Here at Into Indie Games, we’re always hunting for something different. Creativity is more commonly found in independent studios these days, after all. Microbird Games’ Dungeons of Hinterberg stands out by blending battling, puzzling, and life sim elements with a holiday to an Austrian village. Yeah, that got us intrigued too.
You play as Luisa, a law trainee desperately seeking a break from her studies. To unwind, she decides to travel to Hinterbeg, a now-popular holiday destination thanks to the 25 dungeons full of mythical beasties that mysteriously sprung up. Folks from far and wide flock to battle against these creatures to see if they can achieve the coveted rank of Master Slayer. It’s set in the modern day, yet you’ll wade into battle with magic and a sword as your weapons rather than guns and grenades.
As far as premises go, that certainly feels fresh, largely thanks to the seemingly laidback gap-year nature of it all. And I realize there’s a lot to unpack – including stuff I haven’t touched on yet – but I’m mostly intrigued by the creatures. The majority of them are inspired by Alpine mythology, meaning we get to learn about some new cultural beasties, which I always enjoy.
If you go into the Dungeons of Hinterberg, you’re in for an Alpine surprise
One example, mentioned during a behind-closed-doors demo, is a Percht, a goat-like creature with roots in Alpine paganism. In Dungeons of Hinterberg, it sticks its head underground before rising up and whipping at you like a whack-a-mole that’s tired of being on the receiving end. That sounds delightfully inventive to me, so I’m hoping most of these beasties have equally silly and creative attacks.
As I said earlier, that’s only one part of the package. Alpine folklore-inspired creatures aside, many elements are at play in Dungeons of Hinterberg. The art style, for one, is pretty distinctive. Sure, a cursory glance might remind you of Sable or conjure up images of certain comic books, but it’s not something we’ve seen too much of. Not yet, at least. I’m sure that will change in the coming years.
A mishmash of… well, everything
But it’s not all cool art style and battling Alpine foes with swords and magic. There are a few more types of gameplay to encounter throughout your time in Hinterberg. You can expect some puzzling as you fight through each dungeon, alongside some platforming for good measure. That’s not unusual, of course. Zelda’s been doing that for some years now.
However, not many games do those things and throw in a social system on top of it. Yes, Microbird hasn’t forgotten Luisa is on holiday, so they’ve included things to do during her downtime. You can grab some presumably fancy coffee and sip it by a lake or get to know your fellow holidaymakers. How you interact with them will affect your friendship, and that’ll presumably matter for one reason or another. Or, it could just be a way to breathe life into the resort rather than simply having it as a backdrop.
I hope Dungeons of Hinterberg can weave all of these elements together because, on paper, it’s an intriguing prospect. The art style and off-kilter premise are already a winner for me. Here’s hoping, then, that the puzzles, combat, and social elements are compelling enough for me to enjoy the whole vacation rather than heading home early because inclement weather made doing anything fun impossible. I’m sure there’s at least half a usable metaphor there somewhere.
Dungeons of Hinterberg will release on July 18th for Steam and Xbox. It will be available through Game Pass so subscribers can begin their adventures there.
Thank you for reading this article. For more interesting coverage of all things indie games, be sure to check out the links below.
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Best Indie Games of 2024
- Duck Detective Review
- Dungeons of Hinterberg Walkthrough
- Still Wakes the Deep sees The Chinese Room return to in-your-face horror
