Dungeons of Hinterberg Review: A Cozy and Comforting Adventure

As someone who falls in love with games on the daily, I am no stranger to potential masterpieces. Dungeons of Hinterburg is one game I’ve been looking forward to ever since I played its Steam demo. With a beautiful art style and amazing gameplay loop, I was sold within minutes. So when Microsoft reached out with an opportunity to review it, I pounced on the game.

Well, I have been playing Dungeons of Hinterburg for a few days while jumping my way across this beautiful town. After playing a considerable portion of the game, it seems the feelings from the demo have stayed intact. But somehow, the entire experience amplifies these feelings tenfold, with some minor shortcomings. So, how was Dungeons of Hinterberg? Let’s find out!

Welcome to the Town of Hinterberg

Dungeons of Hinterberg puts you in the sneakers of Luisa. A law trainee immensely burnt out from her overall life; she travels to Hinterberg in the Austrian Alps. And it’s exactly how it sounds. Hinterburg is a place all about serene peace and tranquility. But amidst all this peace lies a dark secret.

Mysterious dungeons and mighty monsters have popped up throughout the region. This resulted in an economy where people traveled to Hinterberg to venture into danger and search for riches. Luisa is one of these treasure hunters: partly for the riches and partly to get that spark back into her life.

Besides the initial lore, Dungeons of Hinterberg has a thought-out storyline. While it isn’t anything crazy like, let’s say, Alan Wake 2 (review), it maintains a good balance where you aren’t overly fixated on things. Instead, it wants you to take things comfortably and enjoy them. I’d even go as far as to say that Dungeons of Hinterberg sometimes feels like a slice-of-life media.

And while I’d write a lot about voice acting in general, this time’s different. Dungeons of Hinterberg features no voice-acted roles. You do a lot of reading, giving you all the necessary information. Be it talking with the various denizens of Hinterberg or the inner monologues of Luisa, everything is well-written. A game like this has to bank a lot on its writing to make it captivating.

“Dungeons of Hinterberg sometimes feels like slice-of-life media.”

And it does that extremely well. Dungeons of Hinterberg does the writing and the scenery well. While the initial hours might feel a little rushed, it immediately slows down its pace after the third dungeon, letting you enjoy things your way, meet people at your leisure (and you will meet quite a lot of them), and overall enjoy the beautiful scenery of Hinterberg. The game sets the mood from the first hour and commits to it till the end.

Explore the Vibrant Hinterberg

While the story is thoughtful and well-meant, the gameplay also strikes a balance where you can either enjoy the serene beauty of Hinterberg or chase that adrenaline rush through fights. There are three difficulties to choose from in Dungeons of Hinterberg. Depending on your choice, the game adjusts itself.

But outside of that, the game follows a simple gameplay loop. Playing it for the first few dungeons reminded me of one thing: It feels very similar to the old Legend of Zelda games. You’d have a world you could explore and random dungeons filled with monsters and rewards.

Similarly, in Dungeons of Hinterberg, while you won’t have a large open world, you do have some large maps filled with dungeons you must explore and discover. The beauty of the locations made me nostalgic and amazed.

Tackle Dungeons or Enjoy the Morning Scenery

When you wake up at the start, you are presented with the opportunity to visit one of the four locations around Hinterberg – Doberkogel, Hinterwald, Kolmstein, and Brunnelsump. Outside of Doberkogel, other locations periodically open up, and each area has a distinct look. Doberkogel, for example, is a vibrant spring mountain filled with lush green fields and cows grazing. Hinterwald is a jungle filled with orange trees, thorns, etc.

Each map is also pretty open for you to explore on foot. You can sit in one of the beautiful areas and spend time relaxing. Otherwise, you can explore and get a dungeon to enter and fight. Entering a dungeon or relaxing will forward the time, so keep that in mind. But, otherwise, you aren’t in any urgency.

“Dungeons of Hinterberg has relaxed me with its maps and general lack of urgency.”

Remember how I said the game wants you to relax? It is enforced in the maps. The game never tells you what to do once you reach the map. It doesn’t fill the maps up with unnecessary fetch side-quests and clutters.

The game gives you a simple choice – do you let Luisa relax or take on dungeons and make her famous and strong? Ultimately, you have to go ahead and attempt the dungeons to progress, but it is a good change of pace sometimes to relax.

