In some ways, the formula for Tilted Mill’s Hinterland is reminiscent of Sid Meier's latest iteration of Pirates. There's a few basic game mechanics that are highly refined, exceedingly repetitious and extremely addictive... to a point. Its combination of Diablo-esque RPG combat and strategic city building offers a game mechanic that can keep you up far too late for three or four consecutive nights. Once you stop playing, though, you probably won’t go back to it. But then, what more should you demand from a Steam distributed game that costs just $20?

In Hinterland you create a character who has been tasked with accomplishing two goals: Building a new town on an unnamed kingdom's frontier, and clearing said frontier of nasty beasties, in the process securing various resources that increase the “quality” of your town, like stone, herbs, or fresh water.

You start by creating a character based on one of about a dozen or so archetypes, such as Knight, Courtesan, or Assassin. The type of character you choose determines which aspects of the game he or she is particularly good or bad at—for example, the Knight starts with better equipment (arms and armor) and is better in combat. However, he’s also the poster child for government waste, as it costs more to recruit citizens to your burgeoning village; likewise, money generating structures like Taverns produce less gold. If you start off as a Merchant, it's much the opposite. It's a pretty basic formula, but there's a lot more room for variance and nuance than in these examples and Tilted Mill has done a superb job of exploiting all the different character themes you might want to explore.

With your character created, you’re dumped in your "town," which at this point consists of a single Outpost building (think town hall). You do, however, have two visitors to the town that are each proficient at a specific job: farmer or fortune teller, for example. These visitors can be convinced to stay if your town meets their prerequisites and you have the money to build the type of home they require. A farmer needs you to build a farm so he can produce food. A fortune teller needs you to build a tent and provide a crystal ball for her to use in telling fortunes for money.

Some of these structures can be upgraded a level or two to alter or enhance their basic functions, such as the cattleman's ranch, which can be upgraded to a Dragon Ranch that, if you can supply it with an egg, provides you with a dragon follower. Some structures can be upgraded along different paths. A craftsman's shop can be updated to a fletcher or smithy. If you build a smithy it can be upgraded to specialize in arms or armor. Discovering the types of visitors you can recruit and how their homes provide benefits to your town and how those homes can be upgraded to enhance those benefits is where a lot of the fun in Hinterland resides.