Dungeon slaying video games have severely lacked one essential element, until now: toasting an epic monster battle with a well-deserved schnitzel. At least, that’s what the team at Vienna-based Microbird Games has decided, prompting the creation of forthcoming action role-playing game, Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Looking like a Saturday morning cartoon come to life, with a visual style inspired by the clear lines and vivid colours of European comic artists, the indie adventure promises a mix of hack ’n’ slash action RPG and social sim, against the backdrop of the Austrian Alps – which as video games go, is a setting as fresh as recently fallen snow. Players can explore dungeons, solve puzzles, slay huge bosses … and then enjoy a schnitzel with the local people and other visiting slayers. Fighting monsters has never sounded so delicious.
The tiny Austrian alpine village of Hinterberg used to be a small ski resort – until a few years ago, when 25 magical dungeons sprung up and turned the area into a tourist hotspot for wannabe adventurers who fancy trying their hand at slaying. Philipp Seifried, co-founder of Microbird Games alongside partner, Regina Reisinger, says: “Every day, you explore the overworld and complete the dungeon, and then you go back to the village of Hinterberg, where you get to socialise with colourful characters and build relationships; you can have a schnitzel, visit the apres-slay bar or take a boat trip with someone.” The rewards you get for the social elements of the game work as a skill tree, unlocking a new attack or improving your magical defence.
The dungeon crawling combo of combat and puzzling takes place in four main areas inspired by real Austrian biomes, and allows players a non-linear approach to exploration. “It’s a classic action-adventure-type combat, with special attacks to learn and magic skills you can use in combat or choose to go without,” says Reisinger. “The magic skills must also be used in the puzzles and the nature of those varies in each biome or dungeon.”
Yet, unlike most dungeon slaying adventures, in Dungeons of Hinterberg, you are not the “chosen one”. You are a tourist, on a break from your corporate law job, trying to live out your big-boss-battling dreams – just like everyone else in town. It’s a wellness retreat for overcoming demons.
But it is not just about holiday vibes. The idea of tourism also explores themes of ethics, capitalism and the commercialisation of magic. “Tourism is a big part of Austria,” says Reisinger. “People come to hike and ski, and for the landscape and food, so we wanted to ask: ‘What would Austrians make of it, if magic suddenly appeared?’ It is this wonderful philosophical thing. Exploring how different kinds of people would handle that was interesting to us.”
The ski lodge setting also lends itself to the holiday-from-hell vibe. “Alpine mythology has a lot of crazy characters, such as the Krampus,” says Seifried. “There’s a treasure trove of weird creatures that we are drawing from when we are creating the monsters.”
The Persona games made the Microbird team feel as if they had lived in Tokyo as a teenager for a little while, and they are hoping the magical Hinterberg feels like a similar getaway for gamers. “I like games that feel like a place you inhabit for a while,” says Seifried, “I would like people to leave the game with a feeling that they have been somewhere that feels a bit real.”
• Dungeons of Hinterberg launches for Xbox Series and PC in 2024.
