One of the more pleasant and unexpected surprises from the Xbox Showcase was Dungeons of Hinterberg, the debut title from new studio Microbird Games. An action-RPG set in a fantasy version of the Austrian village of Hinterberg, Dungeons of Hinterberg has already drawn praise due to its bright, cel-shaded visuals, and Zelda-like combat and puzzle-solving. The title is definitely buoyed by its unique and captivating art style, which is somewhat reminiscent of another one of 2023's great surprises - Hi-Fi Rush. Similar to Tango Gameworks' entertaining action-rhythm game, Dungeons of Hinterberg's unique visual style helps it to stand out from the other titles revealed at the Xbox Showcase.
Dungeons of Hinterberg puts players into the shoes of Luisa, who uses her trusty sword and travel guide to venture into dungeons that dot the landscape around the Austrian Alps. Blending both modern realism and dark fantasy, Luisa's trips into these dungeons involve lots of monster slaying, some puzzle solving, and a suite of clever traversal mechanics. The title very clearly wears its Zelda inspirations proudly, and there's even a bit of Celeste influence in terms of the game's setting and protagonist. In addition to its use of a similar visual style, Dungeons of Hinterberg follows in Hi-Fi Rush's footsteps as another day-one Game Pass title.
Dungeons of Hinterberg Continues a New Heyday for Cel-Shaded Games
After being one of the more popular visual aesthetics during the 6th console generation (especially when it came to both the PS2 and GameCube), cel-shaded games fell out of vogue as more powerful hardware gave way to greater capability at generating photo-realistic graphics. The visual style has had a bit of a renaissance in the last few years, helped by the success of titles such as Persona 5 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Just this year alone has brought Hi-Fi Rush, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Superfuse, and Minecraft Legends, with more cel-shaded titles slated for the remainder of 2023.
Dungeons of Hinterberg continues the resurgence of cel-shaded art styles with its fantastical take on the Austrian Alps, and the title's dungeon crawling and combat is elevated by the game's art direction. In addition to the in-dungeon segments, Luisa will need to occasionally return to Hinterberg to build relationships with the locals and gain their assistance in ridding the area of the goblins and other monsters that seem to be inhabiting the countryside. Just like Hi-Fi Rush, the use of the cel-shaded art style adds levity to the title through exaggerated animations and a bright color pallette.
Footage revealed of the title so far illustrates how the art style helps to make combat appear more cartoonish through the use of plenty of particle effects, billows of animated smoke, and damage numbers that pop up as animated indicators to show the player how much HP they've taken off of foes. All of these on-screen elements add to the charm and are common in cel-shaded titles, but hopefully they don't interfere with the ability to make heads or tails of what's happening on screen, as was sometimes the case in Hi-Fi Rush.
Somewhat surprisingly, Dungeons of Hinterberg is being developed by Microbird games with assistance from the creative arm of the Austria Wirtschafts Service, or, AWS. The AWS is a state-sponsored Austrian bank that provides funding to various companies, and the organization is assisting Microbird as a way to help get Dungeons of Hinterberg out as a travel advertisement. It's clear that the developer has a solid understanding of the natural beauty of the Alps, and the art style used in the title helps to bring its locales front and center. With some lofty goals based on its influences and a captivating art style, Dungeons of Hinterberg could be every bit the surprise hit that Hi-Fi Rush was.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is currently in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.