Usually when a game makes me stop playing and go outside it’s a bad sign, but Dungeons of Hinterberg is different. It’s an action RPG that made me crave the outdoors and want to be freed from all my responsibilities and just exist for a while. Every time I finished I thought about my next escape, and while dungeon crawling wouldn’t be on my Dungeons of Hinterberg vacation itinerary, it makes me think twice.
The main character, Luisa, is stuck in a place we’ve all been to: Burnout City. A busy lawyer looking for some downtime, she decides to escape to the picturesque Austrian Alpine village of Hinterberg. Hinterberg is basically a recreational holiday destination where you can walk through the wilderness, have a few beers with the locals and kill some monsters when you feel like it.
Outside of the game’s home hub of Hinterberg are four regions with their own handful of dungeons. You decide which area you’d like to visit in the morning, hack and slash your way through the dungeon during the day, hang out with the locals in the evening, and end the day by returning to your hotel room. It’s a routine you’ll quickly settle into thanks to each area’s unique charm. From the snowy peaks of Kolmstein with its white wonderland of majestic mountains and ice caves to the lush meadows of the Doberkogel with cows, cable cars and flowers, I was forever taking screenshots and slowly building a holiday photo book.
Each of these areas will grant you two special magical abilities that can only be used in that area and its dungeons. For example, in Doberkogel you can summon a giant orb bomb that explodes through blockades and a ball and chain that you can fire at objects and pull them towards you. Dungeons will test these abilities through a combination of combat encounters and puzzle solving, all presented in very different ways. You might have to sail through an underwater castle, snowboard through a winter obstacle course, or survive a wobbly mine cart ride through a monster cave. When you reach the end of the dungeon, you get a satisfying travel stamp in your notebook.
The puzzles hit that sweet spot of minimal effort, where nothing majorly stumps you, but their brevity and intuitiveness are still satisfying to solve. All the classics of environmental puzzle-platforming are here – toggle buttons, pull levers, moving platforms and the like – but due to the regional charm of each area, the puzzle design is constantly changing. It pushes you to use your abilities in interesting ways, and the dungeons feel like they were designed primarily with puzzles, with the level built around the core idea.
Magic isn’t just for mysteries, it’s part of your combat arsenal along with a bunch of other abilities. Also, Luisa doesn’t carry a large sword to dribble because you’ll also be slashing and slashing your way through hordes of monsters. The way he moves feels incredibly fluid, and along with some equippable abilities, fights are often a frenzy of activity and action. I could jump 1, 2, 3 with a quick sword swing, dodge, hit them with an ice beam (thanks to the magical power in Kolmstein) and then activate my Blade Tornado, a devastating spinning ability that is as deadly as she is. sounds.
Enemies are a pack of ghouls and monsters, but with an Alpine folklore twist that includes various pointy-hatted dwarves, giggling witches, gruff goats, and creepy wicker men. You’ll come across them in groups, often slapped around (sometimes awkwardly) in different parts of the dungeon. You’ll be fighting the same types of enemies over and over again, which is a bit tiresome, but a nice steady stream of new gear and abilities keeps the combat interesting. There are also several boss fights that are the highlight of the game. In one, I had to fight an angry basilisk with a giant beak and oversized eyes while I was grinding on a rail on my snowboard. Fist with Krampus is also a thing, so look forward to that.
After clearing the dungeon and all its puzzles and monsters, you’ll return to the central city of Hinterberg to do some renovations. You can pop into the apothecary to refill potions, visit the corner shop for new equipment, and chat with the locals. Each day you can choose who you want to hang out with, and when you reach a certain level of friendship with them, you’ll get new Persona-style items and abilities. You’ll know what rewards they’ll give you before you engage with people, not that it matters if you really click with the character. I’d gladly hang out with Hannah, the cute blacksmith, even if all I got was a fist full of dust.
Each character has a mini-story that ties into the larger story of the game. The appearance of the dungeons in Hinterberg has attracted many visitors, which means that tourism is on the rise. As money pours into the city, there is a conflict between how the influx of visitors affects local residents and how it gets stuck with bureaucracy everywhere. Like my girl Hannah, her shop is in danger of closing due to pressure from corporate competition, so I’m now booking it around town and trying to get people to sign a petition to keep it open. Chatting with the locals and helping them with their problems adds color to the town and its characters instead of seeing them as item-spewing automatons.
Maybe you have a different routine, but I love how different the days are. Luisa wants to complete all 25 dungeons, which means you’ll be bouncing back and forth between all four regions, and meeting different locals every day brings new stories and mini-quests. The absolute best part is that you don’t even have to do the dungeon if you don’t feel like it. Instead, you can sit in various scenic spots and rest all day, which will also give you a permanent stat boost. I was speeding towards the lake with the dungeon portal in the middle when I came upon a beautiful wooden pier overlooking the water. I sat on the edge of the pier and looked out over the lake. The wind rustled gently through the trees and Luisa wondered what her colleagues would be doing in her busy office. It looked too cozy and relaxed, I wanted so badly to jump through my screen and sit down with Luisa and share a schnitzel with her.
That’s what I like most about Dungeons of Hinterberg. You don’t always have to be productive, and that’s okay. When I got a little tired of exploring dungeons, I just relaxed at various scenic locations during the day and worked on meeting locals in the evening. I did this for a week in the game until I felt like beating up some monsters again.
There’s a climactic rush at the end of the game’s 20-hour run, but for the most part, Dungeons of Hinterberg is wonderfully relaxed. There are so many games that romanticize leaving your busy life and escaping into the wild, but here the theme is explored in an authentic and real way. There’s a lesson here about how rest is essential to health and happiness, but I also like how the game conveys that. It’s a gentle, reflective fantasy adventure that will have you reaching for your hiking boots.
This review is based on a compilation of the game review provided by the developer.