Dungeons of Hinterberg is NOT what we were expecting | Official Xbox Podcast

ANNOUNCER: Games in this podcast range from E to M.

- What is going on, everybody? Welcome back to the official Xbox podcast, the only podcast coming to you from inside Xbox. It's going to be a great show. If this is your first time watching, you know what to do. Hit the like button, the Follow button, the Subscribe button, basically whatever button lets when we put out a new show.

We've got a great one for you. Later in the show, we have an interview about a game that a lot of people are excited about, Dungeons of Hinterberg. Joe got to interview those folks over there and talk a little bit about the game before it comes out. And we're going to go through news, releases, all of these things. But before we get into that, let me introduce to you my two amazing cohosts, starting with the man with the finest mustache in all of Xbox is Joe Scribbles. Joe, how's it going.

- Good. I think every time I-- this is my third time on the podcast. And I think every time, the mustache comes up first. And honestly, I'm afraid to shave it off at this point because I might just-- like, people won't know what to say about me.

MALIK PRINCE: It's your identity. You know, I was thinking about going with your actual title, of course-- editor in chief of Xbox Wired, if I'm not mistaken, right? And that may be a little bit more prestigious.

But you're right. I think the mustache is the first thing people notice. And I think it's just-- if I can intimate a little bit, I'm a little jealous of it.

Not going to lie. This is as much as I can do. For those listening, I Can't go past a little bit of facial hair, so I'm a little bit jealous. But--

- My dark secret is I can't grow it anywhere else on my face. So--

MALIK PRINCE: Oh, so just--

- --this is all I've got.

MALIK PRINCE: It concentrates to right there. OK I love that.

- Yeah, it's thick there because everywhere else it's embarrassing, so--

MALIK PRINCE: It's all right. It's all right. You know what?

We'll get some tips from you on growing an amazing mustache maybe later on. But my second cohost, making her triumphant return to the Xbox podcast, it is Rebecca Gordius. Rebecca, how are you?

- I'm good. I wish I had a signature facial quality like Joe. But, you know, I'm just-- I'm here. I'm living. I'm doing this thing.

- Well, I got to say. Not going to lie. Every once in a while, I see some comments like, where's Rebecca?

Where's Rebecca? And now you're back. And--

- Mostly been my mom.

- That's right. My parents support me in those ways as well. They're like, hey, let me watch my shows.

But I also have to ask about I feel like there was an unofficial Xbox podcast mascot, so to speak. Puma-- Is Puma around?

- Yeah, he is. He's sleeping, as--

MALIK PRINCE: He's sleeping.

REBECCA GORDIUS: --like 20 hours of the day. Yeah, he hasn't-- we moved recently. So my is a little-- this is someone else's room that I'm camping out in.

But they had a nice Master Chief helmet in the background, which is cool. But, no Puma is out in his very cozy bed. He doesn't typically, like, get out of bed until noon. So--

MALIK PRINCE: Oh, oh. OK. All right.

Honestly, I had days like that. Yeah, right, exactly. Well, that room is-- whoever's room it is, tell them that it is amazing. And I'm in my, as people have said, serial killer apartment with nothing on the wall. That's what everyone always says.

REBECCA GORDIUS: And at least it's light now. It used to be so dark when you were joining. It's like, are you OK? Blink twice if we need to do anything.

- Not going to lie, I wish I had blackout curtains. Not going to lie. I prefer it dark, but you're right. I'm trying to elevate the setup a little bit. So if you're listening, just imagine plain white walls. But I'm going to get there.

We're going to-- we're going to get some interior design. But of course, this is a video game podcast. And so we're going to get into, like I said, a bunch of interviews, a bunch of news.

But we're going to start how we always start with what we're playing this week. And I think I'm going to start with Rebecca on this one because Rebecca, you and I have played-- I'm looking at the list here, and we have played, in some way, a very similar-- the same game, actually-- Humanity. And I'll throw it to you to talk about it because I had a great time.

- Yeah, I had a good time too. I had to play it on mute, actually, because-- so Humanity is a game where you play as this, like, ghostly Shiba Inu dog. And the dog has the ability to command groups of, like, this kind of horde of people to go in different directions. And it's basically a puzzle game where you're, you know, commanding the crowd to go in different directions to reach the goal.

But the problem is that every time you command the crowd to do something, the dog barks. And you won't realize it, but think this must be like a real dog's bark, and it must be, like, kind of an alarming one because Puma goes crazy when I play this game because I'm like, it's barking. And so he's like, who's here?

Like, all the hair on his back stood up. I think that Puma is a pretty aware dog. Even, like, when I've watched, like, anime and there's been a dog, he'll, like, bark at the screen.

So like, he can very much tell if there's, like, a dog present. So I've been playing with it muted, but it's still really fun. But it's a shame because the game's music is really cool.

MALIK PRINCE: I was going to say this-- well, a few things on that. One, It's funny that you mentioned. Some dogs, yeah, they're just, like, chilling and living their lives.

But some dogs are very perceptive to not only barks but, like, if there's a dog on screen, like, some people-- some dogs just see it as a screen, others see it there's actually a dog in the room. And so that is a bummer that you have to play without. sound because to your point, yeah, the sound is great.

And I'm actually not into puzzle games. So just to give you a visual, there's probably a B roll on screen. But if you're listening, as Rebecca was mentioning, like, you're literally shepherding, as a dog, a bunch of people into the light.

And so when I'm looking for a game to play on Game Pass, what really catches me initially is that box art. And I think the box art and the trailer a little bit, it kind gave this somewhat social commentary on the world with all of these people kind of headed in a similar direction and towards the light. And after you get through the prologue, you kind get a little bit of a sense of there being a greater meaning to it.

