I am normally not one who cares about the conversation surrounding video games. I can get caught up in the hype of a big release just like anyone else but I don’t normally pay much mind to how much people are talking about a game. If I see a game that looks up my alley I’m normally keen to give it try. So when Dungeons of Hinterberg hit Game Pass, it was a no brainer. A dungeon crawler by day with Persona style relationship building by night? Why not give it a try? So I downloaded it and started it up. After 15 hours with this game I am now someone who cares about the conversation. I am perplexed as to why no one is talking about this game and why it isn’t being talked about as one of the best games of the year.
Luisa arrives in Hinterberg on a vacation, a vacation specifically designed as an escape from the doldrums of her everyday existence. Luisa is a lawyer who has been feeling the grind of the 9-5 office life catch up with her. This has become a common trend in the opening hours of several video games. It’s an instant way to connect with several types of players, including myself. Which one of us can’t relate to being stuck in the workplace wishing we were anywhere else? What makes Hinterberg her destination of choice is the magic that lies in its surrounding hills.
Hinterberg, once a sleepy town situated in the Alps, has skyrocketed in popularity due to a relatively recent phenomenon. Monsters have started appearing in the hills surrounding the town and they aren’t friendly. Along with the monsters, 25 dungeons have opened up via mysterious portals. People who go to the hills find themselves granted the ability to use various magical spells, different spells in each area where dungeons have appeared. What started as an attempt to defend the town has turned Hinterberg into a tourist destination. Come to Hinterberg, slay some monsters, stay for the coffee. Regular people started flocking to the town to become ‘slayers’ and magic users, captivated by the adventure and the opportunity for what it feels like to use magic. What was once a sleepy mountain town is now a tourist trap, complete with ad campaigns and giant banners that say “Enjoy your slay!”
Coming to Hinterberg as an outsider puts Luisa in the situation where she doesn’t know anyone else. The town is populated with a cast of characters who have a varying level of acceptance of the tourist presence. There is a retired adventure who serves as a guide, and experienced slayer who won’t talk to you until you’ve proved your mettle, local kids who think all tourists are scavengers who aren’t to be trusted, social media influencers looking for likes, etc. Everything you would expect from a tourist town. These relationships develop and inform the gameplay in several interesting ways.
Each day you’re there is broken into two sections and it makes sense to discuss the game in two parts. The first part can be described as a dungeon crawler although this may be a little misleading. There are three hub worlds that you can choose from at the start of each day, each with an array of dungeons to find. These dungeons are ranked by level and your character level is determined strictly by the gear you have equipped as there is no xp bar. So, you find a new badass sword and armor set, you may be equipped to handle a higher level dungeon. You can attack these dungeons mostly in your own order. Sometimes the story will dictate your destination but more often than not you will be just setting out to one of these hubs and trekking to an unknown location to find an unexplored dungeon. The only thing stopping you from achieving your goal is whether or not you have gear of a high enough level to take down the enemies in each area.
The combat in this game is competent but may be it’s weakest element. Luisa has a sword with light and heavy attacks. Quick 3-4 hit combos with your light attack followed by a heavy strike. It doesn’t get more complicated than that with the sword. Where combat becomes more creative is with the use of your spells. As mentioned before, each area has different spells and this also applies to combat. In one area I can summon a tornado and manipulate it around the field of battle to attack enemies. In another, I can summon a snowboard and shred around the area to knock enemies down. Each area comes with a projectile magic attack that you can use from range. You refill your MP meter with heavy attacks so there is a natural push and pull of ‘get in close, refill the bar, then retreat and use magic.’ This makes each battle at least engaging, even if the encounters have the chance to get repetitive. There are also special attacks that you can equip into multiple slots that do a variety of things. Right now I’ve got one that rains meteors down on the battlefield so that, say, when I’ve summoned my tornado, I can whip it around in the meteor shower to do double damage to enemies without putting Luisa in danger. It is this type of combination that keeps the combat fresh. The coolest thing I now get to say is that the reason you are playing this game is not for the combat. It’s for the dungeons themselves.
The reason I said ‘dungeon crawler’ may be a misnomer is because I feel like that term evokes a Diablo or even an Etrian Odyssey comparison. In reality, these dungeons are much more like the shrines in Breath of the Wild. Each dungeon has a theme and puzzles to solve within this theme. Some of these concepts we’ve seen before. There’s a dungeon that involves making the correct mine cart paths and another that involves weight based platform puzzles. There are also some that absolutely blew me away. In one dungeon I was tasked with purifying a poisoned waterfall and another that found me grinding my snowboard on rails that led to several Mario Galaxy style planetoids. Each dungeon is bespoke and brimming with personality. There has yet to be a time where I felt that puzzles and concepts were reused or overdone. No dungeon overstays its welcome with each taking anywhere from 20-45 minutes to complete. The puzzles are appropriately complex without ever being too easy or too frustrating. Every time that I feel I have mastered a dungeon’s theme, the dungeon comes to a close. The pacing of these dungeons is near perfect as each time I’m ready to move on to something else the game shows me to the exit. Solving these dungeons consistently put a smile on my face and left me feeling satisfied. I would go as far to say that these experiences have been my favorite video gaming of the year so far.
The second half of your day involves the social aspect of this game. The social link system in Persona is the most direct and appropriate comparison. Each named person that you meet in the town has a relationship level associated with them and by increasing your relationship with them, you gain traits that will help you in your dungeon crawling. Befriend the combat expert and you will unlock a combo meter. Have coffee with a fellow slayer and your HP will increase. Befriend the kind old woman in town and she will fill your pockets with cash. The cool thing about these interactions is that as you do them, you learn more about Hinterberg and what makes this town tick.
Doing activities in the town increases your base personality stats: Familiarity, Renown, Relaxation, and Amusement. Increasing each of these leads to more activities and more relationships opening up. I had to increase my renown to even get the combat master to talk to me. I had to increase my relaxation in order to have drinks with the TikTok star. I had to increase my familiarity to get the old woman to recognize me. Some relationships start with a side quest. I met a dog who likes wild strawberries (who doesn’t?). I found him some and he led me to a secret dungeon. There is a tangible reason to want to engage socially with every individual. The problem is that vacations don’t last forever and you won’t have time.
The game tells you right off the bat that you won’t have time to accomplish everything in this vacation, and that’s ok. As a checklist-y video game player, I want to do all the things. I want to max out every relationship, do every dungeon, find every chest. Dungeons of Hinterberg tells you right off the bat that you won’t be able to do that and that you’re going to have to learn to spend your time wisely. What initially felt like a constraint quickly turned into a relief. I didn’t have to do everything. Vacations shouldn’t be filled with busy work. If Luisa wanted to spend her time not dungeon crawling but climbing a lighthouse and looking at the scenery, why shouldn’t she? It’s her vacation. Games are our escape. Why should they dictate how we play them?
As I continued my adventure in Hinterberg I realized that everyone in that town is running from something. Their past, their job, their relationships, their responsibilities, whatever. My experience went from good to great when I started realizing that I should do what I want to do and not what I felt that I had to do. The story of this game tells a fairly predictable tale but the narrative is not what I consider the important part. It’s the experience of taking it all in, looking at the wilderness, and taking a deep breath. Dungeons of Hinterberg became the vacation I wanted to take each night to escape the rigors of my daily life. I looked forward to getting out of work, putting the kids to bed, and just sinking into those hills. It is an experience that I treasure and it is one of the best games I have played all year. I simply cannot believe more people aren’t talking about it. So I decided that I should.
Come to Hinterberg. Enjoy your slay.
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