Dungeons of Hinterberg

Despite having a predictable story, refurbished design elements, and some minor quality-of-life issues, Dungeons of Hinterberg feels like a one-of-a-kind, refreshing holiday experience.

Dungeons of Hinterberg will make you think differently about how you behave on your next vacation.

If you’re along for the somewhat clunky ride, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a surprisingly thoughtful, unique, and incredibly stunning RPG that more than justifies its asking price - especially for Game Pass subscribers.

While some puzzle games can feel a little too on-rails, Dungeons of Hinterberg gives you enough freedom to follow whichever sub narratives take your fancy, adopt a preferred fighting style, and choose which order to tackle puzzles. And with the ability to slow down for a moment of tranquility at any point, it really does feel like a holiday… except you also kill stuff.

Dungeons of Hinterberg cleverly combines puzzles, combat and relationship-building into a tidy package that is captivating despite its low-pressure vibes. Each dungeon is distinct and satisfying in terms of style and mechanics, and combat is just the right amount of crunchy to feel fun throughout the adventure. The gorgeous aesthetic makes Hinterberg and its surroundings a lovely place to spend time, too, and the quirky characters you’ll meet along the journey are all worth getting to know. With some truly memorable moments, Dungeons of Hinterberg is sure to scratch the itch of any wannabe dungeon-crawler with a penchant for problem-solving and is a stand-out indie effort in a year chock full of them.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a wonderfully captivating trek through the gorgeous lands of its magical alpine setting, where a world of adventure, challenges, and intrigue stands at odds with the political machinations of a greedy government.

Despite a few technical shortcoming, due to its indie nature, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a great adventure game, with clever puzzles and a unique theme. It replaces ski-resort tourism with exploring-dungeons-full-of-goblins tourism. It simple works, offering a relaxing experience with highly enjoyable gameplay and beautiful cel-shaded environments.

Dungeons of Hinterberg may confuse players looking for a straight-action RPG, but those who take their time will quickly pick up on the best moments of this experience. Like the option in the game where you can relax, approaching this casually reveals its clever nuances and a narrative arc that can otherwise be skipped by those rushing to clear dungeons. The time mechanic isn’t there to rush you, but it enhances late-game moments as you become more involved in Hiterberg’s daily life. There are criticisms about combat effectiveness or a narrative that won’t speak to everyone. Still, the result is a game that works and showcases all of the developer’s inspirations and unique touches to deliver an adventure packed with discovery, imagination, and finding one’s path.

Dungeons of Hinterberg‘s resolution is less compelling to me than the rest of its question-inspiring, eye-capturing experience. However, the hours spent pondering over a vista, uncovering tucked away loot, roaming the beautiful world, and discovering more about each character more than makes up for that.

An incredible, nigh-on herculean effort from a very small team, developers Microbird Games have made something very special in Dungeons of Hinterberg. In my 20 or so hours exploring, I found a successful medley of genres with enjoyable combat and a variety of gameplay mechanics resulting in something uniquely memorable. Throw in a whole heap of imaginative puzzling and level design, great characters, and a surprisingly engaging plot to boot, and I can’t help but give this vacation spot very high marks indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed my ‘slay’.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a beautiful puzzler—and a satisfying riff on the Austrian tourist economy.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a celebration of recreation and an assertion that video games can be not only a fun escape but a chance to dream of something outside of our routine spheres of life. It’s wonderfully imaginative, beautiful, and sometimes trippy to look at, and it is thoughtful about its subject matter. If you need a break from life, Dungeons of Hinterberg is here for your slaying needs.

There are a few minor points of criticism that separate Dungeons of Hinterberg from being a hit. The platforming passages, for example, are always frustrating due to the missing jump button. We also missed visual changes. The swords have their own designs, but the scabbard always stays the same. New armor only changes the stats, not Luisa's look. That's complaining at a high level, but together with the fights that could be improved, there is enough room for improvement for a possible successor, which we would definitely be looking forward to. There are definitely potential starting points for a sequel.