I'm not done with the game. So maybe there isn't a greater meaning. But it does feel like you're kind of leading folks to some sort of idealistic place. But I love it. I'm not into puzzle games, but something about this was really simple.

The people, they don't actually-- like, so you can lead these people off, like, cliffs and stuff like that. They don't actually die. They just restart the loop.

It's kind of hard to describe. It's kind of a hard game to describe, but I would highly recommend folks play it. I think it came out last year, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure. The reviews were really strong. And so if you're looking for a puzzle game on Game Pass, Humanity is the way to go. I've had a great time, and it sounds like, Rebecca, you did too.

JOE SKREBELS: I have to say, I've been playing this recently as well. It's not on my list.

MALIK PRINCE: Oh really?

JOE SKREBELS: The thing that really fascinated me, I put in hours to this, and I still haven't finished it. But I kind of knew what the puzzle game was as I went into it. Like, it's kind of a block directional-- it's almost like 3D Lemmings, if you remember Lemmings.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

JOE SKREBELS: It changes so much over time, like, as you-- because the story is sort of about, like you say, bringing humanity to revelations. And as you go through, it's almost like they're learning new skills. And so the game itself starts changing. And some of the later levels are more like real time strategy than they are, like, puzzling.

And I had not read into it enough to know that it was going to change that much. I was like, cool, I know exactly what I'm doing. And then suddenly, like, they get lightsabers and start fighting. And you're like, wow.

MALIK PRINCE: Oh really?

JOE SKREBELS: OK, this is a whole different thing. It's kind of wild. Like, it's a really interesting thing. So, yeah, big thumbs up from all of us, I think.

- Hey, I think-- there you go. Three seals of approval. Check it out. And I'm pretty sure I even saw, like, you can create your own maps for--

- Yeah.

- --your own puzzles. So that's a really cool, really cool added element of creation for folks who kind of want to build their own levels. But what else have you been playing, Rebecca?

- Yeah, so, well, as I mentioned, I moved recently. So I've been kind of on the go. I went to Seattle to visit family.

So I downloaded the Xbox Game Pass app. And then through that, I've been playing on my phone A Little to the Left. I don't even know if I should call it a puzzle game.

It's, like, pretty simple. It's like an organizational puzzle game. But it's kind of-- it's, it's relaxing. It's nice to, like, complete tasks.

I was talking to a friend the other day about how social media is, like, bad for humans because we're constantly scrolling. But humans have this need to complete things. And so you definitely get that satisfaction of completing these little challenges and little puzzles.

And I really like the art style too. So, yeah. I've been playing that on my phone, but that's about it.

It's been a busy, busy summer so far. But what about you, Joe? What have you been up to?

- Kind of in a similar, like, trying to find something that's reflecting my life to some extent. Actually, this is a bad start because it sounds like what I'm about to say is I'm in a war. I'm not.

I've been playing Unicorn Overlord, which came out a few months ago from Vanillaware, Vanillaware's first ever Xbox game. I think Jeff talked about it on the podcast at the time. I played a little bit of it when it came out and then got distracted, and it's one of those games where it feels really daunting to go back into.

Not too long ago, me and my wife had a baby, and it completely changes how you have to approach everything, including your obsessive gaming habits. And so what I needed to find was a game that I could play in really short chunks but that was exciting enough that if I had, like, three hours free and I was desperate to just play games for as long as possible while she sleeps, I could do that. And the shape of Unicorn Overlord is so perfect for this because it's bit-sized battles, a little bit of exploration in this huge overworld.

I didn't realize how massive this was before I got in. I think I've put in like 25 hours, and I've found two of five regions or something. It's absurd. And it's this sort of riff on classic Fire Emblem strategy gaming but with this sort of slight real time element.

And you're effectively, like, programming how your characters fight. You don't do turn-based, like, press attack now, do spell, now. It's you give them a list of priorities, and they kind of work through that list. So it's effectively like a little bit of programming for them but dumbed down enough that I can do it because I'm an idiot.

And it's this brilliant experience. If you need little bit-sized things, you can just do one battle. It lets you save halfway through a battle in that state, which is perfect because sometimes, you need to immediately run off to deal with some sort of horrible, you know, expellation of something from the baby that she's created. And yeah, so it's this-- it's just a perfect-- it's a perfect parenting game and also a brilliant massive strategy RPG at the same time. So, recommend to anyone else with a four month year old child who won't stop interrupting.

- No, I definitely get those-- I'm looking at screenshots right now, and I definitely get the Fire Emblem kind of inspiration and those kind of older school type, like, looking games. but I wanted to take a step back to-- I feel like summertime is when everyone's getting outside. So, beyond having a newborn, it also helps, you know, sometimes, you just want to play little bit-sized pieces of games and then go on about your life.

But I love that. Anything else? What else are you playing.

- I've been playing a little game called Times and Galaxy, which didn't come out too long ago, which is sort of-- it's sort of a visual novel type narrative game. It's made by a bunch of ex-journalists, and it's about doing journalism but in the future. And so you are a little reporter robot who gets hired by The Times And Galaxy, and you get sent out on effectively reporting missions.

It's like, go and visit this crash and report on what happened here. Or in the second-- I haven't got that far in. The second mission is go and report on a futuristic cat show and just, like, do the grunt work that young reporters have to do. It's this really charming-- like, it's got this sort of classic cartoon aspect to it, a really nice sense of humor.

But it's got this great hook, which is effectively, you're getting the same amount of clues and decision making that you would do in a normal visual novel. You walk up, speak to everyone in an area, put together what the story is, and then you leave. But when you leave, you get to put together the report on whatever you've gone to do.

