Dungeons of Hinterberg

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a 3D action game- and social sim- where we take a vacation visiting, also fighting, some magical dungeons in a town that capitalizes on this unusual event. Playing as Luisa, a novice lawyer seeking for a place to find a bit of freedom and peace from her stressful daily routine. She will meet extravagant characters and discover that not everything is as magical as it seems.

What's happening here?

Like any other tourist, Luisa went to Hinterberg to have fun and experience the magic of the dungeons, and even though we have a few accidents, this doesn't stop her from wanting to complete them. Gradually, she will realize that this magic is damaging the town, but the income generated by the overpopulation of tourists is something that the local leaders want to continue producing.

As you will notice, the game has a message about certain problems caused by tourism, such as pollution and urbanization of towns. Socializing with NPCs will delve deeper into these issues while allowing you to take a break from this, which contrasts with how you can pass the time doing anything except completing the main mission; still, you will also find time for Luisa to reflect on his decisions and his past.

Making the most of the vacation

The routine divides in 4 sections altough 2 are the importants: Noon to explore tourist areas and sunset to explore the town.

At noon, we can choose between 4 regions, each with its own magic and area to explore. Although the types of enemies will increase slightly over time, there are no enemies that are exclusive to a particular area, making it somewhat lacking in variety. In these places, we will find dungeons that, although they share elements of the area, are quite unique to each other, playing with the perspective and dimension of the levels. You can also choose not to enter any of them and stay at a meditation point, which can help improve a stat and relaxation (a social parameter).

During sunset, we will be in the village and will be able to interact with a large number of NPCs, talk to them, upgrade our equipment, and give them gifts. Gaining their friendship is important as it provides us with exclusive equipment or discounts, but the biggest problem is that due to the number of NPCs, this will take time, even more than completing the dungeons. This often leads to doing nothing at midday in order to complete these interactions. Ironically, you can also choose to be alone.

Fighting our way to dungeons

For our incursions, we have the classic sword—weak and strong strikes to make combos—and items to recover, we also have:

• Magic: each area has a unique pair, which are most useful in dungeons for solving puzzles, which is their main use.
• Channeling attack: there are several with different effects, and they are the most fun to use while fighting.
• Amulets:  offensive and defensive buffs, some with niche effects, have limited space to equip but their size can be reduced.

Since we also use armor and swords, we have the traditional stats: attack, defense, magic, and magic defense; but we also have social parameters: relaxation, fun, familiarity and fame. These are useful for our interactions and access to new dungeons. One good thing is that some amulets use these parameters to improve stats, so it's a good way to remain useful even in the adventure.

Extras

After completing the game, we can access a new game+, which can be useful if you want to complete the available social relationships- if you felt pressured to end the story- as well as find some new exclusive powers.

Additionally, we have an extra campaign about a town acquaintance, where we will complete 7 new levels. They are short, and you can't do anything other than complete the levels, but has new type of puzzles and adds depth to the story and the character, which is appreciated.

Is Recommended?

Yes, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a great game with good level design, there are lots of things I haven't mentioned yet, and it's not very difficult if you want to get started with 3D adventures. Managing relationships can feel frustrating at first because of the time involved, but the interactions are still enjoyable. The story will take you 12 hours, and if you want to get 100% completion, about 22 hours.