Published , by Lucas White
Published , by Lucas White
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: What if you could quit your crappy job, leave your mundane, soul-crushing existence and go be a real-life RPG hero? Yeah, it’s the plot of every dime-a-dozen isekai light novel out there. But usually in those, you have to be a real shut-in loser and get hit by a truck first. Instead, Dungeons of Hinterberg offers a slightly more realistic version of this classic power fantasy. Unfortunately, the realistic version isn’t much better. But like the game itself suggests, perhaps the situation you’re in can simply be what you make of it yourself.
In this story, there’s no being transported or reincarnated to another world. The magic comes to us instead, suddenly taking over a sizable chunk of Austria. Monsters and portals leading to mystical dungeons suddenly appear, and it isn’t long before exploring and containing this mysterious space turns to commercializing it. Now, Hinterberg is a resort destination, and would-be adventurers from around the world show up to stay in fancy hotels, gear up with padded leggings and branded weaponry, and dive into carefully labeled and safeguarded dungeons. We turned death-defying dungeon-crawling into Disneyland, basically.
As bad as this feels for anyone familiar with theme parks in 2024 (imagine the Jenny Nicholson review of Hinterberg, my goodness), Dungeons of Hinterberg understands the charm and appeal of this concept. On the surface, there may as well be “cozy” written somewhere in the title. This game is full of bright, solid chunks of color, relaxing, feel-good tunes, and lots of friendly and whimsical characters to get to know. Protagonist Luisa, a fledgling lawyer already experiencing burnout, has stars in her eyes as she takes what she believes to be a life-altering vacation. Of course, things get weird immediately as her tutorial dungeon malforms and almost collapses, while an earthquake outside renders most of the resort inaccessible.
She survives and almost quits on the spot, but one of the local sickos convinces her to stick around and give the experience a shot. This is where the core loop of Dungeons of Hinterberg kicks in, as you travel the different regions in the area, take on dungeons, learn new spells, and make lasting relationships with the locals and other visitors. There are a lot of clear inspirations here, from The Legend of Zelda to Persona. Every day you get to visit an area, take on a primary activity, then go back to the main hub to shop, spend time with a chosen friend, and go back to bed to do it all again the next day.
Meanwhile, as you grow in strength and become one of the top bananas, the cracks start to show. Folks who shouldn’t be talking to you approach, and you start to learn more about how the magic actually works. You see more and more of the local politics play out in front of you. Questions arise about the nature of the monsters. Corporate interests get more and more hostile towards local businesses and the regular people who run them. This adventure isn’t all teacup rides and Mickey Mouse ears. There are jerks in suits calling the shots counting beans, and they don’t stop being hungry.
While Dungeons of Hinterberg’s story is one part cozy and adorable, one part mysterious and uncomfortable, the gameplay is less complicated. Combat doesn’t strive to go beyond smashing light and heavy attacks, with the occasional equipped special ability on a cooldown. Gear comes down to numbers with some slotted modifiers, and there’s a NieR Automata-like equipment bonus system. There’s a lot to tinker with, although the results don’t change things much beyond the math parts. The spells are cool though, ranging from simple (big boulder that explodes) to silly (a magical snowboard). They’re restricted to the area you’re in, which means all that area’s dungeons will incorporate two specific skills. These dungeons range in size and complexity, and can be a lot of fun to navigate as you discover how the developers figured out ways to make new rules around self- determined limitations.
The relationship stuff is fairly simple as well. Each night you can spend some time with someone, and their little star meter goes up. The closer you get to someone, the more in-game functionality you get out of them. The characters are all interesting and fun to get to know, but don’t expect any major script-flipping or structural changes from these developments. It’s all part of the cozy loop style; do the thing, have a good time, watch the numbers go up. Simple, but well-crafted and full of wholesome energy. And the game isn’t afraid to bare some fangs a little when the time comes.
This game may be inspired by stuff much larger than it can hope to be, but it takes the scaled-back versions of those pieces and does a lot within its constraints. Everything that has to do with Dungeons of Hinterberg’s vibes feels right on target and polished, from the UI to the music. There’s no mistaking what kind of game this is, and it never gets lost trying to punch above its own weight. I did find the combat sections more chore-like compared to the creative puzzles and the simple wonders of exploring the colorful environments, though. A little more sauce to the button-mashing would’ve gone a long way. But at the same time, we’re talking about a real-world setting crashing into a fantastical dimension or something. These are normal people playing pretend, not superheroes. A clumsy dodge roll makes sense.
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 find a nice sweet spot here.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is available on July 18, 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. A code for the PC version was provided by the publisher for review.