So you pick a headline, and the more people you've spoken to, the more clues you found, the more headline choices you have. And then the lead paragraph, the context paragraphs, and it's all sort of rated on are you an informational, like, broadsheet-style newspaper, or do you want to be a bit more tabloidy and sensational, or do you want to do-- like, human interest, they call it alien interest. And you shape where the paper's going in terms of what kind of stories you want to tell.

And it's genuinely, like, as an ex-journalist, genuinely quite a nice little summation of how you would do news in that. But it's not as boring as that makes it sound. Like, it's not doing a job.

It's a really funny little charming game, but it has this great sort of tutorial in journalism built into it. It's lovely, like a really nice thing and just one of those surprises you don't get too often. So I'd recommend you go and look it up.

- So which direction is your paper going in? I would definitely choose the tabloid direction.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- Same. Honestly, same. Drama. Come on.

- I'm all, like, AI uprisings if the tiniest thing happens with a computer and, yeah, like, I was trying-- I was trying to sow discord in the alien cat community by saying that one should have one and wasn't allowed to. Like, it's just-- It's good stuff.

- Wow. I love it.

- I know. Who knew you were such a drama king, Joe?

JOE SKREBELS: I know.

- No, but I mean, honestly, controversy gets clicks. This is actually it's funny that you brought this game up. This is the second time this has happened when I think a few months ago or a few weeks ago, I did the voiceover for This Week on Xbox. And I had to read about this game.

And reading it, I was like, I can't imagine what this game looks like. And now hearing you talk about it, it's really interesting. But the second thing that I wanted to bring up, Joe, is this you trying to extend your work life into your gaming and how this affects Xbox Wire? I'm going to do the journalism now asking these questions.

- Yeah, look. What I love to do is to bring my work home with me. And given that I work from home, I have to do whatever I can to do that. Yeah, and-- yeah, you can expect Xbox Wire to get a lot more sensational. We're going to be throwing a lot of shapes.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah,

- Yeah, we're going, full out.

MALIK PRINCE: I love that.

- That was a joke. If any of my employers--

MALIK PRINCE: I know, yeah. Honestly, we do need to call it out because I can already see the comments. Xbox says-- no.

That's awesome, though. Check it out. Be sure to check it out, Times and Galaxy.

For me, as I mentioned a little bit ago, Humanity, I just started playing that last night. Got through a good chunk of it, which was awesome. But y'all, I have a confession to make. I have a confession to make, all right?

I've been living a lie for the past, what, 20-- what's 24 minus 16? 8 years? Everyone knows--

- --played Apex Legends.

- That would be the biggest controversy or revealing in the world because I talk about it so much. But it's actually eight years ago or-- yeah, Titanfall 2 came out. When you think about first person shooter campaigns, maybe you have one of the Halo, pick your Halo. Mine, for me personally, it's Halo 3.

Pick your Call of Duty. I think Call of Duty-- Modern Warfare from 2007 is probably one of the greatest first person shooter campaigns of all time. But then there's another game that if you are a true first person shooter campaign lover, you have to play it that I never played.

And I proclaimed myself as a first person shooter campaign lover, and I hadn't played it. And that is Titanfall 2. I actually-- I played it when it first came out. But for folks who may remember, it came out at the same time as Battlefield, Battlefield One. And so I was going back and forth between the games, and I thought the multiplayer for both games was so amazing.

And so I started the Titanfall 2 campaign a long time ago, but I never finished it. So yesterday, I made it my mission because I knew I was going to be on this podcast, and I said, I'm going to right this wrong. This is my gaming confession.

I need to let everyone know. But I actually finished the campaign. And I got to say, Titanfall 2 is probably, in my opinion, the greatest single player first person shooter campaign of all time.

I think it is-- moment to moment, you are like, over the course of about six hours, which is telling that I didn't-- it took me so long to finish it. But over the course of six hours, you're taking on this blockbuster-esque ride with your amazing you know, titan BT. And just, like, there's so many, like, recurring themes in it, and just the story is great.

The action from moment to moment is great. And of course, as an Apex fan, it's great seeing all the guns that I know so well in Apex and where they kind of originated. And so I want to pose it to our listening audience.

Is there a gaming confession that you would like to join me in confessing to the world? Leave it in the comments section below. Be positive, of course, but this is one that I literally have wanted to come back to for so long, and I'm glad I did because I finished it and I was almost in tears. But I cry easily now. But yeah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, that's just a massive praise. You know, it's funny you say the Titanfall 2 campaign was really good. I've actually never really been much of a single player campaign person. Like, I've done them here and there, but I usually opt for the multiplayer instead. So maybe I should check it out.

- I highly recommend it. It's just-- I don't know. It's just like an emotional tale between a pilot and their titan. And it's just so good. Joe, have you had a chance to play Titanfall 2's campaign.

- It's unbelievable. Like, the--

- Yeah.

- It's also one of those games where I don't really-- I'm bad at remembering-- like, when someone's like, what's your favorite side quest of all time, that kind of thing, I'm so bad at remembering details.

- Same.

- --like the vibes of the game are what I remember. But there's two missions in that campaign, and there's only about eight or nine missions in the thing, that really stick in my head, which is-- I think one's called Effect and Cause, which is basically a time travel mechanic that's added to the game. So you're sort of switching between two timelines. This was a long time ago I played this.

Malik, am I right? Keep me honest. Was it--

MALIK PRINCE: I think-- if it's early in the game, it's a long time for me as well. But I vaguely remember loving something similar to what you're talking about. Yeah.

