Dungeons Of Hinterberg Is A Solid Game Pass Addition

Summary

Dungeons of Hinterberg offers unique vibes with varied dungeon designs, but lacks compelling narrative and character depth.
The combat has cool enemies and powers, but not many layers.
Overall, the game tries to be about more than dungeon crawling but never figures out what else to be about.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons of Hinterberg is an interesting game - as unique and fresh as it is derivative and repetitive, as complex and detailed as it is simplistic and shallow. Having made my way across its four season-inspired biomes, each location felt different and original, yet connected to the same tranquil identity. It's an extremely vibes-based game, and for some, the vibes will hit just right.

Unfortunately a pre-launch patch wiped my 20 hour save in the review period, so I am unable to offer a scored review, 𒁏but I can still discuss my general thoughts.

As you might have guessed from the first word in the title, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a dungeon crawler. But it's not one overly concerned with best build meta or party roles. You're on your own kid, and while there is a variety of weapons and gear to choose from, plus the ability to upgrade them, you're mostly just equipping the strongest stuff you have at any one time. It takes away the spreadsheet nature of the genre and returns it, once more, to vibes.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg Gets The Vibes Right But Feels Shallow

There's no skill tree as such, but the game changes things up by having each of the four main regions offer two unique abilities. These can't be changed (in the winter biome, you use the winter powers), but that does mean the game can get a bit more clever with puzzles and mazes since these rely on employing these abilities in different ways.

As a dungeon crawler, it's natural to judge Dungeons of Hinterberg on its dungeons. The aforementioned puzzles mean most of them are well designed and keep you interested, while they're also far shorter than some of the genre's slogs which keeps everything breezy. But as a result, it doesn't feel like there's much of a narrative to any of them, just a bunch of stuff that happens and then it's over and you play the next one.

That said, from a design point of view Dungeons of Hinterberg is not phoning it in. Some dungeons were standard linear combat sequences, some required fixing railings for minecarts in a set pattern, some turned pseudo-side scroller as you climbed tree platforms, some were 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario Galaxy-style planets, some were a series of river rafts... it has the confide𝔉nce to throw a good idea away before it gets stale. Unfortunately, where it swaggers in dungeon creativity, it stumbles elsewhere.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg's Hub Is Too Empty

Dungeons of Hinterberg geometric icicle cavern

It feels as though Dungeons of Hinterberg doesn't want to be judged for its dungeons. A lot of emphasis is placed on Hinterberg itself, the picturesque Austrian town where you've vacationed to, and the colourful yet deliberately scruffy artstyle sells this beauty well. However, most of the characters you meet are one-note tropes, and their quests are dull and self-contained, rarely taking advantage of the wider game's mechanics. The only dungeon-adjacent side quest was to gather 100 monster parts, followed by a quest to gather 200 monster parts, followed by...

As a result, the Hinterberg part and the Dungeons of part feel too separate. Both lack much in the way of compelling narrative and combining them more closely could have helped remedy this. Instead, it's a bit of a rinse and repeat gameplay section through a dungeon, then wasting time on busywork until the next dungeon arrives. I appreciate that it offers a cosy feel while still letting you go through meaningful gameplay challenges, but the balance is never quite right.

Within the various puzzles or mazes of the dungeons, there's also combat. Here, the unique abilities test you a little more, as you have your standard light and heavy attacks, but need to adapt to four different power sets. The snowboard summon was neat for traversal but ineffective in battle, while the beam and explosive attacks each work best depending on the enemies in front of you.

Enemies aren't unique to each biome, but they do get more difficult as you go, and are the places where Dungeons of Hinterberg's originality shines the most. As well as your standard hulking beasts and irritating chase mobs, you have an elemental wizard that puts obstacles in your path so foes can close in, and a giraffe who attacks by burying its head, popping it out elsewhere, and headbutting you. You can't really say fairer than that.

Each combat scenario happens in a specific arena, with magical walls raised to stop you from fleeing. This helps keep a sense of pace to battles and raises the difficulty - another way 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:it elevates itself above cosy games - as well as meaning enemies can be used as a means of traversal too. Harder dungeons are sometimes blocked off until you progress, but often are just guarded by tough beasts. Can't beat 'em? You're not ready for the dungeon.

Dungeons of Hinterberg pulls a variety of tricks out of the bag, from new dungeon designs to fresh enemies, to distract you from the shallow repetition at the heart of the game's mechanics. For the most part, it succeeds, but once you notice it, it's hard to unsee. A weak story in a game that emphasises its characters and a lack of development of its best creative ideas leaves Dungeons of Hinterberg firmly on the 'maybe' pile. It's worth checking out on Game Pass when the vibes are this good though.