Dungeons of Hinterberg

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a fantastic adventure with an addicting gameplay loop based on exploration and wonder, tight combat, and an exciting cast of characters to interact with.

With an incredibly colourful and infectious art style, fun combat, clever puzzles, and a relatable narrative about burnout and escapism, Dungeons of Hinterberg is one 2024's most captivating experiences.

Such ambition, especially when coming from a smaller studio, often leads to a messy, directionless game, but Microbird Games have avoided such pitfalls. It's too bad they're Austrian, for I really want to compare the game to a Swiss clock - each of the individual parts are of extremely high quality and work together in nearly perfect harmony.

Dungeons of Hinterberg has been one of the best games I've played this year. It's a fun and magical world full of content and mysteries to solve, all accompanied by an incredible soundtrack, gameplay and artwork.

There’s more to praise in Dungeons of Hinterberg, like the clarity of the UI, the ease of using supporting systems, and the numerous quality-of-life measures that the team has obviously, intentionally deployed. Everything about the entire experience feels thoughtful and considered, and the devs were smart not to overreach. They’ve managed to successfully deliver on the promise of Hinterberg, capturing a holistic, singular experience that resonated with me in a way that few do. For the first title out of a brand new studio, this is incredible stuff and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is an excellently packaged product on all accounts, with simple but engaging and well-structured gameplay, and excellent attention to detail. It is indeed a fine game: with limited ambitions, but at the same time with a respectable content density and play potential that should not be underestimated.

Quotation forthcoming.

Although you can live an alternate life in Hinterberg, what makes this game really different is those beautiful and extremely fun dungeons. Its artistic design completes one of the best indies of the summer season.

Without a doubt, a game we should try, because the magic of indies is present once again. It is not perfect and it does not pretend to be, it is simply a journey that you do not want to miss.

Dungeons of Hinterberg' combines three genres into a lovely package. The smart and varied puzzles are very entertaining without ever getting too complex or samey. The action-RPG is very solid but the unwieldy camera and rather boring gear system make it an uneven and only sometimes uninteresting aspect of the game. The social-sim isn’t very deep but makes that up very easily with a super charming and well written cast of characters. If somebody is into all of these things then Dungeons of Hinterberg is a very easy recommendation because it combines them with a good anti-capitalistic story, pretty visuals and a very soothing soundtrack.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a striking, self-aware adventure game that both excels and suffers for its impressive variety of puzzling and action mechanics. If you like adventure games, you're likely to have a great time on this “slaycation”.

For a game that wants to do so many things at once, it is remarkable how well Dungeons of Hinterberg manages to keep all the balls in the air. The special setting and cozy vibes make this a unique version of a game where you have to slaughter monsters in dungeons.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a successful mix of Persona and Zelda, where some superficial game mechanics are supported by a charming presentation and clever puzzles.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is an absolute delight to experience. It's challenging enough to keep you on your toes, but never so frustrating that it drops the ball on its cosy core. We were hooked from start to finish and can't wait to jump back in for another holiday in Hinterberg.

An inspired combination of colourful dungeon-crawling, social sim, and action-RPG, Dungeons of Hinterberg proves to be a remarkably pleasant surprise. Ignore this at your peril.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is proof that a mash-ups of genres can work. The concept and setup are brilliantly creative, whilst highlights sit in respect of the sim side of the game and trying to build up relationships around the town. It looks beautiful too.

Dungeons of Hinterberg successfully combines the exploration and "dungeoning" of The Legend of Zelda saga, with the social simulation of the Persona saga. All this with a captivating style that makes you want to hop on a plane and go live in the Alps. If you like adventures, you can't miss it.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a gorgeous, sincere, and snuggly little adventure. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but its individual parts come together to create an immensely fun package that feels like a warm cup of tea on a cold dreary day. Fans of the cozy genre owe it to themselves to check this one out. The engaging puzzles and dungeons also warrant a look-in from those who have fuzzy memories of solving the elaborate temples of older 3D Zelda games. Dungeons of Hinterberg is a masterful mix of the modern cozy game and the wondrous sense of adventure of old-school role-playing classics. Spending a few days in this magical, quaint little town is sure to be time well spent.

Dungeons of Hinterberg skilfully combines the social aspects of Persona with linear Zelda dungeons, leveraging the strengths of its cultural influences.

Despite a rather limited budget and a questionable balance between puzzles and combat, Dungeons of Hinterberg offers an original and very enjoyable vision of the dungeon crawler concept, interposing a narrative that is anything but banal and surprisingly deep dialogues to the exploration and dynamics typical of the genre. If taken as a pure and simple dungeon crawler, Curve Games' work is just another colorful proposal in a rather crowded market - and populated by structurally and mechanically more valid congeners -, but the mix of typical elements of this type of game and snippets of everyday life, with a protagonist who is easy to identify with, makes the proposal of the Austrian team Microbird Games unique.

Despite its insanely clever dungeon designs, Dungeons of Hinterberg feels kind of like a hodgepodge of ideas plucked from other games that ultimately did them better. Though there might be things I didn’t enjoy as much, I’d gladly play tourist and stamp my passport on a return journey to Hinterberg any time.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a hugely stylish and hipster-cool action-RPG that does a fantastic job in building a world that feels worth exploring, replete with dungeons that require effort whilst remaining fittingly chilled out. This is a puzzle-orientated affair more than an action-heavy thing, and that's a wise choice, as the puzzles here easily trump the fairly average fighting. Make peace with some naff dialogue and simplistic but likeable social aspects, and you've got yourself a unique and addictively atmopsheric adventure that puts vibes over violence.