Do you believe in magic? What do you think it looks like and feels like? Hinterberg DungeonMagic is uncomfortably real. In the places where it has appeared, monsters inspired by local lore have come to life and otherworldly dungeons have appeared. Quiet mountain towns have become booming industrial centers, and every otherwise “normal” place reminds people of the magic they lack in their own lives.
This is how we find Luisa, our protagonist, at the beginning of Hinterberg DungeonAs a disillusioned junior in a law firm, Luisa packs her things and flees the boredom and numbness of her life to feel something through the literal magic of the town of Hinterberg. And let me tell you, Hinterberg Dungeon is full of magic. During the 20 hours I spent exploring the dungeons, meeting the inhabitants and hiking up and down the numerous alpine areas, I was enchanted. It is not without some flaws, but it is without a doubt My Feel-good game of the year so far and a wonderful attempt at an indie Zelda-How.
A clean escape
The core of HinterbergThe charm of lies in its simplicity. At the beginning of each day, you often have a short conversation with a different character and then embark on a journey to one of the Hinterbergto explore a dungeon. At this point, you wander through the scenic park (rendered in stunning pop art) looking for one of the game’s 25 dungeons and eventually entering one. After completing the dungeon, you return to town where you purchase potions, equipment and upgrades, as well as talk to some of the townspeople and other tourists and get yourself into a simple adaptation of a Social link system. Then rinse and repeat the process.
By eliminating many of the fillers and fiber that a much larger game would otherwise consume, Hinterberg may put its sharpest edges in the spotlight, namely the titular dungeons. Each of the game’s 25 dungeons has some sort of gimmick, and while they start out simple enough, they eventually evolve into much grander offerings. An early dungeon takes you from encounter to encounter via minecart, but a much later dungeon might be a multi-level auto-scroller on a river raft or a puzzle box with the dazzling perspective of Fez or Monument ValleySome of them feature fewer encounters and more puzzles (or vice versa), but each is a largely refreshing experience that features both aesthetics and gameplay mechanics that fans of dungeon-heavy games might recognize.
When things really get going, HinterbergThe puzzles of are wonderful. They are never so abstract or convoluted that you are completely baffled, but they do require concentration. The solutions to the puzzles are never far away, meaning you only have to think about them for more than a few seconds to figure out what needs to be done. As someone who can be a bit brutal, Love this school of puzzle design. HinterbergThe puzzles of are intuitive and since many of them build on each other and become subtly more complex as the game progresses, you too gradually evolve, informally learning the language of its philosophy and coming to terms with it. In many puzzle games I bang my head against the wall until I beat them, but in Hinterberg it felt more like I was in sync with the puzzles and we had achieved a mutual sense of belonging.
A possibility, Hinterberg remains novel by inventively playing with conventions and camera to radically change them in an instant. One level could present itself as a kind of 2D platformer, another could come across as an action RPG like Diablo complete with an isometric angle, and some of my favorite levels appear in a snowy region whose various dungeons are based on the level design of Super Mario Bros.There is even a Lost Woods-style dungeon in the style of Zeldatheir main influence, and while Hinterberg remains essentially the same despite these changes, exhibiting a certain vibrancy as it pays tribute to these genres and specific games, becoming a celebratory and triumphant imitation of its various predecessors.
Speaking of which, HinterbergThe dungeons of Zelda territory, his fight especially transcripts of Dark Soulsalthough it’s never that grueling. You have a light and a heavy swing that can be worked into short and simple combos that can stagger and even trip opponents. When you’re not attacking, however, you’ll be dodging like crazy and managing your stamina and MP gauge, which are tied to the use of two skills that rotate depending on the region you’re in. The icing on the cake are these super-effective moves called attack channels, which have cooldown timers instead of gauges and can be swapped out at almost any time. If that sounds pretty standard, that’s because it is, and Hinterberg does not change this winning formula in favor of player comfort. In a game full of new features, it is a little disappointing how clear the encounters become.
There is more to it
As Luisa, who has come here to become an adventurer – known as a hunter – sets out and talks to the townspeople, it becomes clear that magic is not all that the brochures and marketing machines have made it out to be. Magic came to Hinterberg and transformed the town, which is run by a mayor who seems hell-bent on commercializing the experience and offering it to as many people as possible. Theresa, who runs the inn where Luisa is staying, has never been more successful thanks to the constant influx of tourists, but that comes at a price: the constant Noise. Not noise in the literal sense, although there is an adventurers’ club just around the corner from the inn. Rather, it is the sound of gears churning beneath the surface of everything; a noise that threatens to drown out the residents of Hinterberg, who once had a say in what happened in their small town in the interests of capital.
Soon, Luisa, befriending various people in town and benefiting from these relationships through the town’s social system, becomes an avatar for their collective will. As she meets people like the blacksmith Hannah, Luisa begins to uncover a conspiracy that threatens to bring down Hinterberg, whose leadership has been trying to capture and sell magic. HinterbergThe “coziness” of masks an uglier truth, as it makes a commentary on the things we are unwilling to do and give up for a dollar or an ounce of power, money or influence.
I really appreciated the nuance with which Hinterberg tells this story that took me to places I didn’t expect. The game is even very aware of Luisa’s role as a tourist, acknowledging that she and many of the people she meets are very much part of the problem plaguing the village. Whether it’s for fame, a fantasy-fulfilling vacation, or to exorcise a few personal demons, everyone relies on Hinterberg and his magic to solve their own ills, but never gives anything back to the town or invests in it and its people. Instead, Luisa and her ilk come to town and takeIf magic were real, Hinterberg believes that there is no way we wouldn’t abuse it and that we might be better off without it. Maybe we all need to take stock of our lives and the lives around us and ask ourselves how we can make things better as a community, rather than hoping that the divine or magical will fix everything.
10/10, would do it again
Despite Hinterberg told me to face my problems rather than run away from them, I would happily play this game again and again. The beauty of its recreation of the Alps can hardly be overstated, and I was already entranced by the mere jogging up and down its magnificent paths. Its top-notch dungeon design only further complements what an absolute joy it was to immerse myself in its world of magic. As with the best holiday destinations, I can’t wait to return from HinterbergLet yourself be captivated by the company’s appeal again and enjoy its luxury for a long time to come.
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