Hinterberg, a city within the Alps, had been a gorgeous, if quiet, vacationer vacation spot earlier than the looks of 25 magical dungeons made it a world-renowned attraction. “We love when video games provide you with fascinating locations to discover, locations that really feel actual and that you would be able to make your own home for some time,” Microbird Video games explains. “From the beginning, we wished to make one thing that has a number of classical ARPG components however is ready in a spot that’s grounded in actuality. We felt that the central European Alps are additionally an fascinating trip vacation spot that not everyone may be capable to go to, so we actually favored the concept of our recreation providing a vacation expertise there.”
Dungeons of Hinterberg splits its days into 4 components: morning, midday, night, and night time. Inside these parts, you do every little thing from exploring dungeons and battling monsters to fixing puzzles and constructing relationships. It’s an fascinating combine, to not point out the distinction between the stress-free trip theme and the action-packed schedule obtainable, however as we present in our personal expertise with the sport, these disparate components meld collectively very properly. “Dungeons of Hinterberg is certainly a comparatively massive recreation for a group of 9 individuals. It was at all times significantly vital to us that each one components of the sport ought to match collectively in a significant method, and that the general expertise is just not solely significant, however above all else, enjoyable!” Microbird Video games says.
“For instance, we paid a number of consideration to making sure that each one magical talents can be utilized for each fight and puzzles. The rewards you get when forging friendships with different characters all affect the dungeon crawling side in a significant method — for instance, you may get new abilities, distinctive objects, or unlock small gameplay techniques. If a dungeon ever feels too difficult, you may contemplate spending some extra time socializing, and unlocking some useful talents that method. It was undoubtedly a problem to attach all these facets and to tweak and iterate till it was all working collectively, however I believe it undoubtedly provides a ton of depth and likewise enjoyable to the completed recreation!”
You could have 4 biomes to select from when deciding the place to spend your afternoons. “Every of them comes with its personal distinct visuals and vibe, however additionally they every supply completely different units of spells that the participant can solely use in that exact surroundings,” Microbird Video games explains. “It was vital to us that the spells work nice for each fight and for puzzles and that they really feel completely different from biome to biome. For example, the alpine mountain pasture surroundings comes with dungeons which might be mine-themed, and the spells that associate with which might be a really heavy exploding wrecking ball and a steel ball and chain. Whereas within the forest, your spells are wind-themed, akin to a controllable whirlwind with which you’ll decide up objects or your self.”
Microbird Video games continues, including, “However we additionally actually wish to shake up the sport’s mechanics in some dungeons fairly a bit — for instance, certainly one of our later dungeons is loosely impressed by ‘Monument Valley’ and may have you determine the right way to reconfigure rooms with variable gravity in an virtually Escher-style isometric perspective.”
Within the recreation, Hinterberg sees an inflow of vacationers and adventurers after the looks of dungeons and magic, together with “skilled slayers, influencers, and informal vacationers which might be on the lookout for a family-friendly alternative to slay some monsters. There’s additionally the locals, a few of that are excited for his or her city to be the middle of everybody’s consideration, whereas others have a extra vital view of mass tourism.” Of all these, there are over 15 NPCs who we are able to work on constructing relationships with — as Microbird Video games says, “far more than will match right into a typical playthrough, so that you’ll need to determine who you wish to hang around with, both primarily based on how you want them or on what perks you’ll get for deepening your friendships with them. Relationship rewards can vary from stat upgrades like extra HP or dodge stamina all the way in which to unlocking whole gameplay techniques, akin to armor upgrades, the picture mode, or a combo counter.”
When you’re questioning how Dungeons of Hinterberg’s time parts work, Microbird Video games has defined it in full: “Each morning you begin with a breakfast in your terrace, and decide which biome you wish to go to at present. Each biome has about 5-7 dungeons. Not all are accessible from the beginning, and the sport is slightly non-linear on this side: gamers may have freedom to select which dungeon to enter subsequent, and can discover themselves returning to beforehand visited biomes as they see match.” Within the afternoons, you head to certainly one of these overworld biomes, the place you’ll be able to discover, chat to NPCs, and loosen up at one of many recreation’s pretty scenic spots (which additionally assist enhance a few of your stats). Then, in fact, there are the dungeons themselves, packed stuffed with monsters, puzzles, and loot.
Within the night, you head again to Hinterberg, to buy, make improve to your gear, or promote what you have discovered, earlier than selecting your important exercise for the night. “When you really feel like stress-free by yourself, there are additionally many choices, together with a ship trip, spa, or cinema go to, that may enhance your stats. Again in your resort room for the night time, you’ll have a while to consider the day’s experiences, and perhaps watch some TV or take pleasure in a very good guide earlier than going to mattress — simply be sure to have sufficient vitality to sort out the subsequent day!”
The attractive village of Hinterberg itself was impressed by Austrian cities that the group visited between 2020 and 2021 when brainstorming the sport. “Locations like Hallstatt, which is so picturesque that the Chinese language have truly created a life-sized copy of the city in Guangdong; or Unhealthy Gastein, which is layered right into a mountain very similar to Hinterberg, and whose grand accommodations ooze with outdated monarchy allure.”
Dungeons of Hinterberg’s eye-catching visible type, in the meantime, simply stands out in all of the trailers and pictures proven earlier than launch. “Founders Philipp and Regina are each large followers of stylized artwork in media, be it cell shading in different video games like Zelda, or animated motion pictures like Into the Spiderverse,” Microbird Video games says. “We additionally learn a bunch of graphic novels and studied the visible kinds of assorted illustrators. For a small studio, it clearly additionally is smart for manufacturing: working with stylized property can will let you use extra environment friendly processes and pipelines.
“For Dungeons of Hinterberg, our important purpose was to create expressive worlds: realism or stage of element have been much less vital to us than evoking a sure temper, impression or feeling within the gamers. A restricted however robust coloration palette is a really useful design instrument as properly and likewise permits us to create very visually distinct biomes and dungeon settings.” This undoubtedly comes throughout within the recreation, which has stunning and hanging locations to discover, in addition to an fascinating distinction between a robust feeling of leisure and the chaotic dungeon exploration.
We liked what we have performed to date, and you may try extra data about that in our Dungeons of Hinterberg first impressions. When you’re eager about listening to extra from the event facet, try what Microbird Video games needed to say about how Xbox achievements “ought to by no means be grindy”.
