Dungeons of Hinterberg review: a casual action RPG that’s as pretty as a postcard

Usually it’s a bad sign when I want to stop playing a game and go outside, but Dungeons of Hinterberg is different. It’s an action RPG that makes me yearn for nature and lets me take myself away from all my responsibilities and just exist for a while. Every time I finish playing, I think about my next outing, and even though dungeon exploring isn’t on my vacation schedule, Dungeons of Hinterberg makes me think.

Protagonist Luisa is stuck in a place we’ve all been to before: Burnout City. She’s a busy lawyer who’s yearning for some peace and quiet, so she’s decided to escape to the picturesque Hinterberg, a charming Austrian alpine village. Hinterberg is essentially a recreational vacation destination where you can hike through the wilderness, drink a few beers with the locals, and kill a few monsters if you feel like it.

Outside of the game’s home hub of Hinterberg, there are four regions, each with a handful of dungeons. You decide which region to visit in the morning, battle through a dungeon during the day, spend the evening with the locals, and end the day by returning to your hotel room. It’s a routine you quickly settle into thanks to each region’s special charm. From the snow-capped peaks of Kolmstein, with its white wonderland of majestic mountains and ice caves, to the lush meadows of Doberkogel, with cows, cable cars, and flowers, I was constantly taking screenshots and slowly putting together a bulging book of vacation photos.

Each of these regions grants you two special magical abilities that can only be used in that area and its dungeons. In Doberkogel, for example, you can summon a giant, spherical bomb that breaks through blockades, and a ball and chain that lets you shoot objects and pull them toward you. Dungeons test these abilities through a mix of combat encounters and puzzles, all presented in entirely different ways. You might have to navigate an underwater castle, snowboard through a winter obstacle course, or survive a rickety minecart ride through a monster-infested cave. Reaching the end of a dungeon earns you a satisfying travel stamp in your notebook.

The puzzles are so simple to solve that nothing will really pose a problem for you, but their ease and intuitiveness make solving them a pleasure regardless. All the usual puzzle-platforming games are there – switching buttons, pulling levers, moving platforms and the like – but due to the regional magic of each area, the puzzle design is constantly changing. They challenge you to use your powers in interesting ways, and the dungeons feel like they were designed for the puzzles first and foremost, with the level built around the core idea.

Magic isn’t just for puzzling, it’s also part of your combat arsenal, along with many other skills. Luisa doesn’t carry around a big sword for the drip either, as you’ll also be slashing your way through hordes of monsters. Her movements feel incredibly fluid, and combined with some equippable skills, fights are often a frenzy of activity and action. I could jump in with 1, 2, 3 quick sword slashes, dodge, hit them with an ice beam (thanks to the magical power in Kolmstein), and then activate my Blade Tornado, a devastating spinning ability that’s as deadly as it sounds.

The enemies are a bunch of ghouls and monsters, albeit with a touch of alpine folklore, which includes various pointy-hatted dwarves, giggling witches, gnarled goats, and creepy wicker men. You’ll encounter them in groups, often (sometimes awkwardly) placed in different parts of a dungeon. You’ll fight the same types of enemies over and over, which gets a little tiring, but a nice steady stream of new gear and abilities keeps the combat interesting. There are also a handful of boss fights that are a highlight of the game. In one, I had to fight a rabid basilisk with a huge beak and too many eyes while crunching on a railing with my snowboard. Fistfights with Krampus are also a thing, so look forward to that.

Once you’ve dusted off a dungeon, puzzles and monsters, it’s back to downtown Hinterberg for some rest. You can head to the apothecary to restock your potions, buy new gear at the corner shop, and chat with the locals. You can choose which person you want to hang out with each day, and when you reach a certain friendship level with that person, you’ll receive new Persona-style items and abilities. Before you spend time with people, you’ll get a hint of what rewards they’ll give you, though it doesn’t matter if you get along really well with a character. I’d love to hang out with Hannah, the cute blacksmith, even if it only gave me a handful of dust.

Each character has a mini-story that ties into the game’s larger plot. The appearance of the dungeons in Hinterberg has attracted lots of visitors, meaning tourism is booming. With money pouring into the town, there’s a conflict between the impact of the influx of visitors on the locals and the sticky fingers of bureaucracy. Like with my friend Hannah, her shop is in danger of closing due to pressure from competitors, so I’m now booking it out in town and trying to get people to sign a petition to keep it open. Chatting to the locals and helping them with their problems adds color to the town and its characters, rather than seeing them as vending machines that spit things out.

You may have a certain routine, but I love how different the days are. Luisa aims to complete all 25 dungeons, which means you’ll be jumping between all four regions, and hanging out with different locals each day brings new story highlights and mini-quests. Best of all, you don’t even have to complete a dungeon if you don’t feel like it. Instead, you can sit in various scenic locations and relax throughout the day, which also earns you permanent stat boosts. I was racing towards a lake with a dungeon portal in the middle when I came across a beautiful wooden jetty overlooking the water. I sat on the edge of the jetty and looked out over the lake. The wind gently rustled through the trees and Luisa pondered what her colleagues would be doing in their busy office. It looked too cozy and relaxed, I was dying to jump through my screen, sit down with Luisa and share a schnitzel with her.

That’s what I love most about Dungeons of Hinterberg. You don’t have to be productive all the time, and that’s okay. When I got a little tired of exploring the dungeons, I would just relax at various viewpoints during the day and hang out with the locals in the evening. I did that for a whole week of gaming until I felt like beating up some monsters again.

There’s a thrilling climax at the end of the 20-hour gameplay, but for the most part, Dungeons of Hinterberg is wonderfully relaxing. There are so many games that romanticize leaving your busy life behind and escaping into the wild, but here the subject is treated in an authentic and real way. There’s a lesson here about how important rest is for health and happiness, but I also love how the game conveys that. It’s a gentle, thoughtful fantasy adventure that will have you reaching for your hiking boots.

This review is based on a trial version of the game provided by the developer.