Dungeons of Hinterberg

I loved this little game and even played new game plus. Played on the steam deck just fine.

[b]My score: 7/10 ⭐ TL;DR:[/b] A charming Zelda-like adventure with life-sim elements, held back by a frustratingly fragmented progression system. [h2]Overview[/h2] A Zelda-like adventure with life-sim mechanics and an interesting twist on character progression: instead of relying entirely on traditional RPG systems, your stats and abilities are closely tied to your relationships with other characters. Unfortunately, the game is plagued by a lot of small design decisions that, individually, are easy to overlook but collectively make the experience feel unnecessarily cumbersome and relatively empty. For example, you'll find spells that allow you to overcome obstacles in the world, but each spell can only be used in the specific area where you found it. So finding a new spell doesn't give you that classic "Eureka! Now I can access all those places I couldn't reach before!" feeling. Instead, it makes the obstacles feel arbitrarily placed just to make you waste time. The same goes for character progression. The game is divided into days, with certain activities only available at specific times, and you can only perform one such activity at a time. Want to raise two different stats? That's two different days. It's an interesting idea on paper, but in practice it makes progression feel unnecessarily fragmented. The presentation is quite pleasant, with fresh colors and a well-executed cel-shaded art style. Unfortunately, the animations and sound design don't quite live up to it. [h2]One Thing I Liked / One Thing I Didn’t[/h2] ✔️ [b]Liked:[/b] The surprisingly realistic atmosphere. Despite the cartoon-like art style, the landscapes and scenery feel genuinely Alpine, bringing the real-world Austrian setting to mind. ✖️ [b]Didn't:[/b] The excessive fragmentation of the map. The city is split into separate districts with loading screens between them, which feels excessive given how small these areas actually are. [h2]Key Points[/h2] [*][h3]DIFFICULTY:[/h3] Fairly flexible, with progression reminiscent of a traditional action RPG. Combat is limited to specific areas and, unfortunately, gets repetitive. [*][h3]PRESENTATION:[/h3] Fresh colors and a charming cel-shaded style, although some areas rely too heavily on a single, overly acidic color palette (the lake/swamp area is basically all green). The animations are less impressive, and the soundtrack is completely forgettable. [*][h3]STORY:[/h3] Very story-driven, with a LOT of dialogue. You'll occasionally find yourself mashing the button to skip through conversations, but thankfully the story takes a back seat while you're exploring dungeons. [*][h3]GAMEPLAY/GAMEPLAY LOOP:[/h3] A very traditional old-school Zelda-style adventure—more [i]Skyward Sword[/i] than [i]Breath of the Wild[/i]—mixed with life-sim elements such as daily schedules, timed events, and relationships to cultivate. [*][h3]TECHNICAL POLISH:[/h3] No bugs or glitches detected. [*][h3]MONEYxCONTENT VALUE:[/h3] It passes my €1 = 1 hour rule. The base game plus free DLC kept me entertained for roughly 27 hours for a total of €23. Recommended if this kind of action adventure is your thing, and an easy recommendation on sale. [/list]

Gutes Spiel mit abwechslungsreichen Dungeons. Die Grafik muss man aushalten. Genau die richtige Länge. Wenn in Österreich jemals magische Dungeons entdeckt werden würden, würde es im Ort genau SO ablaufen 😆

Um jogo que me surpreendeu bastante positivamente. É um ARPG simples, de mundo semiaberto (há regiões com características específicas). A história é muito legal, não se limita somente a exploração das masmorras na cidade de Hinterberg, tendo um pouco de política, amizade, valores éticos e morais, mas sem mimimi. A maioria dos personagens são simpáticos e há uma evolução deles no decorrer da história. O combate é legal, a gameplay não é difícil, mas apresenta desafios muito bem elaborados, que ficamos satisfeitos em resolver os quebra-cabeças e sem ficar chato/massante ou tiltar. Cada subárea apresenta diferentes tipos de magias, que influenciam nos quebra-cabeças, então não são repetitvos e ainda conseguem diversificar o uso das magias em uma mesma região, amei muito. Fora o design das masmorras, super bem elaborados, digno de muitos elogios. Super recomendo para quem quer gameplay e desafio mais leve, mas que tem uma história muito boa.

Une symbiose d'une rare distinction, mariant avec grâce les cryptes tortueuses et les énigmes de la geste de Zelda, aux salons feutrés de Persona, où le commerce des relations mondaines et l'affinité avec vos semblables dictent votre grandeur spirituelle. Je ne saurais trop enjoindre mes sHHHHAAAAbs à se pencher sans plus tarder sur cette œuvre d'exception.

The amount of creativity put into this game is impressive, a lot of times I wondered what they were going to do next only to be in awe with the next dungeon, I feel like the devs had a lot of fun making this. Most dungeons are really unique and it's fun solving their puzzles, each dungeon adds a new way of thinking and how to use your spells. Even bossfights are more like puzzles you need to solve. Combat is simple but it's still fun using your skills and upgrading your stuff to get stronger. Art and soundtrack are really good, this game has a lot of scenario variety and biomes. Story is okay, but the immersion is the strongest point, I really felt like I was on a vaction exploring all these dungeons. You can also spend time with characters to advance your friendship and unlock gameplay perks, they'll share their insights with you, and I liked talking with them.

u will walk away from this game feeling like u just met netanyahu but the art style is cute so 10/10!