Dungeons of Hinterberg Review

Embark on a 'slaycation' for the ages in the fictional village of Hinterberg to, you know, just get away from it all!

“Cozy” (or, "Cosy" in Australian English) is a term relatively new to gaming, and it's a subgenre upon broader genres making serious inroads, especially in the Indie game development space (though the concept isn’t so young). What denotes a so-called “cozy” experience, however, is still up for debate in modern gaming. Is it a near passive experience overall, or is it wholly interactive, but stress-free in terms of its expectations of your interactions with it?

What makes you “cozy”, being the point.

Like most gaming experiences in said modern era, those are queries not really answerable given there are now so many kinds of gamers, and platforms, and ways in which to game. In fact, it’s all a bit moot. And we love that. But there’s something about the cozy space that is intoxicating -- sometimes you don’t want to spend hours facing the one boss that requires such precision input and pre-planning that you go as grey as Geralt of Rivia with stress. Maybe you just want to plant gardens and watch them grow instead.

Dungeons of Hinterberg then, which is why we’re here today, is a kind of mashup of the cozy, safe experience while also delivering elements of traditional games (specifically RPGs, though lite-on) such as puzzle-solving, basic combat, character progression and exploration. But what makes it such a unique blend of everything is, in keeping with the theme of ‘relaxed’ gameplay, this is very much a holiday, both literally and figuratively.

Dungeons of Hinterberg

Genre: Cozy Action-RPG

Developer: Microbird Games

Publisher: Curve Games

Release Date: July 18, 2024

Classification: PG

Author: Stephen Farrelly

Date: September 01, 2024

Where’s the Yeti Boss?

The reason for the outro sentence above is because Dungeons of Hinterberg cleverly aligns itself with a skiing (or in this writer’s case, snowboarding) getaway. In fact, it's one of the best-running themes throughout the game, and helps ground the whole thing, even alongside some of the more modern discourses around pollution, exploitation, greed and gentrification that permeate its writing. (And no, we won’t use *that* spurious term here.)

The basic premise is that, in certain spaces around the globe, monsters and magic have seeped into the real-world. In Hinterberg, some 25 ‘dungeons’ have also emerged as part of this apparently ancient visitation and, having struggled for tourism to the place over the last little bit, Mayor of Hinterberg, one Karin Wagner, works out a way to not only monetise said dungeons, but builds an entire economy around it. The beauty of this setup is that not everyone is on board with the concept and ‘theme park’ expansion of Hinterberg, while others, initially, see no problem with it. This is because many jobs, local businesses, private investors and a now thriving economy rely heavily on it. And those in favour of the existence of the overall attraction kind of eschew you because you *might* have worked out a way to send the dungeons and monsters back from whence they came which, it turns out, is kind of what the dungeons and monsters actually want.

"It turns out that Luisa is actually really good at so-called ‘slaying’ and the magic in and around Hinterberg has other plans for her..."

There’s a surprising layer of depth to the writing here, and often it goes quite deep and personal on our main protagonist and her whims, (life) concerns and desires. And so, in light of all of this, we -- the player-character, Luisa -- are here in the early throes of the game on a ‘slaycation’ (deliberate spelling there) attempt to ‘cleanse the soul’, so to speak, from the drudgery of professional life and the expectation that comes with that. The thing is, however, it turns out that Luisa is actually really good at so-called ‘slaying’ and the magic in and around Hinterberg has other plans for her.

Would you like to know more?

Most of the monsters and even some dungeon biome aspects are derived from actual Eastern European/Apline folklore and mythology. The infamous Krampus makes an appearance, as does the Perchten and the classic Kobold among many others (with some cool bosses). For many not of the region used to more fantastical RPGs and traditional monsters, it might take some getting used to certain names, but it doesn't make them any less fun to 'slay'.

Good Morning, Fräulein

The game’s cadence after a few days is a fairly simple loop, you wake in the morning and have breakfast outside your quaint accommodations and run into any number of townsfolk for a quick chat before making a decision on which dungeon biome you’re going to visit that day. As with a lot of games of this nature, not all areas are open to you right away (cleverly gated by a story event during your first introductory dungeon), but this gives you a chance to learn and understand the relationship aspect of proceedings as well as how the village of Hinterberg operates. It’s not open-world at all, and the village is annoyingly separated into areas all requiring loading (a more seamless hub wouldn’t have gone astray) and as with the dungeons themselves, you’re gated early on in terms of shops and establishments you can visit, but before long your reputation and growth as a slayer will slowly open doors for you and the game unfurls at an infectiously steady clip.

"[You] can actually piss people off and generally represent yourself in a tone of your choosing, but none of that overtly affects the final outcome..."

