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Working as a reviewer has its ups and downs, that's for sure, but one challenge that feels insurmountable is the uncertainty of what kind of game you'll end up reviewing. On the bright side, you get to play games you might not have otherwise, or at least finish them because of your professional obligations. Despite the challenges, I'm often grateful for this job, especially when encountering a gem like Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Indeed, this game is a real gem, though you wouldn't guess it from the beginning. My first impressions were mixed; I initially thought Dungeons of Hinterberg would be another "all style no substance" game with a gorgeous art style and minimalistic gameplay. However, I was very wrong.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is a game that offers something fresh and not seen very often in the video game industry. The game features a very good and unique art style presentation, nice storytelling, and very rich gameplay that even the great RPG blockbusters wouldn't be ashamed of, let alone a game developed by a small indie studio.
Welcome to Hinterberg; Enjoy your Slay
No, this is not a typo; I intentionally wrote "slay" instead of "stay," because in Dungeons of Hinterberg, it is all about slaying. Slaying monsters, using magic, being someone you always dreamed of being, and all that as a premium vacation package.
You are Luisa, a young lawyer who works in Viena and decides to spend her well-deserved vacation in a different place than a usual young woman would. In a former ski centre somewhere in the Austrian Alps, locals discovered a very unusual phenomenon. This small town called Hinterberg becomes the place where magic starts to appear, and with magic, the monsters.
Locals decided to make a tourist attraction out of it by creating dungeons where the "slayers" can go in, kill the monsters, solve the puzzles, and have a unique kind of entertainment they cannot experience anywhere else in the world.
Luisa arrives in Hinterberg for her vacation, and as part of her package, she gets to explore all 25 dungeons, each filled with different monsters and puzzles. At first, the story seems dull and repetitive, leading you to believe that the game will be boring, at least in terms of its story. But you know the old saying: never judge a book by its cover.
If you decide to give this game a chance, be warned that the story seems very underwhelming at the beginning, but as the game progresses, so does the quality of its story. As Luisa gets more involved in Hinterberg's life and meets new people, she begins to understand that something very wrong lies behind the perfect cover of this tourist attraction, and discovering the real truth will make it very hard for you to drop the game—you'll always want to see what happens next.
Also, the way the story is told is somehow different and unusual. There's not any kind of voice acting and all the conversations happen over the speech bubbles. You might consider this as a drawback but trust me, it isn't at all. The characters are so well-portrayed that you can feel their emotions and their conflicts even though they do not speak a single word.
Whether it's the other slayers, Hinterberg residents, or local kids concerned about their town's well-being, all the characters are highly memorable with their unique traits. They are perhaps even better portrayed than in some high-budget games featuring real actors who are paid a fortune for their voice and motion capture work.
Even though the story of Dungeons of Hinterberg is not the game's first asset, meaning this game relies more on quality gameplay, it has a certain quality and mystery to it and you'll definitely get hooked by it to the very end.
A Thirty-Day Slaying Cycle
Dungeons of Hinterberg has a very simple concept. Each day you spend in Hinterberg must be filled with several activities, and each day is divided into four periods. You wake up in the morning and decide which part of Hinterberg you want to visit. There are four areas, and each area will grant you different magic you can use to battle monsters.
These magic abilities will be used to enter dungeons and solve puzzles. Once you enter one of the areas, you'll be able to explore it in the manner of a true open-world game. Exploring areas will lead you to dungeons or some other places of interest, like some beautiful vistas or landmarks where you can spend your day. Keep in mind that you have limited time to explore everything, so you'll have to plan your vacation accordingly.
Once you enter a dungeon or decide to spend a day in a more relaxing manner, that will mark the second period of the day, noon. Upon finishing this activity, you'll be transported to Hinterberg, which works as some kind of hub area, and that will mark the third period of the day, evening. In the evening, you can do the shopping, socialise with friends, tackle side quests, and more, and once you decide what to do, it will advance time to the final period, night.
During the night, you will be in your hotel room, and there, you can either read a book, watch TV, or go straight to bed. Going to bed will make you more rested, and doing other activities will fill up one of the four gauges: renown, amusement, familiarity, and relaxation. Each of those must reach a certain level to be able to tackle some dungeons or even interact with some NPCs. For example, some NPCs are acting cool, and they won't even speak to you if your relaxation level is too low.
Apart from reading or watching TV, you can take part in many activities, like watching a movie in the cinema, going on a drive in a boat, and hanging out with other people, and all those activities will fill up some of the gauges.
