To call 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons of Hinterberg a modern dungeon crawler would be technically true, but it would feel spiritually incorrect. Though it’s set in the modern day rather than the pseudo-medieval period of typical fantasy fiction, the quaint Germanic town and its surrounding hillsides feel far more classic. Though taxis, mobile phones, and streamers all feature in the game's reality, it still feels like stepping backwards in time to a simpler era, and this unique feeling is at the core of what makes Dungeons of Hinterberg so intriguing.

Playing as a tourist visiting the region famous for its dungeoneering, you set off an earthquake during your training mission and decide to stick around to see what happens. In the five hours or so that made up my preview, this earthquake has lingered in the background as a tool to stop you from expl𝄹oring dungeons too difficult for your current low level. I hope in the full game, this brings with it more of a narrative, because there is a major clash of creativity so far in Dungeons of Hinterber🍌g.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg Is Not Your Typical Dungeon Crawler

This clash largely comes from the game's structure. You start out with a lush green meadow to explore, with various dungeons inside. Each day, you can explore one dungeon, or skip the dungeon crawling to meditate by a lake, or do other activities that boost your stats but don't progress the game. It's a simple rhythm, and that means you're free to wander wherever with a clear goal always in mind.

As you progress the game by tackling dungeons, you unlock another region with auburn trees and falling acorns. After this, an icy tundra becomes available. I'm yet to reach the fourth (and I believe final) region, but I would guess it is something to do with spring. This is as sensible a way of dividing the regions thematically as any other, and gives each a clear identity. For the dungeons, this is perfect. Even within the same region, each dungeon feels completely different to the last. Some feature more intense combat challenges. Some are mazes. Some have twisting puzzles involving fixing tracks for minecarts. Some are vertical rather than linear. Some have grind rails. One, my favourite thus far, has a bunch of mini Mario Galaxy-style planets to bounce across.

My Favourite Snaps While Dungeoneering

The game is called Dungeons of Hinterberg, and if you go to it for dungeons, it delivers. They're light on combat at times, but generally, they justify their position as the game's central focus. However, the rest of the game so far doesn't quite measure up. While the different regions have fresh aesthetics, most of them feel fairly empty. The only quest I've encountered while wandering them has been to fetch 100 monster parts, which led to a quest for 200 monster parts, and the diary already has room for me to unlock quests for 300, 400, and 500 monster parts. There's pretty much nothing else.

The Quests Don’t Measure Up To The Dungeons

While there are a handful of combat skirmishes in the overworld, these are just one-off fights offering a chest as a reward, with little storytelling to set them apart from each other. Combat itself is solid - there is a light and heavy attack, some special moves to equip, weapons that offer greater power, and different spells for each region, but it's not the draw here. Dungeons of Hinterberg understands its strengths, and most dungeons needed to be outthought, not outfought. Even the spells are used for traversal as much as they are wiping enemies out. But without meaningful combat, a lot of the time spent wandering from dungeon to dungeon feels empty.

In Dungeons of Hinterberg's defence, most of the story takes place in Hinterberg itself. After either completing a dungeon or meditating by a lake, you spend the evening in the town centre, where you can boost your stats by hanging out with different characters. There's a solid cast here, and the different stat boosts and perks force you to make sensible choices about what to boost. But their problems feel too trivial - it's by design that the game is very grounded, but it leaves you wondering why you should care.

The quests so far have only made this worse, with all of them being either fetch quests, or worse, 'talk to X' missions. Hopefully these pick up as your relationships deepen.

I suppose we should also touch on Dungeons of Hinterberg's aesthetic. It's very ugly. I kinda like it. In a world where games are either chasing photorealism or using generic wholesome chibi-ness, it's great to see something with a bit more character to it. With angular scrawls, it perfectly suits the Germanic setting and makes the game feel unique, while the colours are bright and bold which stops the artwork from feeling too dreary. There's a gothic feel to the black, often shapeless monsters, and a lot of freshness here too - one enemy is a magic giraffe that buries its neck in the dirt and pops its head out to slam it towards you.

I'm excited to push on and see what else is in Dungeons of Hinterberg, but after what I've seen so far, I'm expecting these new discoveries will be confined entirely to the dungeons themselves. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong as the game develops depth, but even if I'm not, the dungeons are good enough to keep me playing anyway.