The relationship side of things is part Persona, part Coffee Talk, part Stardew Valley (and any other game with a mechanic built around relationships), but still feels fresh and unique in its setup here. You have conversation options and can actually piss people off and generally represent yourself in a tone of your choosing, but none of that overtly affects the final outcome of the game and is more largely designed to help you when it comes to the prices of things at stores and the like. That doesn’t really matter though, as it more or less exists to build charm into the space and give you the sense of some layer of agency. Just… don’t stress if you don’t max a friendship, is what we’re saying.

There are also spaces both in the dungeon biomes and around the village where you can avoid having anything to do with socialising to just be alone with your thoughts, from taking in a spa day, a row on the river or by enjoying some scenery, and this is tied to the game’s unique RPG progression system. Rather than a straight XP setup, your growth comes in the form of Social Stats; Familiarity, Renown, Amusement and Relaxation, while you grow things like your HP by just meditating via the ‘day off’ option mentioned above. But make no mistake, there is an action-RPG game here, and it’s often very, very good.

Black Diamond Run

We’ve mentioned the vacation thing a fair bit, but developer Microbird Games takes it all the way when you get to each of the biomes. Dungeons and monster traps are marked like ski runs with warning signs on the difficulty of them, while each area comes with two unique powers, each designed to help you progress through all of the dungeons and puzzles scattered about that respective biome. Some of these relate to traversal, such as the hoverboard in the Austrian Alps-themed Kolmstein, which is a joyous way to get around and includes jibbing rails, but also plays a huge part in most of the dungeons themselves which are sprawling locations in need of a fast way to get around. While others will give you elemental gifts, such as being able to create gusts of wind or even mini tornados that can lift you and environmental items up to get to hard-to-reach areas, or solve puzzles.

The puzzle aspect of the game is by far the best, and is incredibly thoughtful, though we’d argue not overly hard (this writer got stuck maybe just a couple of times on how to progress). But thematically, the way in which all of this plays out just means each biome has a very unique look and feel and also means you’ll be switching thinking caps and won’t ever really feel like you’re grinding or just doing the same thing over and over.

"The way it’s structured, like so much of this game, is thoughtful and meaningful in the context of… well, everything!"

In terms of combat, you can use the dual powers gifted to you at each location, but your trusty blade and how you equip the simple armour items is the meat of it all, while you can also use “Attack Conduits” which are special abilities such as a slam attack or a spin attack, and how you combine these and utilise them is entirely up to you. It’s not massively deep, but the way it’s structured, like so much of this game, is thoughtful and meaningful in the context of… well, everything.

See You Next Season

With the game still enjoying life on Game Pass, there’s no real better time to give something that absolutely presents as left-of-centre a go. It’ll likely pull you in with its immediate charm and witty writing that pokes fun at a content-creator-fueled world (which we thoroughly enjoyed), while the level and puzzle design aspects and how each unique biome challenges your overall approach to gameplay will keep you sticking around for more.

"There’s a stack of content to get through in the base game on its own and its addictive gameplay loop and regimented daily setup will have you fairly addicted..."

Like a lot of games of this nature, when you start approaching the endgame you’re so overloaded with cash and items and magic and skills that it really is a bit of a walk in the park, but here it’s still fairly engaging. There’s a seeming promise of DLC with the mention of other places around the world that also have dungeons, and Luisa and other characters continually drop hints at maybe making them their next sojourns, but as this is an Indie release, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Regardless, there’s a stack of content to get through in the base game on its own and its addictive gameplay loop and regimented daily setup will have you fairly addicted out of the gate. Dungeons of Hinterberg presents a fresh and unique spin on a handful of genres and subgenres that pool together in a compelling and fun way, which is exactly what we want out of the Indie scene. A definite recommendation, especially on Game Pass.

What’s Boss?

Charming presentation overall
Some witty and quite in-depth writing and chacterisation
A unique spin on 'leveling up' in an RPG setting
Excellent level and puzzle design biome to biome and dungeon to dungeon

Not Boss Enough?

The village of Hinterberg itself is gated area to area by load times that seem unnecessary
The combat can be clunky early
Combat is equally pretty repetitive and nowhere near the same level of design as puzzles
Not enough options for personalisation of Luisa with her gear or armour or general look

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a charming and cozy action-RPG lite with a spin on relationship building set within a fictional village in the Austrian Alps. Here, monsters have invaded and dungeons have emerged, but holiday-makers compete in them like theme park rides!

About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly

Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport under his belt. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms but particularly street and tattoo culture, and is the director of Swear Jar...

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Dungeons of Hinterberg Review