While The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild set an incredibly engaging template for the future of Nintendo’s adventure series, there’s something to be said about the formula of the original 3D Zelda games like Ocarina Of Time and Twilight Princess. These games thrust players through tightly designed challenges that tested their mettle and ingenuity with Link’s latest set of tools and abilities.
If you’re a PlayStation owner with a soft spot for this kind of classic action adventure game, PlayStation’s newest release is worth checking out. Dungeons of Hinterberg is not only an enjoyably faithful homage to the early 3D Zelda games, it adds some familiar social elements from other contemporary RPG classics to make it one of the best cozy games in recent years.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is a dungeon crawler set in the titular fictional European alpine village. Players assume the role of Luisa Dorfer, a burned out attorney vacationing here hoping to find purpose. In the last decade or so, Hinterberg has become a popular tourist destination after the discovery of 25 monster-filled dungeons of varying difficulty, and the strange phenomenon that grants people who come here the ability to cast magic.
In the game's opening hours, Luisa gains access to a handful of useful powers to help her with melee combat and puzzles. Long time Zelda fans will be familiar with some of these powers, like the remote bombs and makeshift platform builder. Others like the tornado attack and snowboard, are entirely new and create opportunities for really cool puzzles and level challenges.
Half of the game’s action is about exploring the open regions of Hinterberg, discovering increasingly difficult dungeons, special loot that makes you more capable, and serene views to restore your stats. Each of these dungeons is satisfyingly fun to solve too. They managed to be difficult enough to put up a real challenge without frustrating the player with something out of left field. Even combat, which also borrows heavily from the Z-targeting fights of the N64 and GameCube-era Zelda games, is enjoyable once you start upgrading your abilities with perks and gear.
Luisa isn’t just here to explore and complete the 25 dungeons littered across Hinterberg’s five regions. She also gets to know a colorful cast of visitors and locals. Celebrity dungeon crawlers, journalists, local politicians, rebellious teenagers, and many others staying at Hinterberg’s commercial and residential hubs each have a story about what brought them to Hinterberg. Getting to know these characters, completing conversations and taking up side quests makes up the other half of this wonderfully chill experience.
Like Atlus’ Persona series, Dungeons of Hinterberg splits the player’s day into three parts: The morning, used to pick where you’ll be exploring for the day, evenings where you’ll have a chance to prepare for the following day and develop relationships, and nights, where you’ll have some alone time to recharge your battery with a good book or TV. And just like Persona (or the recent Metaphor: ReFantazio), it’s easy to get into this appealing daily rhythm.
Along the way, the game presents a fairly interesting look at tourism’s impact on local industry and inhabitants. It can be a little heavy-handed (as noted in our review), but its message ultimately sticks the landing.
What brings this package together is the vibes of Dungeons of Hinterberg. It’s a gorgeous game with a distinct, cel-shaded look that feels both classically dreamy and reminiscent of the CalArts style of today’s best western animated series. The fictional town of Hinterberg is equally gorgeous to behold, with beautiful snow-capped mountains, miles of grasslands, dank swamps, and all manner of colorful landscapes between. Hinterberg is as cozy as video games get, despite spending half the game swinging a sword at monsters.
Dungeons of Hinterberg was one of the best, most charming games I played last year. It’s a gorgeous manageable RPG full of interesting ideas and even more interesting puzzles. And its chill, picturesque energy makes it the perfect game to play on the weekends with a cup of coffee or tea. PlayStation owners should jump at the chance to play this one themselves.
