on the Weapon's slot)
Spending your time in Hinterberg
After spending the whole day outside of Hinterberg, you basically will have a free evening for you to do whatever you want. Whether it's shopping, spending your time with the locals, or maybe having some quality time by yourself.
You can choose to spend your time with Kai, the famous live streamer (If you have enough stats)
One thing that we really like about Hinterberg is that the game rewards you for making friends. For example, spending time with Thea & David will reward you with a way to open a locked chest. Or by spending more time with Julian, you will get discounts at his Gear shop. Lots of benefits by befriending the locals, and you can also check what you will get next by befriending a character in the logs. So, you can plan on who you want to get close to in the next few days, just for the perks. Also, some of the characters have some requirements before you can spend time with them. For example, to befriend the No.1 Slayer, Renaud, you will need to have at least 80 Renown stats before you can start spending time with him.
You know who you should spend time with if you want a Rare Attack Conduit
The other thing that you can do as we mentioned earlier is that you can have some quality time by yourself. Whether you spend your evening watching movies in the cinema, have a good treatment at the spa, enjoy a good boat ride, or spend your time with the locals at the campfire. This will also reward you with some additional status points.
Time for some alone time in the movie theatre
One thing that bothers us in terms of the game mechanics, it records and shows your days spent in Hinterberg, but it really doesn't affect you in any way. The numbers are just there for the sake of....being there. At first, we thought there was a limit on how long we can stay in Hinterberg, but it looks like the game goes on for as long as you want to stay in Hinterberg (Our records are 71 days).
We played the game on Xbox Series X, and the performance was awesome. The game runs on a flawless 4K UHD & 60fps.
We must admit that the character model is a little bit childish, and their facial expression is too simple, but we love how they make the important NPCs look different compared to the normal NPCs.
The aesthetic of the environment and the art style & colors are awesome in our opinion. We love how every area has a different feel to one another and is very colorful as well. Each area represents a season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter).
Also, we love the camera work in some of the dungeons as well. It feels like you are playing a platformer game similar to Mario type of game. Sometimes it feels like you are playing a top-down rogue-like kind of game, and sometimes it feels like you are playing a side-scrolling platformer game. Also, the camera work when riding the snowboard is awesome.
Top-down camera work
Impressive camera works when snowboarding
Feels like playing one of those side-scrolling platformer
We think the developer did very good work on the graphics and performance of the Xbox Series X. We encountered almost no hiccups while playing the game. The game is very well optimized on Xbox Series X.
Sounds
In regards to the sounds, you can check the video below to get more insight into how the BGMs of Dungeons of Hinterberg feels.Youtuber eclep uploaded the BGMs for all of us to hear. We personally think that there are not so many BGMs that are good (most of the Combat BGMs are fire though!), but if you are into LoFi kind of BGMs, you might love it. It's kind of a hit-and-miss for some people to be honest.
Also, there are no voice actors for the game. So, it kinda feels like a retro game in that sense.
The Verdict
Dungeons of Hinterberg really caught us by surprise. It's one of the most interesting games we played in 2024. The game is pure fun, with puzzles that are challenging enough, and story that's simple and easy to follow + NPCs that have their own story. It feels like a combination of Zelda & Persona 5 in a way. The exploring, platforming, and puzzles are kind of like Zelda, while the bonding event is kind of like Persona 5 in a way.
Luisa is a relatable character as well. She just wants to experience something out of her ordinary daily life and goes on an interesting journey. Kind of like us who enjoy playing games after a whole busy day of working or social lives.
Unfortunately for the battle, while is good, it's not fluid enough to the standard of Action RPGs nowadays. It feels clunky and there are lags between Luisa's attack and movement from time to time. While not to the level of unbearable, it's noticeable.
Overall It's a well-made game and we enjoyed our "Slaycation" in Hinterberg with Luisa and the townspeople. Definitely something to recommend for those who love Exploration type of Action RPG. If you have an Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass, it's definitely something we'd recommend to play as you don't need to have a long session to play the game. You can clear a dungeon in 30 minutes - 1 hour, and then you can come back again the next day to clear another dungeon.
We finished the game while having max relationship with every NPCs in Hinterberg and finishing all of the sub-quests. Achieveing 100% of the Achievement on Xbox Series X as well with a total of 29 hours of playtime.
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