You always have to be aware that only during the evening can you do the shopping or upgrade your weapons or armour. Speaking of weapons and armour, you'll have a lot of those, which you can either buy in the specialised shop or find as loot inside dungeons and open-world areas. Each piece can be upgraded and enhanced with charms that will upgrade their stats.
Every piece of equipment produces or negates a certain type of damage. Hence, the swords can have physical, magical, and critical damage, and the charms can improve those stats greatly. Having better equipment will make your overall level higher, meaning you'll be able to tackle the dungeons that are at the same level or slightly above.
Regarding combat, it is not too sophisticated like the one you encounter in some high-quality action RPGs, but it will be enough to scratch that combat-craving itch. You have classic light and heavy attacks, dodge and lock-on systems, and a handful of attack conduits—a very special kind of attack that has cool-down times.
Also, during combat, you'll be able to use the respective area's magic attacks, which will make the combat very interesting and creative, provided you're interested in experimenting with all that the combat system has to offer.
The other part of gameplay is the puzzles that will be set all over the dungeons. Every dungeon has puzzles related to the respective area. For example, one area has magic abilities connected to wind, and all the puzzles in that area's dungeons are adjusted to those mechanics.
If I need to say anything negative about Dungeons of Hinterberg's gameplay, it would be the lack of mixing those magic abilities. Once you visit the other area during the other day, you cannot use the magic abilities from the previous one, only the abilities connected to the area you're in at the given moment.
Perhaps if the developers decided to mix up those abilities a little and allow the use of them all at the same time, the puzzles, especially the late-game ones, could be a lot better and even more challenging. Don't get me wrong; I do not say that the puzzles are not good the way they are, only that they could be way better but it is just a thought.
I probably forgot to mention a thing or two about the gameplay because it is that complex, and explaining all that Dungeons of Hinterberg has to offer will take too long. In any case, one thing is certain: in a long time, I haven't encountered an indie game with such satisfying and complex gameplay that I simply couldn't get enough of, and for that only, if for nothing else, the developers deserve great praise.
It's All About Art Style
The visual art style of Dungeons of Hinterberg perfectly complements everything else the game has to offer.
The art is truly unique, like the one you see in hand-drawn cartoons. The characters and environments are charmingly cute and unrealistic, which is precisely what makes them so beautiful. You can see the lines in Luisa's hairdo and the details in her quirky outfit; everything is designed perfectly, just as it should be.
The environment is designed to look cartoonish as well. For example, trees in an autumn area look overly yellow, and everything else is yellow as well, including grass, flowers, and even ponds and rivers. It seems like the designers didn't care much for realism; they only wanted to show the beauty of this graphic presentation, and they definitely succeeded.
Mentioning colours, they are very vivid and bright in open areas, and depending on the dungeon, they can be very dark and depressing. Of course, some dungeons are more like the outside world, while some of them are like true dungeons, caves, tunnels, and dark areas. However, there's such a huge variety in their design that there are not two dungeons that look alike.
Regarding performance, the PC version I played had almost no problems except for occasional FPS drops during some combat sequences, but those are nothing serious and do not affect the overall gameplay experience at all. My not-so-strong PC handled the game perfectly with all the settings maxed out, with FPS never dropping below 60.
One more thing that speaks in favour of good performance is that even on the maximum settings, fans on my graphic card remained silent all the time, which means the game isn't demanding at all.
The sounds are nothing spectacular, including the background music. The only good aspect when speaking of sounds is the soothing soundtrack that plays in the background while exploring the open world or Hinterberg; this one really stuck in my mind. The other sounds, like the sword swings, the screams of the monsters, or the sound effects of executing the magic, are just okay and nothing extraordinary, really.
Conclusion
The amount of quality entertainment you'll get in Dungeons of Hinterberg for only $29,99 is one of the key reasons why I'm strongly recommending this one. Imagine a full-blooded action RPG with a unique art style, a beautiful world, an interesting story, and very addictive gameplay, all packed with 25+ dungeons to explore and great puzzles to solve, and you'll have a pretty picture of what awaits you in this game.
Of course, it's not all flowers and rainbows; there are some flaws as well, but they're really insignificant compared to the game's overall quality. If you enjoy a good action RPG here and there, Dungeons of Hinterberg is definitely the game for you, especially because of its quite low price for today's standards.
The Good
Unique and appealing art style- Memorable and well-portrayed characters
- Rich and addictive gameplay
- Complex and satisfying puzzles
- Affordable price for the content provided
- Engaging and evolving story
The Bad
Limited use of magic abilities from different areas- Occasional FPS drops during combat sequences