Dungeon’s Hinterberg takes dungeon crawling, makes it a capitalist venture, and results in a personal story about the benefits and downfalls of tourism in our small towns. It’s a heartfelt story that charms you straight off the bat. The dungeons themselves are fun and feel more like a sightseeing holiday than terribly complex combat-fueled ventures, but if you’re looking for a chill time with hacking and slashing and hanging out with friends whilst saving the town from magic, then Dungeons of Hinterberg is a perfect holiday.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a very well-designed dungeon crawler that combines gameplay mechanics known from Zelda with social aspects of Persona. Despite the limited development budget, it gave me a ton of fun thanks to its designers’ ingenuity and creative approach to the implemented systems.

Austrian-based developer Microbird Games has created something distinctive and compelling with its debut effort – a depiction of their native Alps where the inside of the mountains are more interesting that the peaks outside we regularly admire.

Dungeons of Hinterberg offers an engaging blend of action-adventure and social RPG elements with a well-balanced mix of combat, puzzles, witty conversations, and relaxation. Its only drawbacks might be the weaker sound design and potentially divisive visual style. However, it’s certainly a journey worth taking, especially with its availability on Game Pass.

Dungeons of Hinterberg offers a shallow but enjoyable gaming experience with tons of clever puzzle dungeons in the style of Zelda.

The most enjoyable aspect of Dungeons of Hinterberg is its puzzles, which consistently present a variety of appropriately challenging and innovative problems, interspersed with a series of battles to keep the gameplay engaging.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a fun, synergistic marriage of the mechanics of The Legend of Zelda and Persona. The dungeons are the great brilliance of the game, as they are fun, unique and have excellent puzzles. The combat is solid and very competent, while the story is fairly simple, but provides a good thread for the gameplay. The big downside is the relationship system, which may disappoint Persona players who expected a similar quality to Atlus' franchise games, but is still enjoyable at the end of the campaign, although there are ups and downs along the way.

Playing Dungeons of Hinterberg is a fun experience and a nice break from games with darker themes. The artwork, too, adds levity to the feeling of the game. Luisa is a relatable character, too. She went into a career and lived the way she thought was right, but it led to her realizing that she doesn’t actually enjoy how her life turned out, and she decides that slaying monsters is the break she needs to fight off her burnout. All-in-all, I think this is a game worth trying if you enjoy a mix of dungeon diving, action, and social simulation.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg tells a surprisingly profound story about alpine tourism in Austria. Many puzzle and combat elements are already familiar from other representatives of the genre. However, the fresh setting, the pretty art style and the charming characters give the game an unmistakable touch.

What begins as a holiday – although going through dungeons to defeat monsters isn't exactly my idea of ​​a relaxing vacation – turns into a fantastic adventure: Dungeons of Hinterberg accompanies its protagonist and the player through this transformation, which ends up being his biggest flaw. Until it leaves behind every vestige of normality to fill its dungeons with the most colorful puzzles, the game holds back so much that it gives the player a misleading first impression. But if you allow it to lead us by the hand for the first few more subdued hours, we finally arrive in a truly fantastic and imaginative place where very different ideas find space.

As a Zelda fan of nearly 30 years, it’s not easy to find a game that comes close to scratching that itch in a truly authentic way, but Dungeons Of Hinterberg is the real deal. This is a real gem of a game that has managed to find a genuinely fresh new way to approach a well-worn genre. Like any holiday worth taking, there are some hiccups along the way, but you’ll find yourself thinking about going back to Hinterberg almost as soon as you leave.

The narrative and character writing carried me along from dungeon to dungeon, where the clever puzzle design kept me entertained from start to finish. There’s room for improvement as far as the platforming controls and combat are concerned, but the more I played the less those complaints mattered to me as I became enamored with everything else it had to offer.

Dungeons of Hinterberg feels like a fresh breath of the Austrian Alps as it recontextualizes familiar action-RPG elements in a charming and modern feeling adventure.

Microbird Games delivered a strong debut project with Dungeons of Hinterberg. While limitations to maneuverability may seem off-putting at first, its numerous dungeons have been carefully designed to utilize different magical spells’ environmental interactions to traverse them. There are some understandable design constraints, such as a lack of variety in its enemy designs, that help illustrate where Microbird Games’ priorities lie - and there’s a beauty in that. This is a development team that had a clear vision in what they wanted to achieve with Dungeons of Hinterberg and I think they succeeded brilliantly.

