“Dungeons of Hinterberg” is a game about vacation, so it is also a game about tourism. People flock to this fictional Austrian village not for skiing or sightseeing, but to explore dungeons, fight monsters, and use magic. The protagonist, Luisa, comes to Hinterberg for stress relief and fun, but by the end of the game she is knee-deep in questions about the impact of the commercialization of magic on the town. [Phillipp Seifried, co-founder of Microbird, said in an interview with PC Gamer, “It was certainly an issue we wanted to explore from the beginning. There's a huge debate about tourism in places like Barcelona, where millions of tourists visit every year.”

“Three years ago the magic appeared, but before that it was a sleepy tourist destination,” said co-founder Regina Reisinger. People came here for hiking and skiing, but it wasn't a grade-A tourist destination; it was just a run-of-the-mill, ordinary place before the magic and weirdness happened.” It's this balance and tension that intrigues us.” The impact of the advent of magic on the city provides much of the central focus of the game. [When talking about the inspiration for Hinterberg, both Regina and Philippe spoke of the Austrian city of Hallstatt.

“There is a lot of discussion about what to do with it. But at the same time it affects the place you're visiting.” [If you own a restaurant, you can benefit greatly from visiting that restaurant. If you run a restaurant, you are secure for life, but if you are a schoolteacher, your livelihood is not necessarily enhanced by the thousands of tourists who pass by every day.” In Dungeons of Hinterberg, both locals and tourists ponder magic and its effects as the village mayor becomes increasingly determined to commercialize the village. The game never completely takes sides, however.

“We didn't want to make a political statement. We wanted to show you where things really are.”

Regina said that the developers “don't want the game to argue for or against. We want the game to explore all the layers. And this is the perfect sandbox where we can have a variety of characters that some will like and some will not, and let them speak to all sides of the issue”

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The diverse ways in which the characters in “Hinterberg” tackle the issue is one of the game's strongest parts. The mayor, of course, forms a large part of the game's story, as does her willingness to market the city internationally and compete with other magical hubs. She is comically greedy in many ways, almost caricatured, but there are moments in the game when even she seems dangerously reasonable. Hinterberg's tourism industry has already begun, she argues in one scene, and without the dungeon, that industry would disappear overnight, as would jobs and the economy. It's a ghetto politician's argument, but it's not a lie.

Other characters express their opinions as well. Alex, Luisa's first friend in the Hinterberg, defends the dungeon industry when Luisa criticizes it, arguing that it is good for people around the world to experience magic and share something special. Klaus, a famous mountain climber turned dungeon trainer, is distressed that as the village becomes more crowded, the dungeons are becoming less safe and less respectful of visitors.

Collecting trash left in the wilderness and dungeons and selling it to him is a great, if sad, way to make money.

Thea, a local teenager, sarcastically criticizes, through the veil of careless adolescence, how the money-obsessed government is indifferent to the ordinary lives of Hinterberg's citizens, while Gertrude, a wealthy widow who visited Hinterberg long before magic appeared, laments the sleepy mountain town where she first fell in love. And then, of course, there is Luisa herself. She has come to Hinterberg to relax, but is torn between her own desires as a tourist and the impact of the dungeon on the town.

Despite the magic, dungeons, and monster slaying, this commentary is effective because it is firmly rooted in reality. Regina said, “People have asked me before if the same thing would happen if magic and dungeons appeared in real life.” Regina said. 'Yes, some parts of this game seem absurd, but we thought about it. It's human nature to think, oh, shiny new thing, I can do so much with this. And then we rush ahead and maybe in five years we'll start thinking about regulation. [But commercialization and the kind of politicians who take away these opportunities are very universal.

You can read more about Dungeons of Hinterberg's balance of engaging puzzle adventure and social elements of the town in my review. The developer also spoke to me about why this game is not your typical cozy game.