While I’m as excited as the next person for the imminent Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, I’m perhaps even more curious about the arrival of Dungeons of Hinterberg. Having spent ten hours in its magical alpine town, I’ve found myself completely enthralled by its charming characters and political strife. While there’s still a little over a month to wait for the full launch, a new, expanded Steam Next Fest demo allows you to try out a good chunk of the game for yourself.
I recently had the chance to experience the first 15 days of Dungeons of Hinterberg, and found it to be a supremely satisfying RPG packed with interesting magical abilities, fun puzzle solving and combat reminiscent of classics such as Okami, and a fascinating story premise. You can read our Dungeons of Hinterberg preview for my full thoughts, but suffice to say I’m very eager for the full game to arrive.
The appearance of 25 magical dungeons in the otherwise ordinary town of Hinterberg has seen it transformed into a tourist destination where budding adventurers, influencers, and those seeking personal fulfillment gather. Protagonist Luisa starts as the latter, a discontented law student, but quickly adapts to her new life, which flips between daily excursions out to tackle the increasingly challenging dungeons and evening sojourns into town to spend time with locals or her fellow explorers.
Every character you meet has a story to tell, and each can also bestow additional benefits on Luisa as you spend more time with them – from upgraded stats and combat abilities to bonus loot or even access to new dungeons altogether. These combine with the magical powers you’ll discover in each region, all of which are used both in combat and to help solve environmental puzzles in and out of the dungeons.
The new Steam Next Fest demo lets you get hands-on a month ahead of the Dungeons of Hinterberg release date. It’s an upgraded version of the previous playtest, with developer Microbird adding a sprint button (by default, Luisa speeds up a short while after you start running) and improving the target lock during combat.
You’ll also have the ability to explore an additional region, the snowy peaks of Kolmstein. This means you’ll be able to try one of my favorite abilities, the magical hoverboard that lets you zip down slopes and grind across rails.
The Dungeons of Hinterberg demo is available now on Steam. It’s part of Steam Next Fest, which is set to run through Monday June 17, so don’t wait around if you want to try it out – head here to download the demo and play it now. The full game is set to release on Thursday July 18.
Alternatively, have a look through the best fantasy games for many more magical adventures, or discover plenty of memorable tales among the best story games on PC.
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