“It’s much better to ask the player to do something interesting once, than to ask them to do something mundane multiple times,” says Microbird Games.
“We believe that achievements shouldn’t be dependent on the player replaying the game over and over again — even if they’re extremely difficult, the player should at least theoretically be able to unlock every achievement in a single playthrough,” Microbird Games said. We recently spoke to developer Skaule, who shared similar sentiments about how Magical Delicacy will introduce Xbox achievements that you can earn in a single playthrough.
“So achievements can’t be mutually exclusive – for example, there shouldn’t be an achievement to complete Dungeons of Hinterberg in 25 days if there are other achievements that require the player to stay longer than that,” Microbird Games continues. The information shared about Dungeons of Hinterberg before launch mentioned a “25 dungeons in 25 days” challenge, so it’s good to see that there won’t be an achievement tied to that that prevents you from doing other things, and you’ll be free to take some days to just relax or explore.
“There is a very slight change in the ending related to the amount of time the player spends in the game… but ultimately we really want players to decide for themselves how they want to approach their stay in Hinterberg. It’s perfectly acceptable to stay as long as you enjoy it and finish each story with each character if that’s what you want,” says Microbird Games.
“We think achievements are a great opportunity to entice players to explore the game and its systems and engage in parts of it that they might not otherwise touch but might end up enjoying,” Microbird Games continued. “A hardcore player who visits Hinterberg for dungeons or monster-killing might not try to buy gifts for the village NPCs. But with an achievement attached to it, they might discover that the characters they’re hanging out with offer something useful in return, if they get a cool gift. We also think achievements should never be boring – unless they’re about something the player is already doing anyway. It’s much better to ask the player to do something interesting once, than to make them do something mundane multiple times.”
Dungeons of Hinterberg launches today with Xbox Game Pass. We got an early start using a code from the publisher, and we had a blast — check out what we thought of our first impressions of Dungeons of Hinterberg! Thanks again to the development team, and if you’re looking for more information on the game, be sure to check out our upcoming interview as well.
