{"id":82095,"date":"2024-07-18T18:16:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T18:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/18\/dungeons-of-hinterberg-review-a-cozy-magical-zelda-like\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T18:16:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T18:16:33","slug":"dungeons-of-hinterberg-review-a-cozy-magical-zelda-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/18\/dungeons-of-hinterberg-review-a-cozy-magical-zelda-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Dungeons Of Hinterberg Review: A Cozy, Magical Zelda-Like"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Do you believe in magic? What do you think it looks and feels like? In Dungeons of Hinterberg<\/em><\/a><\/span>, magic is uncomfortably real. In the places that it has sprung up, monsters inspired by local folklore have come to life, and otherworldly dungeons have appeared. Quiet mountain towns have become booming centers of industry, and every otherwise \u201cnormal\u201d place reminds people of the magic they\u2019re missing in their own lives. <\/p>\n

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11 Minutes With Baldur\u2019s Gate 3\u2019s Character Creator<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s how we find Luisa, our protagonist, at the beginning of Dungeons of Hinterberg<\/em>. A disillusioned junior at a law firm, Luisa packs up her bags and flees the tedium and numbness of her life for a chance at feeling something <\/em>through the literal magic of the town of Hinterberg. And let me tell you, Dungeons of Hinterberg <\/em>is teeming with magic. Across 20 hours of plumbing its dungeons, meeting its townsfolk, and hiking up and down the Alps\u2019 numerous terrains, I was enchanted<\/em>. It isn\u2019t without some jank, but it\u2019s without a doubt my <\/em>feel-good game of the year so far, and a wondrous attempt at an indie Zelda<\/em><\/a><\/span>-like.<\/p>\n

A clean escape<\/h2>\n

The crux of Hinterberg<\/em>\u2019s charm is its simplicity. At the beginning of every day, you will often have a short conversation with another character, and then embark on a journey to one of Hinterberg<\/em>\u2019s regions to explore a dungeon. At that point, you hike through the picturesque park (rendered in stunning pop art) looking for one of the game\u2019s 25 dungeons, and eventually enter one. Upon its completion, you return to town where you are allowed to shop for potions, gear, and upgrades, as well as talk to some of the townsfolk and other tourists and engage with a straightforward adaptation of a Social Link system<\/a><\/span>. Then, you rinse and repeat.<\/p>\n

By cutting a lot of the filler and bloat that a much bigger game might load up on, Hinterberg <\/em>is allowed to shine a spotlight on its most honed edges, namely its titular dungeons. Each of the game\u2019s 25 dungeons has some sort of gimmick, and though they begin simply enough, they eventually evolve into much grander fare. An early dungeon funnels you from encounter to encounter via minecart, but a much later one might become a multi-stage auto scroller on a river raft or a puzzle box with the mind-bending perspective of Fez <\/em>or Monument Valley<\/em>. Some of them are low on encounters in favor of puzzles (or vice-versa), but each is a mostly refreshing experience that riffs on an aesthetic, as well as a mechanic that fans of dungeon-heavy games might recognize.<\/p>\n

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A screenshot showing Luisa skating on a rail in one of Dungeons of Hinterberg\u2019s later levels.<\/figcaption>
Screenshot: Microbird Games \/ Curve Games \/ Kotaku<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When it really gets going, Hinterberg<\/em>\u2019s puzzling is wonderful. It is never so abstract or convoluted that you\u2019re absolutely stumped, but it does demand focus. The solutions to puzzles are never far off, meaning you just have to think about it for more than a few seconds to piece together what\u2019s got to be done. As someone who can be a bit of a brute, I love <\/em>this school of puzzle design. Hinterberg<\/em>\u2019s puzzles are intuitive, and because many of them build off of one another to grow subtly more complex as you progress, you, too, gradually evolve, informally learning the language of its philosophy and getting to gel with it. In a lot of puzzle games, I bang my head against a wall till I triumph over it, but in Hinterberg <\/em>it felt more like I was in sync with the puzzles and we had achieved a mutual sense of cohesion.<\/p>\n

One way in which Hinterberg <\/em>remains novel is by inventively playing with conventions and camera to radically change on the fly. One level might present itself as a sort of 2D platformer, another might come across as an action-RPG like Diablo<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em>complete with an isometric angle, and some of my favorite levels appear in a snow region whose various dungeons riff on the level design of Super Mario Galaxy<\/em>, of all things. It even has a Lost Woods-style dungeon in the vein of Zelda<\/em>, its chief influence, and while Hinterberg <\/em>remains fundamentally the same through these shifts, it embraces a vivacity as it pays homage to these genres and specific games, and becomes a celebratory and triumphant pastiche of its various forebears.<\/p>\n

Speaking of, though Hinterberg<\/em>\u2019s dungeons lean heavily into Zelda <\/em>territory, its combat most notably cribs from Dark Souls<\/em>, though it\u2019s never so grueling. You have a light and heavy swing which can be woven into short and simple combos that might stagger and even topple opponents. When you\u2019re not on the attack, though, you\u2019ll be dodge-rolling like a motherfucker, as well as managing your stamina and MP gauge, which are tied to the use of two abilities which rotate depending on the region you\u2019re currently in. The cherry on top are these super-effective moves called attack conduits which have cooldown timers rather than gauges, and can be swapped out at nearly any time. If this sounds pretty standard, it\u2019s because it is, and Hinterberg <\/em>doesn\u2019t mess with this winning formula for the sake of player comfort. In a game brimming with novelty, it\u2019s a little disappointing how cut-and-dry encounters grow to be.<\/p>\n