Dungeons of Hinterberg’s alpine mix of dungeon-crawling and relationship-tending will be upon us this summer, with the fetching cel-shaded blend of Zelda and Persona now having a fresh release date announcement for July. Before then, though, we’ll all be able to spend a couple of days socialising and monster-slaying in the Alps next month thanks to a public playtest.
Developers Microbird revealed their very charming social dungeon-run game last summer, following up with closer looks at its use of Persona-like social bonds as Luisa chats with the residents of the titular mountain village and its more than two dozen Zelda-like puzzle dungeons, in which you’ll delve equipped with the gear and perks acquired from palling around with people between your adventures.
The social side of things is a bit less intense than the ruthlessly efficient calendar-management demands of Persona, letting you happily spend your time befriending folks in order to boost your health, stamina and gain new abilities before taking on the dungeons at the pace that suits you. Making friends ups your stats, gains you new skills and even unlocks extra gameplay features like a photo mode.
Dungeon-crawling, meanwhile, melds hack-and-slash action combat with the puzzley use of items like bombs and grapples, as well as a snowboard. When in the Alps, and all that.
It continues to look great, and it’ll be out on July 18th. Next month’s playtest will run from May 9th to 16th, and offer the chance to see the first two days of gameplay – whether you spend that training, chatting or fighting. You can check it out then by signing up over on Steam.