Hinterland Review
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Technical Issues I've had a hard time getting Hinterland to run. I would normally write this off as a quirk since my computer is hardly the ideal gamer build, but some quick research leads me to believe that I'm not the only one having trouble (almost every thread I've seen on this game has at least one person noting he or she couldn't get it to run). The problems range from early Steam issues to patch-caused problems of invisible enemies to (my personal issue that seems to be happening to multiple people) having to reboot my computer just to start up the game. At times, the problems appear to be on the user end, with outdated drivers or full hard drives blocking the experience. But even after making sure everything was up to date, my issues remain.
When I finally do get the game to start, it takes a bit too long to load up a new game. This is not something I usually take that much issue with, but Hinterland does not really look like the kind of game that needs the kind of resources to excuse long loading times. What's more, Hinterland's formula is addictive but is addictive in short spurts, which works better if the game is easy to exit and start up again (think PopCap games), and this increases the severity of the technical issues and long loading times as they impact enjoyment of the game even more than such issues normally would.
I would be slightly less irked by these technical issues if I were convinced Tilted Mill were pulling out all stops to help fix these problems. Instead, the game was delayed for a while not for bug-fixing but for added content, and since then Tilted Mill has put out another content pack as well, which seems to have caused some additional problems. Not really putting the priorities in the right order, I would say.
I have little to complain about in the graphics & sound department. The sounds are a bit off (the troll screeches in particular I don't really get), but the music is solid. The graphics are simple but effective, high quality enough for you to enjoy the look of your pimped out town or character.
Gameplay Issues
This may sound familiar, but Hinterland is a game that tries to be two things, and ends up not being all that good at either. This is a judgment you'll often hear on these kind of gender-blenders, but it caught me off guard for this title as the gameplay foundation is solid and low-concept, meaning it should be easy enough to mix town building and hack 'n slash gameplay as long as you keep it fun. And Tilted Mill does not fall for the obvious trap of trying to do too much and ending up with an inconsistent mess, but they just might have gone too far in the other direction and ended up doing too little.
Don't get me wrong, Hinterland does succeed in simply being fun. The foundation of world building and character building complementing one another is solid, Tilted Mill did manage to combine the two so that you are concerned and having fun with both, which means neither one needs to be able to stand on its own.
Which is good, because both fall somewhat short on how fleshed out they are. I'd say the town building gameplay is probably better developed, but it too lacks a certain something: a relevant choice to make, one that would offer unique paths of town development and thus offer more variety. At one point you choose to go for a temple of good or a temple of evil and depending on that choice you can get a necromancer or high priest, but other than that the town development depends on limitations from the outside: whether you get the right resources or items to get the people you want. This means that selecting (randomize resources) for each session will make each experience more unique, but without it (and even with it) town development feels (samey) after a few sessions. I would say there is enough variety in types of NPCs, but the functions of different NPCs are simply too similar: farmers, herders and trappers all produce food with varying circumstances and bonuses, but they all basically do the same thing. A bard raises your town quality and a fortune teller/witch produces gold and potions, which is a very simple approach and just feels like squandering opportunities to do something more unique.
The experience is saved when you get the more unique, high-end NPCs (like necromancers and dragon herders) and decking out your high-level guards in high-quality magic items. This is, to put it simply, (pretty cool), and because it takes a while to get that far it has a neat sense of accomplishment attached to it.
