Having only been founded in 2020, Austrian indie studio Microbird have already released their first game with Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Much like movies and music, video games can give us a glimpse into various cultures. In the case of Dungeons, it is clearly a game influenced by Austrian culture.
You play as Luisa, a twenty something who is growing tired of the rat race in Vienna and seeking to reconnect with the natural world.
As a child, she fondly remembers taking trips to the countryside with her parents and the sense of freedom she felt.
Hoping to rediscover that taste for adventure, she travels to the picturesque village of Hinterberg, nestled in the Alps.
Instead of hiking and taking in the sights, she is there to raid dungeons and slay demons. That is because Hinterberg is a special place where magic and monsters collide.
In typical European fashion, instead of closing the place off, it has become a tourist hotspot where people come to slay demons to find themselves
In typical European fashion, instead of closing the place off, it has become a tourist hotspot where people come to slay demons to "find themselves".
The first thing you notice about the game is how stunning the cel shaded art style is, which gives the beautiful landscapes a lucid feel.
In between dungeon crawling, you can chat with the locals, go to a movie or head to the local bar. This forms part of the game's social links system, akin to the Persona series.
The more time you spend with people, the more yout attributes Renown, Amusement, Familiarity and Relaxation will increase, allowing you to do more activities.
While it makes sense to have something to build towards, a lot of the time you are locked out of doing side quests if one of the attributes is not at a certain level, making it unnecessarily limiting.
Seeing as the game has a day and night cycle, in the daytime you can explore the 25 dungeons across four areas, while in the evening you can let your hair loose and socialise.
Thankfully, you are not obligated to do anything, so if you want to just chill out and spend the afternoon soaking in the scenery, you can.
Magic powers
When it comes to slaying demons, your arsenal is somewhat limited. You start off with a standard sword, but you can buy better weapons and armour at the local sports shop.
You have a basic light attack (X button) and heavy attack (Y button), but what really mixes things are the conduit attacks, which are used by pressing the R2 button and one of the face buttons.
They can be fun to deploy whether it is slamming down to cause a shockwave to knock down enemies or a tornado ability which sees Luisa spin around slicing her blade into her foes.
The other wildcard are the magic powers, which are different for each of the four areas you visit.
One of the powers allows you to conjure a bomb, while in another area your sword turns into a snowboard, allowing you to grind on rails around the mountain.
One of the powers allows you to conjure a bomb, while in another area your sword turns into a snowboard, allowing you to grind on rails around the mountain.
Every time you get to a new area, you need to visit the Skill Shrine to collect that area's powers. It keeps the game from getting stale, as you are never sure what you are going to get.
The ingenious part of these powers is that they dovetail wonderfully into the dungeon crawling itself. Each of them are centred around puzzles which utilise the powers.
In one dungeon, you use your magic ball and chain ability to throw and latch on to jelly blobs which, when pulled, act like switches that need to be utilised in the right order to get to the next area.
Another is covered in tracks used for a minecart which you can ride on to find the right route to complete the dungeon.
Tourist trap
The puzzles may have you stumped at first, but if you mess around with your abilities, you will eventually find the right solution. If you are the type of person who gets frustrated by puzzles, this game is definitely not for you.
It makes sense the game focusses more on the puzzles, seeing as the combat is not deep or satisfying enough to carry the game.
Thankfully, the story picks up a lot of the slack and touches on a lot of current themes. Luisa is a very relatable character, as you can understand how she has become disillusioned with the isolation of modern life.
Speaking to the locals, you hear their concerns around tourists being catered for more than the locals themselves.
There are also a lot of false promises made by investors about regenerating areas that never came through. Two teenagers you can speak to hang outside a proposed five-star hotel that never fully materialised.
Dunegons of Hinterburg is an overall enjoyable experience that has a lot to say, but it is one that relies too much on powers and abilities rather than a truly rewarding combat system.
Our score: 7/10
