Dungeons of Hinterberg (2024)

Dungeons of Hinterberg organizes its 20+ Zelda-like dungeons into a Persona-like day/night cycle, presented via extremely stylized visuals that reminded me of MegaMan Legends. So of course I really enjoyed my playthrough.

Of those elements, I felt the day/night cycle and relationships were weakest. Evening activities often yield useful items, but if you've equipped any upgrades, you have to wait till the next evening to comparably fortify your new goods... I guess Luisa isn't enough of a morning person to stop by Hannah's shop on her way out? And I'd rather have fewer residents with more distinct backstories: I befriended four NPCs who boiled down to being famous but misunderstood.

But the dungeons are fun, the area-specific powers are really neat, and the combat grew on me as the game progressed. Its unique look and cozy vibes help it stand apart from its influences. The whole doesn't always feel greater than the sum of its parts, but it's a wildly impressive effort from such a small team. I enjoyed my stay!

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a third person action game taking place in a fictional town in the Austrian Alps where magical dungeons have appeared. This leads to the town becoming a big tourist destination as you can become a slayer within the town fighting monsters and learning to harness magical abilities. The game is split between two main game play loops. During the day you will pick a region to go to, with each region having multiple dungeons to explore. You'll choose a dungeon to explore and hopefully complete that day (there's no time limit), or even a rest spot to reflect which will boost your character's stats. After completing a dungeon or rest spot you return to the town of Hinterberg where you can go shopping for cosmetics or better gear, can do some exploring of the town by visiting the movie theater, spa, going for a boat ride among others, or hang out with various characters both local and tourists. Spending time with these individuals will help you gain new abilities or gear, while learning more about the town and everyone there.

The dungeons here play like miniature versions of dungeons from the Legend of Zelda series, with a mix of both combat and puzzles to reach the end. None of them are very long or difficult, but there is a wide variety of what the dungeons will throw at you. I was consistently surprised with the differences from dungeon to dungeon and keeps the experience fresh. The building relationships aspect in the town is pretty basic, but does give you very valuable gear or abilities while providing fun and interesting back stories or context to the world you are living in.

I was able to 100% complete the game in just over 35 hours, with probably 6 or so hours just doing side content to hit the 100% mark. If you enjoy dungeon exploring or light puzzling elements at all definitely pick this game up!

This game is amazing. I was a bit worried at the start because the first dungeons were a bit generic in comparison with the psychedelic dreamscape I had played in the demo, but it keeps getting better and better. The art is wonderful, the combat is a blast, and the Persona-esque gameplay loop of dungeons plus social interactions is absorbing.

But also the setting and story is so neat and original. I love how it's developing into a commentary about videogames themselves.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg is a fun dungeon crawler and another great indie game on Game Pass.

The story is just what I needed - a cozy yet deep look at everyday routine, vacation and what you need from life.

I liked spending time with the characters, and I liked slaying monsters. The dungeons do get a little tiresome at some point, but you can always take a break from them to explore, or just look at the nice scenery, and I appreciate that. I could do without the feeling of a ticking clock but once I realized the day count doesn't matter I could just relax and play at my own pace.

The combat is pretty fun, especially when using some of the magic spells and abilities. There was one area I really didn't like exploring (boring bog) but all the rest where lovely (I especially liked snowboarding around).

I truly adore this game. I came into it hearing positive buzz, but not knowing what to expect. The game makes a wonderful first impression with its cel shaded depiction of an idyllic Austrian village. The cadence of "classic Zelda by day, Persona by night" never got old.

The dungeon crawling is surprisingly well-executed, with competent hack-and-slash combat supplemented by your region-specific abilities, as well as your customizable special attacks and charms which provide an opening for some buildcraft and gameplay variety. The environmental puzzles are never particularly challenging, but always engaging. Each region has a distinct visual identity, with your experience further shaped by the aforementioned region-specific magic.

The cast of characters is diverse, well-written and memorable, so much so that I would be excited to collect my dungeon stamp, return to Hinterberg and spend the evening with one of them. The overarching plot that unfolds during your time in Hinterberg is somewhat telegraphed, but its worthwhile themes and your growing affection for Hinterberg are enough to keep you invested as things slowly build towards a climax.

The end of my playthrough was genuinely bittersweet, like a vacation coming to an end. As someone with an ever-growing backlog of games and its accompanying guilt, too often I find myself impatient for a game's conclusion simply so I can check it off my list and move on to the next one. There was none of that here. In fact, I found excuses to prolong my playtime because I just didn't want to say goodbye, and that's the highest form of praise I can give any game.

Don't skip this. This game is a true indie gem, worth its full asking price and an absolute no-brainer if you're subscribed to game pass.

Played the demo for this, it's a 3d Zelda game about a quaint Austrian ski town that sees a huge boom in tourism when portals to otherworldly dungeons mysteriously appear in the local mountains. Explorers come from all over to brave the dungeons' depths, and the protagonist pushes herself to complete as many as possible before they supposedly vanish at the end of the month. There's only one dungeon in the demo, but it all seems really promising!

Dungeons are tucked away in a mountainous overworld that you carve through on a hover snowboard, which is super speedy and swoopy and nails actual snowboarding feel. You can also snowboard during combat to quickly move around and crash through enemies, and transitioning from swording to boarding and back again all feels really fluid.

The demo dungeon is pretty simple Zelda fare, but is well paced and has a few secrets hidden in dusty corners. And then after you clear a dungeon there's a Persona-y time management component, where you can hang out with the different townies to unlock perks and equipment for the dungeons.

The visuals are lovely as well, with a fun juxtaposition between stark snowy mountains, ultra-saturated fantasy dungeons, and an idyllic European village. Wishlisted!