JOE SKREBELS: Yeah. And then there's another one where you're going through this, like, assembly building for houses or, like, bits of villages. And so you're jumping from platform to platform as entire bits of housing are built around you by giant machines. So it's sort of changing the cover as you're playing.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

JOE SKREBELS: Which is just-- like, I've never seen a game do anything like that before. It's just-- it's amazing.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, we're going to move in just a bit. But yeah, I just want to end by saying that Respawn, what they built in the Titanfall 2 campaign, just, again, to the points that Joe is making, like the varied nature of that campaign, I don't think that I've ever seen a more flexible campaign with how it moves moment to moment and just making everything feel fresh.

So again, Titanfall 2, it's been out for eight years. I know I'm late. Everyone who's probably listening is like, oh, great.

Malik is telling us something we already knew. But I just wanted to give you-- I just want to come on and kind of confess that I've finally beaten the campaign, and I can call myself a first person shooter campaign lover again without reservation.

JOE SKREBELS: That's fair.

- Thank you. Thank you. I needed that.

All right, so let's move on to talk a little bit about news and some of the news that were announced recently. We have Monster Hunter-- excuse me, not Monster Hunterr.

Completely different game-- Monster Jam-- Showdown, which is coming out in August. And again, like, it's funny. We were getting ready for the show, and I opened the trailer, and it was just what you would assume is monster truck music playing in the background-- over the top, fun nature, racing, monster trucks, I think, you know, off road, arcade experience kind of game, those kinds of games that I think folks can play and take them back to their childhood when they would go to the arcade, for example, and just put a few quarters in.

And so that's coming out in August. So be sure to preorder the digital edition now and get ready for it because again, who doesn't love monster trucks, and who doesn't love racing, and who doesn't love arcades? It's got all of those things.

Cool, and then we have Overwatch 2 and a Transformers collab, which is out now and runs through July 22. It features four all-new legendary skins for some of Overwatch 2's heroes, and you can fight in epic battles of Autobots versus Decepticons. And so, yeah, be sure to check that out. Again, it's running through July 22.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Dang, Overwatch have some really great collaborations.

MALIK PRINCE: They do, right?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JOE SKREBELS: Yeah.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

JOE SKREBELS: If you to find out a bit more about that, we have an Xbox Wire article, shameless plug, with one of the artists talking about what it was like to turn Reinhart, the massive knight with a hammer, into Optimus Prime, which, when that comes across your desk as a job, you must just be like, yeah, this is it. This is what I wanted to do.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

- Yeah. it's really funny just seeing like, the enthusiasm that this guy has for being asked to draw a big robot man. I love it.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

- Like, what a cool collab.

MALIK PRINCE: 100%. News.xbox.com to check it out. And then we have a free to play frenzy.

You know, we like throwing stuff your way, and there's a lot of free to play games out there. And so we wanted to highlight a few of them from July 9 to July 22 where you have special free to play Game Pass Ultimate perks for games like XDefiant, Warframe, The First Descendants, and Stumble Guys. And so lots of great free to play games if maybe you're strapped for a little bit of cash and you just want to play awesome games that a lot of people are playing.

Check them out. And then again, with this, from July 9 to the 22nd, tons of Game Pass Ultimate perks such as loot, bonus loot skins, and all those kinds of things. And so be sure to check those games out.

All right, now let's talk about some new releases. Maybe you're looking for something new to play, something that just came out. We've got you covered beginning with Neon White, which is out for Cloud Console and PC July 11, a lightning-fast first person action game about exterminating demons in heaven.

That is a pitch right there for a game. Yeah, so Neon White, and are any of you excited to play? I'm sure like this is going to be a really cool game.

JOE SKREBELS: This is one of those games that's been out on other platforms for a little while and I've just never had the chance to pick it up. And it coming out on Xbox is an excellent excuse for me to do it because I can say it's for work. And yeah, it's a fascinating concept.

It's this-- it looks like a super stylized first person shooter, but it's really built around-- effectively, it turns speed running, which is kind of something that people put their own spin on whatever games they're playing with speed running, into the game. So it's sort of finding ways to get through these levels in as quick a way as you can by using these different cards to do different abilities, which can be attacks or movement.

Just an amazing looking thing. It already has an enormous fan base, but I think if you, like me, haven't come across or haven't had a chance to play this yet, what a great opportunity to do it. Yeah, super excited to try this out finally.

- Nice. Awesome. And then we have Tchia, out on Cloud PC and Xbox Series X and S, of course, out today. Now, Rebecca, I hear you're excited about this game.

- Yeah, I am.

- Tell us a little bit about it.

- So I've been-- well, I've been looking at wedding venues in Hawaii lately. And so I've been all about Moana and Lilo and Stitch and all of the kind of like South Pacific stuff. And this looks like that, but it's an open world exploration game.

Like, it's really cool. There's even-- and then I love the art style. The game director talked about being inspired by games like Zelda and Grand Theft Auto. I wouldn't have thought you would say those two things in the same sentence, but-- I'm not sure about the Grand Theft Auto piece.

But it looks really beautiful. You play as a young woman who's exploring the South Pacific looking to save her father. You can soul jump into different, like, animals and objects and use their power, which, I always love games where you get to kind of, like, be other people and other things.

There's a lot-- it's really deep, like, really beautiful-looking game, and it is out today. So be sure to check that out. I will be checking it out.

MALIK PRINCE: There you go. There you have it. And then we have The Case of the Golden Idol. This is another one that I recently saw the box art for, and I was, like, really intrigued by. Basically, it's mayhem, magic and murder.

So, I mean, there you go. That's another great sales pitch. Examine clues to solve the twisted mystery of a family's cursed inheritance and a series of grisly deaths. Again, unique art style.

You can just, again, tell that straight from the box art. So that is going to be out. It's out now. It actually came out on July 9. So be sure to check that out.