I’m not going to lie. After finishing the absolute adrenaline rush of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (review), Dungeons of Hinterberg has relaxed me with its maps and general lack of urgency. I loved kicking back, booting up my DualSense controller, and roaming the lush Doberkogel.

Finish the Dungeons to Increase Your Reputation

When you track down a dungeon, it is all about completing them! Now, in Dungeons of Hinterberg, every dungeon has a difficulty level, depending on your gear. You can get gears by exploring or buying the dungeons from Hinterberg. We’ll get to them in a while. Now, the dungeons are simple, linear experiences filled with occasional enemy encounters and intelligent puzzles.

I’ve played almost all of the Doberkogel and some of the Hinterwald dungeons. In both instances, the dungeons featured distinct, unique puzzles. Not once did they feel similar in that sense, and they gave me a good time racking my brain to finish them. At the same time, the dungeons aren’t inherently problematic. Instead, you’ll have a blast with them once you figure out the puzzle.

“This combat felt very laidback and relaxed for someone who enjoys many action games.”

Amidst traversing the dungeons, you’ll also find yourself facing the enemies inside these dungeons. There isn’t much variety in these enemies, but it is enough to challenge you. Combat is rather simplistic and follows either using a light attack or a heavy attack. You can dodge any incoming attacks, and you have skills to use.

It felt very laidback and relaxed for someone who enjoys many action games. This game has a simple pick-and-play system, letting the more hardcore player go bonkers. It also has a charm system, which you collect throughout the game. These further improve your performance, like increasing your defense, attack power, etc.

But if you don’t want an overly complex combat system, Dungeons of Hinterberg has you covered. Completing the dungeon increases your overall health and reputation, which is required for the next portion of the game.

Overall, the dungeon experience reminded me quite heavily of the older Legend of Zelda games, where each dungeon had some small puzzle in the middle of combat. However, for this game, the puzzles take precedence over the combat.

Befriend the Hinterberg Denizens in the Evening or Stock Up!

Once you finish a dungeon, you’ll be back in the town of Hinterberg, which is free to explore. The village of Hinterberg holds the key to Luisa’s improvement. It comes in the form of either shopping for gear for your next expedition or allows you to befriend people and improve your overall performance.

Throughout your adventures in Hinterberg, you’ll befriend lots of people. Some are people living there, while others are fellow adventurers like you. Talk with them, and help them improve your relationship. This is important, as each friend of yours has an improvement attached to them, which further enhances the better your relationship becomes.

It is a sweet little system that makes the adventure more grounded and gives it depth. Some friend of yours will improve your stamina, while another will help you track untracked dungeons on a map.

Again, the game never really forces you to go out of your way to befriend any of these people. However, as you keep progressing, you’ll naturally start to meet with them and befriend them. And the entire thing becomes livelier.

“Dungeons of Hinterberg’s gameplay sends the message that it wants you to take things slow, enjoy the serenity, and slay demons.”

Outside of spending time with your friends, you can shop to buy better gear, improving your chances of survival inside the dungeon. Otherwise, the town doesn’t have much to offer apart from meeting your friends and occasionally relaxing at a few places.

This is my only complaint with Dungeons of Hinterberg—the town feels a little drab, and you don’t have much to do outside of going from point A to B and meeting your friends. It looks pretty, but sometimes I feel there could’ve been more activities I could participate in to send that healing-from-burnout message.

Dungeons of Hinterberg’s gameplay encourages slowing down, enjoying serenity, and slaying demons. It is extremely relaxing and never really pushes you to get things done; eventually, you’ll start doing things on your own.

Verdict: Is Hinterburg a Legendary Adventure?

So, is this it? Is Dungeons of Hinterberg the game to keep you satiated through the otherwise drab months of July and August? I will say yes! Dungeons of Hinterberg is the summer adventure you probably might’ve planned through the European countries, with some fantasy sprinkled.

Serene and sufficiently laid-back, very few games from 2024 have made me comfortable playing it, like Dungeons of Hinterberg. I think the last time I had such a comforting experience was when I played the fan-translated Boku No Natsuyasumi 2 earlier this year. It also wears its prominent old Legend of Zelda inspiration very close to its heart, giving it a fitting tribute.

If you were looking for a perfect game for your Steam Deck or something a little laid-back that also gives you a good challenge when you need it, Dungeons of Hinterberg is the one game to consider.