A few small issues and some bugs aside, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a solid action-RPG. At its core though is some fantastic, sharp writing that asks interesting questions of its player and protagonist, all wrapped up in a cozy setting. Here's my review of Dungeons of Hinterberg.

Ultimately, Dungeons of Hinterberg feels like a chilled-out version of the usual action-adventure titles like the aforementioned Breath of the Wild. You could just explore for scenic spots, advancing time that way for a bit, taking in the sights and sounds of Hinterberg and visiting the town’s various festivals. But if you want to progress and aid Luisa in her quest for self-discovery, you’ll eventually have to get your hands dirty.

Combat and RPG progression get an ingenious social twist in this disarming slice of fantasy.

Call it “cozy Zelda,” call it “Zelda Crossing,” call it “Persona of the Wild” if needed, it’s really just a charming blend of all these notions, and certain standout dungeons on their own are worth chartering a flight to Dungeons of Hinterberg.

I found a lot to like during my time with Dungeons of Hinterberg, and the drawbacks feel mostly about limitations or how I met the vibe. The whole cozy thing can be hit or miss with me, and I like my combat to have some teeth instead of feeling like it’s simply showing up for work. The charm, creative magic abilities and puzzles, variety of colorful and weird characters, and fun premise all come together quite gracefully. Fans of classic Zelda games looking for something that’s not leaning on the retro aspect or trying to be indie Breath of the Wild might have a nice sweet spot here.

Featuring enjoyable dungeons and intriguing plot developments, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a fun escape to a magical version of Austria. It doesn't stray far from its comfort zone, but the basics here are solid enough to prop up the highlights of the experience.

There’s a lot to enjoy in Dungeons of Hinterberg. The premise is original and the combat ticks all the expected ARPG elements. Like in real life, I’m not fond of forced social interaction, and sometimes the game is a bit more gated than it appears. The puzzles are satisfying, and while movement and spell-casting can be janky, there’s quite a bit of content to explore. Fans of family-friendly ARPGs and the blend of magic and everyday life should definitely plan a staycation in Hinterberg.

The heroine of this fantasy video game is not a legendary warrior forged in the fire of a thousand battles, but a young adult facing an existential crisis, dressed casually and wielding a sword made in China. The setting is not a mythical land, but an ordinary vacation spot. Dungeons of Hinterberg blends magic and everyday life in a mix that offers some good ideas, though not fully realized. Behind this facade lies an action/adventure game that aims to entertain with varied gameplay—and it succeeds, as long as you don’t expect too much.

Dungeons of Hinterberg captivates with its stunning Austrian-inspired landscapes and charming visuals, but the gameplay can feel repetitive over time. The blend of exploration and puzzle-solving is enjoyable, yet it may lack the depth needed to keep players fully engaged throughout. While the game’s beauty is undeniable, its repetitive nature might not appeal to everyone, making it a mixed experience overall.

A pleasant adventure with a refreshing diversity, ideal for a summer's day in. Enjoy it sparingly because, well, you've got to think about getting out for a walk too.

Dungeons of Hinterberg does a lot of things right. It features a story that shows the protagonist growing within themselves, albeit slowly, and embraces its casual atmosphere with wide-open arms. Players that enjoy that slower side of gaming will find some interesting moments while exploring and playing through the story. The rest will have to find something buried in the game's combat to keep their interest, though that may prove too difficult. Still, those players looking for something easy that never moves too fast and ambles on at a comfortable pace will enjoy Dungeons of Hinterberg for the qualities it fully embraces.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a puzzle and combat-based action game with an intentionally compassed and relaxed tone. The level of challenge offered never crosses a certain line, and this is reflected in modest level design and a lack of depth in the mechanics. Fun and enjoyable in these summer months, but far from memorable.

Every night in Hinterberg ends with a Stardew Valley-esque recap of your day that encapsulates the game’s innovative blend of dungeon crawling and social simulation. You’re reminded of the undead Miner’s Widow you conquered, alongside the HP you gained from meditation. Staring down the barrel of another day of dungeoneering can be offputting, especially with the prospect of an over-familiar puzzle or frustrating fight on the horizon. Still, Dungeons of Hinterberg’s personable cast and stunning environments provided the necessary pockets of reprieve that kept me wanting to wake up and face the day every next morning.