JOE SKREBELS: Case of the Golden Idol, one of my favorite games of recent years. Like, straight up just an incredible thing. I can't deny that part of it for me going in was that it's made by Latvians.

I have Latvian heritage. I have never heard of a game being made by Latvians before. So I was like, let's check this out.

Turns out, absolutely incredible. Won all sorts of awards. I actually finished a full playthrough of this for the second time, like a day--

MALIK PRINCE: Wow.

JOE SKREBELS: --before it was announced for Game Pass. And I was like, I'm just going to go back. I'm going to have a third playthrough of this game.

It's just one of the smartest point and click-inspired-- if you played Return of the Obra Dinn, it has a similar sort of clever concept around finding knowledge in the environment and then plugging that into answers. So every murder is sort of a single screen. You have to examine all the clues, and then it will go, OK, use all these clues to fill in who all these people were and how this murder happened.

Just incredibly smart game design all the way through. Has a really weird, like, alternate history story as well. And its sequel is coming out this year, which is set in an alternate reality version of the 1970s.

And that's coming. I cannot wait for this. Yeah, just a wonderful game. So-- and it's on Game Pass. So just go and pick it up.

- There you go. Just try it out. And again, I think we've talked about this a lot these past few weeks and months.

Honestly, it's just the diversity of where games are being created and allows it to bring unique gameplay elements, unique styles, and, as you mentioned, just really kind of go in depth on one thing, but just kind of just-- I don't know, just do things differently. And so it's great to hear that you loved it and interesting to hear that there's a sequel coming out. So this is your chance, with Game Pass, to check this one out before the sequel arrives.

So, love that. And then flock available on day one with Game Pass. This is a new release coming out day one on Game Pass on July 16.

It's a multiplayer co-op game about the joy of flight and collecting adorable flying creatures with your friends. And again, what could be better than that? All right, and then Magical Delicacy, another day one with Game Pass.

It's a metroidvania-inspired cooking/witch game. Wow. OK, Rebecca, I feel like you-- I see that you have looked into this. Tell me a little bit about it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, I actually was so bummed. I thought that it was coming out this week on Game Pass, but it's out next week on Tuesday, I believe, on the 16th. This one looked really cool. It's almost like a-- it reminds me of like a pixelated version of, like, Kiki's Delivery Service, where the story follows a young witch who is, like, trying to come into her witchdom, witchhood.

And so she, like, makes different, like, treats and like, brews things for the local village. And yeah, it's got a really cool, like, pixel art style. It's a platformer.

Yeah, it looks really cool. You explore this town. You deliver tasty treats to the townsfolk.

You discover different, like, secrets and interact with other witches along the way. So it looks really cool. Any kind of game that involves cooking, I'm like, what is it? I want to play. So, yes, I would recommend checking it out.

It's cooking. It's witches. What's not to like?

- Yeah, I mean, again, I just pulled it up, and pixel art, like, absolutely, 100%. Like, this is the most pixel art looking game, and I mean that in the best way possible. But that's awesome.

And I also love any game that you can cook in because it allows me to do something in a video game that I can't quite do in real life. Moving on. Moving on.

A little too close to home. So let's see. Dan, we have the game that took 2024 by storm, honestly.

It has a brand new update. We're talking about Palworld-- Sakurajima, excuse me. The update is out now. It's the first major update of the game, and it explores a brand new island.

And you can encounter tons of new pals-- of course, people looking for new pals to capture and catch. You challenge yourself with a new raid. And just again, as always, play solo or with friends, something that I think that when the game came out earlier this year or maybe late last year, earlier this year, yeah, people were just-- they just loved it.

And so again, new update, first major update, is out now. So there you have it, a bunch of new games to check out in Game Pass. Let's move on to some announcements.

We have the Minecraft marketplace. The summer celebration is back from July 2 to the 16th. Get up to 75% off select items in the Minecraft marketplace.

Players can try different ways of playing Minecraft. You can snag a free world based on the Tricky Trials update that just released, if I'm not mistaken. Some Pac-Man DLC is out. You can play through two new starter packs, start your own mining empire. So again, just tons to check out in the summer celebration in the Minecraft marketplace.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, Minecraft. just passed their 15 year anniversary in--

MALIK PRINCE: I know.

- --May or 15 year birthday. I can't remember which one they called it, but it's cool. I mean, yeah, Tricky Trials, you said it came out a few weeks ago.

It's a really cool update. Minecraft does, like, one big free update per year, And this was their update. I think it was really focused on creating different, like, challenges and adventures.

Like, even Tricky Trials, it's kind of in the name. So there's a lot of really cool stuff to check out in Minecraft. they're kind of constantly adding things. So it's a good time to hop in for the summer celebration.

- Like, 15 years-- like, that is unbelievable and still one of the most played games of all time. And it's because of, you know-- you know, celebrations in the Minecraft marketplace like this that just gives folks new ways to play, new DLC, all of these new items. Shout out to the Minecraft team, you know?

Shout out to you, Minecraft team, if you're listening. But yeah, so there are some games to play, announcements of sales, all those great things. And now we're going to take a little bit of a turn because the date that we've been waiting for, Dungeons of Hinterberg, it's almost here.

The game is almost out. And Joe, earlier, you got the chat with the creative powerhouses behind the game, which we've seen a few over the past few years at different events. And again, like, July 18 is right around the corner. So let's not waste any more time. Let's dive into the interview with Dungeons of Hinterberg.

- So you'll remember Dungeons of Hinterberg from when it was revealed at last year's Xbox Game Showcase, and you might remember Regina and Philipp, co-founders of Microbird, who were on this very podcast last year. Welcome back, guys.

- Hi. Thanks for having us again.

