Dungeons of Hinterberg Interview – Gameplay, Inspirations, Post-Launch Plans & More

If you’re tired of the ordinary and mundane life, why not head to the alpine village of Hinterberg? That’s exactly what Luisa opted for, a burnt-out law trainee seeking a new adventure. Hinterberg is home to dungeons, just begging to be explored and conquered, but beyond that, there are people to connect with. As you’ll find out later, this gameplay should feel a bit of a mix between The Legend of Zelda and Persona franchises.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is heading our way tomorrow. Fortunately, we had the chance to speak with the folks over at Microbird Games, which consists of Regina Reisinger and Philipp Seifried, gaming industry veterans. If this game slipped past your radar, here’s everything you’ll want to know before it hits the marketplace!

Gameranx: Am I correct in that Dungeons of Hinterberg is the debut title for Microbird Games?

Microbird Games: That’s correct! Both of us have worked in the industry for quite a few years before starting Microbird. We’re a couple and have actually worked together at two other game companies before, but this will be the first title for Microbird Games. 

Gameranx: When did development start for Dungeons of Hinterberg?

Microbird Games: When we both found ourselves out of a job at the beginning of 2020, we decided that it was the perfect moment to make a long standing dream come true, and work on our own project. We came up with the idea and concept for Dungeons of Hinterberg, and immediately felt that this could be something special that we really wanted to do. 

Gameranx: Were there any particular games, films, or novels you drew inspiration from when developing this title?

Microbird Games: We are both big fans of Zelda games, as well as the Persona series, and we thought: why not combine the Action Adventure elements like combat and puzzles with the social aspects of Persona, and put it into a charming and unusual setting that we know very well? This is how the concept of “Dungeons of Hinterberg” was born.

A lot of our art inspiration for Hinterberg comes from outside of games: we studied illustrators like Jon Juarez or Pierre-Abraham Rochat, in terms of VFX we took a lot of inspiration from “Into the Spiderverse”, and we bought and read many graphic novels during our early days of working on the game.

Gameranx: I understand Hinterberg is a mysterious mountain resort where dungeons suddenly appear. What inspires our protagonist, Luisa, to conquer these dungeons? 

Microbird Games: Luisa is a young, burnt out lawyer who’s a bit sick of her city life and wants an escape. She comes to Hinterberg to have an adventure and experience a bit of magic to help her figure out what she wants to do with her life. After a few dungeons, she quickly gets drawn in and wants to conquer them all. Especially after she discovers that all may not be quite as it seems…

Gameranx: Is this an open-world game where players can freely explore, or are we tackling these dungeons in a specific linear order?

Microbird Games: It falls somewhere in between actually. We’re a small team, so we tried to balance the sense of exploration with the hand-crafted dungeon experience.  It’s not a true open-world experience but there are 4 large and visually distinct biomes to explore and you will have plenty to discover as you venture out from Hinterberg each day. Likewise, there isn’t a specific linear order in which you need to tackle the dungeons. In fact, you can choose not to even do a dungeon on a particular day. You may want to explore and just find a place to relax and boost your stats instead.  

Certain biomes and dungeons will be inaccessible from the start and the player will gain access to these by building relationships in the village as well as through certain events in the story. 

Gameranx: How would you describe the combat? 

Microbird Games: From the beginning, we wanted the combat to be accessible to everyone and certainly didn’t want to create a souls-like experience. It’s fairly arcadey hack ‘n slash gameplay, coupled with magic skills and some other systems that give you a number of different facets to your attacks. 

As you build relationships with characters in town, some will give you access to additional systems like sword enchantments, a combo counter, or special attacks that you can use to tailor to your style of play. 

Gameranx: Throughout the campaign, players will socialize and build friendships. Are we potentially adding an extra helping hand in the game during our ventures into dungeons?

Microbird Games: That’s definitely the case. Building relationships with people in town will have a direct impact on your adventure. It was really important to us from the start, that the Social Sim and Action RPG aspects would be connected in a meaningful way, and inform each other.  Forging friendships might reward players with special attacks, unique items, or even unlock little gameplay systems – all of these things will be really useful to help you in your dungeon exploration!

Gameranx: Can you update us on where you’re at in the development process?

Microbird Games: We are launching on Xbox Series, Windows PC, Game Pass, Steam and Epic Games Store on July 18th!

Gameranx: We’re seeing Dungeons of Hinterberg coming out on Game Pass at launch. Was that always the plan?

Microbird Games: Microsoft have been fantastic supporters of the game since the beginning and being included in Game Pass at launch is something we’re proud of. ID@Xbox is a great program supporting indie games and we’re happy that all the Game Pass subscribers will be able to play Dungeons of Hinterberg from launch.

Gameranx: Do you have any post-launch plans for Dungeons of Hinterberg?

Microbird Games: We are absolutely working on some ideas and hope to share as soon as we can.

As mentioned, Dungeons of Hinterberg is set to release tomorrow, July 18, 2024. The game will be available on Xbox Series X/S and PC platforms. But, if you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you’ll gain access right at launch.