Dungeons of Hinterberg (Demo)
I had the opportunity to try out the demo of Dungeons Of Hinterberg and I had a blast. It’s a delightful action RPG that successfully incorporates the staple mechanics of Zelda and Persona titles, with an art style reminiscent of Sable, while also exuding a unique, individual charm.
The “meat” of the game consists in exploring Zelda-like dungeons where you’ll sometimes engage in combat with packs of enemies, other times you’ll solve puzzles and at times even do some small races to unlock the next areas. The overall design of the dungeons is great, with ample areas to explore, innovative puzzles that will make you think out of the box, secret chests and sometimes even bending the environment in an Escher-esque manner.
Outside of these dungeons, you’ll be able to choose who to spend your time with to increase your relationship with that character and as a result, unlock new perks. Borrowing the staple social links mechanic and calendar design from Persona, in which one day is split into several chunks, the player picks one activity among many possible to do in a certain chunk, either to complete a certain quest given by an NPC (or just chit-chat with them), or dive into a dungeon.
The combat is really fun and easy to grasp. There’s a light attack, a heavy attack and a few abilities that you can use mid-fight and which charge up as you hit the enemies. Additionally, you have two special mechanics that can be used both in combat, as well as outside of these sequences. The first one allows you to shoot at a target and is essential for solving puzzles, but can also be used as mana-based range attack when fighting enemies. The second one is a slide on a hoverboard which is extremely fun to experience, especially when going down-slope on the mountain. The freedom it gives you, the thrill of the speed is simply awesome.
The fluid movement, the engaging combat, the astonishingly crafted environments and the awesome soundtrack makes it really hard not to recommend this title to absolutely everyone.
The game is planned to be released on 18 Jul, 2024.