- No worries at all. We're very excited to talk about Dungeons of Hinterberg. We've waited a long time-- a year, in fact-- for it to arrive since we first saw it revealed, and it is now launching next week, July 18.

It's coming to Xbox. It's coming to Game Pass day one. And to start off, how are you feeling? You've had this game sort of in people's psyches for this long. Now that they're actually going to be able to play it, how do things feel?

- Yeah, it's astonishing. For you, it's been a year. For us, it's been four years. Believe me, that's a sizable chunk of our adult lives. It's extremely exciting for this to come out now.

- It feels very real suddenly. So we're really excited for it.

- Yeah, I can imagine. And for those who might not have read a lot about Dungeons of Hinterberg, we've done a lot of coverage on Xbox Wire in the last year. So really, if you're listening to this podcast, you should have paid attention. But if they haven't come across the game, how would you sum it up? What's your pitch for the game?

PHILIPP SEIFRIED: So it's a mix of action, RPG, and social sim elements, and it takes place in a little town called Hinterberg right in the middle of the Austrian Alps-- so, center of Europe-- where three years ago, 25 magical dungeons appeared out of nowhere. And these Dungeons attracted adventurers and tourists from all over the world. So you play as such a tourist.

You've come to Hinterberg for a vacation and to slay monsters, to solve magical puzzles, to gather epic loot, all the good stuff. And so every day, you venture into one of four biomes, find a dungeon, perhaps complete the dungeon. And in the evening, you get to hang out with tons of locals and other adventurers or tourists from all over the world.

- I've been lucky enough to play 8 or 10 hours of the game at this point. Had a lovely time doing it. Has this real, like, actual vacation vibe to it, which, I know that's sort of built into it, but I wasn't expecting it to get across that feeling of decision making when you're on a holiday.

Like, the best way I can describe it is when you go on holiday and you're like, is today a rest day? Do I go and lie down on a sun lounger for a while, or do I go out and explore something? And usually I don't end up killing kobolds, but you know, that is a real possibility in Dungeons of Hindenburg. How did you come to that vibe for this game? Because I think that's one of the most notable things about it, that feeling of not just being on a straightforward quest but sort of deciding your way through it.

- Both Regina and I, we really love it when, you know, games give you an interesting place to explore and to be a part of for a while when you just have sort of a home in the game, a vacation home, if you will, that you can come to every evening. And so that is something that the idea started with, that we looked at other games where we felt this was really like, you know, getting away to some place that felt real to us. And we-- you know, when we started, COVID had just started as well.

So flying was not much of a thing. So Regina and I, we took a little trip through Austria and visited all kinds of, you know, places in the Alps and thought, wouldn't this be an interesting setting for a video game? I think that's how we got off with the concept.

- And Austria isn't a common game location. It's not a place that we're used to visiting. What does that offer you? You know, are you kind of free to sketch in that space if people aren't used to seeing it already in games?

- Yeah, we were kind of hoping, like, to offer something that people maybe are kind of vaguely familiar with from media. Like, you know, kind of maybe skiing or the Alps, or maybe you know about Mozart or Sound of Music, but it's probably not a country that, like, everyone has visited, obviously. So we were hoping it has this kind of appeal and brings something familiar but is something where you think, OK, going there would be cool, and in a video game, why not? So, kind of offering a new and fresh take, and we like games that have this slice of life feel where you're transported somewhere else and you are in a kind of real place, even if ours is kind of, yeah, seasoned with magic on top. And so we thought this is actually a good sweet spot of something that people would want to see-- cool landscapes, nice mythology to explore, but yet not something that everyone is, like, overly familiar with.

- Yeah, and I think slice of life is a really interesting turn of phrase there because I think one of the things that maybe people won't know until they get their hands on the game is that this isn't just an adventurer goes on a journey. Luisa, our main character, doesn't have this feeling of having turned up and someone comes up and goes, you have to save the world or something along those lines. We have this backstory to her. There's a mystery that sort of starts building in Hinterberg itself. Can you tell us about Luisa and the story you're building here and tell us why it's a little different to those sort of hero's journey tales that we're quite used to?

- Yeah, just as we wanted to have the game based in this real place that then has kind of magic on top, we wanted the character to start out as somewhat very normal. Like, she's actually a law trainee. She says about herself that she's done all the right things in life, like studied, got a degree, picked a reasonable career.

And now that she's, yeah, in her adult life, she's kind of like, oh, I'm actually not really happy with that, and I'm not enjoying it. And she's on the verge of burnout and really needs a vacation. And this just really needing a vacation from everyday life is something that I think a lot of people can relate to.

And she starts out with this normal person who is just like suddenly wants to escape her life and goes to Hinterberg because, yeah, it's the closest place to experience magic and do dungeons. And only after a while there she starts realizing, oh, maybe it's not all as it seems, and you can start seeing that there's something else to figure out going on. And this kind of builds the main story. And without spoiling too much, yeah, it starts out as a vacation and then becomes a bit of a bigger quest, let's say.

- Yeah, it's fascinating to sort of take that journey with her because of that, like you say, that very human element of-- there's real kind of grounded reasons for her being there that are more than just there's magic and I want to get some, which I think is really important to how you approach it. And I think one of the interesting things that sort of connects to is-- and to the holiday stuff as well, that diversity of experience as you play the game and help Luisa makes the decisions about what she's going to do with her time in Hinterberg.

And this is one of those games where it almost feels like a spoiler to talk about the mechanics to some extent because you turn up in new places and get new things. And the way those are utilized-- like, some of those dungeons, without giving anything away, is-- I turned them on, and I went, oh, this is very different to what I was expecting to do here. I think you kind set a baseline of dungeon crawling and puzzle solving early on, and then you go wild with some of those ideas, which I think is amazing. But were you always aiming to make something that shifts quite this much mechanically as you play it?

- We always-- like, we have this-- at the core of our concept is kind of that you have these four biomes. And from there, you go into the dungeons, and each of those biomes and the Dungeons have their own kind of set of magic skills. So those change and the kinds of puzzles of course, you can solve and how you approach them or how you move through these four different biomes also changes with it. And this was the core of it for us, that we wanted to have these different flavors.

And with that comes kind of different kinds of dungeons. And then I think something that came on top of it as we built it is that for certain dungeons, we really break out on a more meta level. So, like sometimes, the perspective shifts.

Sometimes, you're more or less in an isometric view. Sometimes, gravity doesn't behave as you like. And I think we always wanted to have these little wow or surprise moments in there. But yeah, part of it, of course, developed as we went along and thought, wouldn't that be cool and wouldn't that fit here really well.

- That's something interesting about-- and a lot of game developers have that wouldn't this be cool impulse. But having done a lot of interviews over the years, a lot of people have to save those for the next game. How did you sort of build the courage to go, no, actually we're going to build this wild extra thing that might only get used once or twice?

- So I think here, it's quite an advantage that our team is very smart. We are 10 people, three programmers at the moment. Used to be just two until a year ago.

So you have basically people knowing the code base very well. You have very short communication lanes. There's not a ton of hierarchy involved. So you can basically be in a room and everybody understands the systems quite well and what they can do, which means you get to play with a little looser than if you're in, like, a huge corporation, and there's three levels of code reviews until something makes it into production. I think here, we can draw from the fact that we're quite nimble and agile because we are so smart.

- I think that's a fascinating way of looking at it. You know, it's so easy to look from the outside, and as someone with no practical experience in game design, it's very easy to look at that and kind of go fewer people means less ability to kind of go wild with those ideas. But it's really cool to hear that being a small team can bring you there.

- It's kind of less about, if I may, sitting in a room and thinking, well, what else could we do, but more thinking about, OK, these are our systems. Wait, I have an idea how we could, you know, tweak those a little bit, and then we can do this extra weird thing. And that's kind of the ideation process a lot of the time.

- Yeah, I'd love to dig into those spells a little bit as well. Like you mentioned, there's something-- I think one of the more unique features is, you know, in these kind of games, when you unlock spells, you have spells throughout the whole game. Those are effectively an item.

But here, spells are tied to the area that you find them in for story and design reasons. And I particularly love the fact that that sort of limited pool of spells in each place means that they're used for exploration and combat. And is that a design challenge, or is that a design freedom? Like, where did you land on that? Was it hard to come up with spells that define an area, or was it nicer that you didn't have to find a way to use them everywhere?

- It's kind of a bit of both, I think. Like, of course, one of the reasons we didn't want to have all the spells at the same time is because it can be kind of chaotic, and it's not so easy to design a puzzle where you know, how people will approach it. On the other hand, of course, having these limited spells means that it stays fresh all the time.

Like, the game is quite non-linear. The biomes kind of unlock one after the other but rather early in the game. And from then on, you are free to go back and forth to wherever you want. And some dungeons are, of course, gated behind something, or there's kind of a main storyline.

But you are, every morning, quite free to let Luisa go wherever you want. So it has this kind of inherent benefit that it doesn't get old easily. I can use my magic hoverboard on the glacier one day and then travel in my whirlwind in the forest biome the next day.

And this-- yeah, I think this is kind of an advantage in keeping things fresh and switching back and forth, also in the thinking about the puzzles. And concerning making skills for puzzles and combat, I think it was definitely an iterative process for us to have an idea for a skill. Maybe, I don't know, you know, you want a glacier biome, and it's easy to come up with the idea of, OK, a magical hoverboard or a snowboard would be really, really cool.

And then, of course, you still have to think, OK, but how would it work in combat? What are the restrictions? It was really important for us that skills would be meaningful for puzzles and for combat, that it wouldn't feel like, I don't know, combat is an afterthought. So there was quite a lot of, I would say, iteration and trying around and defining the really right behavior.

- And we haven't spoken about the social aspects all that much either, which is such a huge, huge part of this experience. So, you know, you've gone out on your adventures during the day. You've come back to Hinterberg in the evening.

Everything's sort of subdivided into these periods of time each day. Can you talk us through what the process of decision making is for a player in those moments in the evenings where you're choosing the people to talk to and why they would choose one person versus another.

Yeah, so every evening, you come back to Hinterberg, and there's a lot of different NPCs that you can forge relationships with. And I think we haven't mentioned it yet, but you get rewards for deepening your relationships with these characters. So it's almost a little bit like your skill tree. Reaching a new level of friendship with an adventurer or a tourist or a local could, for instance, give you more MP or HP.

But it could also unlock whole systems, like photo mode or a combo counter or a weapon upgrade. So all that sort of stuff. So you can kind of be a little bit cynical about who you befriend. You can say, well, I really want weapon upgrades.

So I'm going to hang out with the weaponsmith lady, even though I hate her guts. No, she's lovely. Or you can just hang out with whom you like to hang out with, with whom you vibe well with.

And it's also not like you have to finish. There's 25 dungeons in the game, but it's not like you have to finish the game in 25 in-game days. In fact, you can play it as chill as you like.

So if you're really into a person and you want to finish sort of the relationship branch with that person, then you're absolutely free to do that. You can spend your days in the overworld. You can spend your afternoons not going into dungeons and just hanging out at, like, a scenic spot where you can meditate a little bit and think about your life and then come back to Hinterberg and, you know, go for a drink with a famous adventurer.

- I think that is a really important thing to get across is that the sense of relaxation that the game offers you alongside those sort of skill-based action moments and that ability to take it at your own pace and even decide your own pace through the different upgrades and things like that. Like, I certainly went for the photo mode unlock as soon as I could.

REGINA REISINGER: That's a good one.

- But you know, I think that ability to talk through that, you know, with those characters and understand how you want to progress through the game is such a big part of it. And we are running up against time, so we won't give away too much more. But everyone will be able to play the game from July 18 on Game Pass on Xbox.

Very exciting to finally get our hands on Dungeons of Hinterberg. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast, and yeah, hopefully, we'll speak to you after the games come out and has been a rip roaring success. So, thank you so much, and yeah, we'll see you soon.

- Thanks so much for having us.

- --having us.

- All right, thanks to Regina and Philipp. Again, Dungeons of Hinterberg out next week. The art style looks amazing, but what I took most away from the interview is, you know, at the beginning, when they were talking about, yeah, it's only been like a year or two since we've seen the game, but the team has been working on it for so long, and it was just very evident just the passion that they have for a game, creating, and, like, again, it's reflected not only in the art style of the game but just the gameplay.

And so great job, Joe. What are-- any thoughts coming out of that? Yeah.

- I just love speaking to smaller teams like this and just seeing--

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

- --because it's not-- you know, obviously, it's a business concern. They want to do well out of this and make a career out of it in the way that they're approaching it. But it comes from this place of they've got a super specific thing to say, a super specific game to say it with.

They're showing off their home country with it. Like, there's so much about this game. There's little details like the food you can buy that I've gone and looked up and been like, oh, this is a super specific Austrian delicacy.

And I love seeing that personality come through, and you can really hear it with them. Like, they've been on the podcast before, and I've edited a lot of articles about the game so far. It's just-- it's a really lovely project, and I think people are, you know, excited for this. It was in last year's showcase, that kind of thing.

But especially next week, when we've just gone through a bunch of games that have just come out or are coming out on Game Pass-- next week, there are some incredible games coming out, not least Dungeons of Hinterberg. But we've got Kunitsu-Gami. We've got Flintlock.

It's such a good time for the games coming to Game Pass. I really implore you to go and check this one out. Like, it's. It's so different, so lovely looking, and it comes from such a good place.

Like, I just-- I wish them all the best. Like, I think it's such a lovely project. I'm really glad we've gotten behind it like we have.

- Yeah, and again, just to plus one the point, like, this is one of the best parts about the podcast. Rebecca, I know again, like, you know, you've been on the podcast more than any of us on here right now and just getting to-- always getting a chance to speak to developers and hearing about their passion projects and then getting to go and play the game and, like, experiencing the things that they've worked on and that they were talking about. And it's just awesome.

And so I'm sure you're-- you're moving. So I don't even know how you're going to find time to play all of these games. But there's just so much coming out.

- Yeah, I mean, it's honestly-- like, that's something that's stuck out over the years-- yes, years-- of doing the podcast in--

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

- --like, there are all of these really incredible, like, high quality games that are people's passion projects, and they're so accessible on Xbox, especially through Game Pass. I mean, so many of these are day one titles or coming out later. It's really great, the library that Game Pass opens up to people.

- Yeah, yeah, definitely. So again, check it out next week when it releases on Xbox Series X and S, PC, and, of course, Game Pass for PC and console. So there you have it.

That is our show, wraps it up. I think we've left you with plenty of games to try. And again, I want to hear your gaming confessions down below.

Be sure to leave us a comment. But before we leave, any parting words from my two amazing cohosts? I'll start with you, Joe. Anything you would like to tell the amazing fans?

- Just please read Xbox Wire. It's full of really good stuff. I work really hard on it. No--

REBECCA GORDIUS: It's not a tabloid yet.

- It's always a pleasure.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah,

MALIK PRINCE: Not yet.

- We'll see. We'll see what-- we'll see what managerial approval looks like for that plan when I submit it. But no, it's always lovely to be on the podcast.

- Yeah.

- I'm sure you love being in your nice studio, but when you want to do a remote one, I'm always here hours and hours away.

- There you go.

- But yeah, no, just a lovely time.

- Yeah, and if I may, like, again, not just because you're here, but the team on the Xbox Wire have been just crushing it. Like, again, I haven't been on for quite some time, but the Hellblade features you all were doing and, of course, coming out of showcase, just the-- not only the amount of stuff that you all had to cover because we had one of the greatest showcase. I

Feel like I'm talking about it and it's a month ago, but I haven't been on the show. What an amazing showcase. But just the team has been killing it.

So, shout out to you and the entire Xbox Wire team for just producing some of the best content, if I may say so myself, in the entire industry. Of course. Of course. And Rebecca, any last words for our amazing Xbox faithful fans?

- Yeah I mean, the only thing I'm going to say is I need to dig my headset out of storage somewhere so that I don't have to keep playing Humanity on mute. But that's my plan for this weekend. But there are a lot of other really good games coming to Xbox Game Pass this weekend that folks should check out. So see you online.

- Absolutely, and--

- --all of us.

- Yes, I will.

- Yeah.

- I'll bark at him.

- Tell him the fans, the listeners, missed him. We missed Puma. But it was great having you back on again, was a person that I would consider a staple. Fans and listeners and viewers have missed you on this podcast. So it's great to have you back, of course, Rebecca.

That's it, y'all. Hopefully, we left you with something to go and play. And of course, in the summertime, it's hot out there.

So stay hydrated. Do all the things to keep yourself well. And hopefully, you have a great weekend of gaming ahead of you.

Thank you so much for watching. We will see you next time, next Thursday. Have a great one.