A Short Hike (2019)

A Short Hike reminds me of childhood memories of camping, a magical time of exploration. Though the characters are anthropomorphic animals, and the graphics are crunchy, the player is lead on an adventure through a national park that feels quite real and nostalgic. It definitely resonated with gamers because it won an award and was nominated for several others.

Hawk Peak Provincial Park has a lovely atmosphere. While the game takes place in summer, there are areas that feel autumnal, and others that feel wintry, so this is a perfect game to play no matter the season. How long your vacation lasts is up to you, as there are plenty of areas and activities to explore. Taking your time to enjoy the sights is highly encouraged.

I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a respite.

Oui je sais, ce n'est pas terrible de rapprocher deux jeux dès le titre. Ca les empêche d'exister indépendamment l'un de l'autre. Mais ici la référence semble totalement assumée.

Dans ce jeu, vous jouez un petit oiseau qui a été envoyée en vacances chez sa tante sur l'île où sa mère avait l'habitude de venir en vacances. Problème de tout adolescent: il n'y a pas de réseau téléphonique ! On vous informe que le seul moyen de capter sur l'île est d'escalader la montagne. Mais c'est une sacrée randonnée, même quand on a des ailes ! Il vous faudra donc accumuler des réceptacles d'endurance, des plumes d'or, en aidant les autres résidents de l'île avec leurs petits tracas du quotidien.

J'aime beaucoup ce genre de petits open world. Vous pouvez faire les petites quêtes dans l'ordre que vous voulez, votre zone de jeu s'élargissant à mesure que vous récoltez des plumes d'endurance. Vous pouvez explorer à votre rythme.

La musique est reposante, les personnages sont adorables, l'île est un appel à l'aventure. J'aime beaucoup le choix de direction artistique de proposer des graphismes pixelisés en 3D cell shadée un peu comme les vieux jeux NIntendo 64/Gamecube. au final j'ai joué sans le crénelage mais je trouve la possibilité vraiment cool.

Une de mes meilleures surprises cozy de l'année 2023.

I was never bored but I got frustrated a lot. It is set up with a fixed camera, which could be fine, but it does some wonky stuff with directions that makes the game needlessly confusing.

Short enough and "free" with GamePass, so I am not upset at having played this. I feel like it starts and finishes strong but a lot of the "meat" in this sandwich left a bad taste in my mouth overall.

A Short Hike is a pleasant little game. Its basically a walking sim game mixed with light platforming and collecting elements. You meet various charming characters as you hike up this little mountain. The game's plot and interactions has some musings on life.

A few small gripes, is that hike can be a little disoriented for the spatially challenged among us. The inventory system can get a little overloaded once you have too many items. Finally you may not naturally encounter every character as you can take many ways up the mountain. However most of these complaints don't matter as the game is short and incredibly undemanding. You can put in as little or as much effort as you like into the game and reach the end all the same.

As alluded to in the game's title it doesn't take long to beat. Depending on how much of the games you choose to interact with I imagine the game could beaten in under 20 minutes, I took about two and half hours.

I wouldn't go out of my way to play it but if you've already got in your Steam or Epic, its a pleasant time if you're in the mood for something light.

I honestly was not expecting to enjoy this game as much as I did. It was such a pleasant surprise that I'm still riding the wave of calm that washed over me as I played it. A game that's on every top '10 cozy games' list, and for good reason.

The graphics and music work very well and create an excellent atmosphere. It's got a little bit of that pixelated charm as well, though I didn't notice it so much as I played.

The mechanics themselves were super easy to get the hang of and by the end, once you've 'leveled up', pretty OP and fun in the best way possible. Gliding was my absolute favourite thing to do, especially once I got the diving mechanic down. Important to note, if you're the kind of gamer to check every nook and cranny, double back on where you've been once the character's skill set has increased, and talk to NPCs multiple timse to see if anything has changed, this game is absolutely perfect for that.

The writing for the dialogue between characters - so witty and pure. Most interactions left me smiling, or at least chuckling. One thing I loved about the 'plot' if you will, is that the main character is going through their own journey, but never loses kindness to others along the way. You can choose to help literally everyone you meet, some in small ways, some in more significant ways. And the ending - stunning.

All of this, and it was only a few hours of gameplay (that's with taking the time to explore every nook and cranny to my content and help everyone I came across).

I strongly recommend this if you're looking for something simple, fun, and wholesome. I might pick this up again in the future just to relive the pleasant experience and soak in the vibe.

Bought this in a Switch sale a while ago knowing it was the game for when i just needed to relax. Played through this on a couple flights to/from stressful work engagements and it definitely hit the spot.

Dialogue is way more refreshing than I expected and because of how laid back the game is, I felt no real obligation to DO EVERYTHING like I would in other games. I wandered around, got lost trying a few things and eventually decided to finish the game. The movement is enjoyable and the puzzles are just hard enough to make you stop and think, but never block progress.

I would suggest this game to anyone that just wants to "play".

Playtime: 6hrs

Completion: 100%

Price: $7.99

Worth? Yes definitely, if you aren't aiming for 100, maybe on sale anywhere around 3-5.

The actual hike is like the least important thing even though it's the main quest, at least for me it was because I completely avoided the hike until I had basically completed everything else, I already had like 16-18 gold feathers (20 total) + 2 silver (2 total), and ended up finishing the hike in around 5 minutes, it is suggested to have around 6-8 and I had 10 more then that and silver ones, so it ended up being really easy.

Gameplay - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, I had a really fun time just running around the island and finding chests and feathers, the minigames (beachstickball, fishing, parkour races, and others) were really interesting, the hidden achievements from beachstickball was probably the hardest to get in the end. The races were really enjoyable because Avery gets faster each time (if you win over and over) from 'learning from you' and gives a good challenge, and an achievement if you win all courses. Fishing is less of a minigame then it is actually main game, like it is one of the most time consuming bits of the game but also the most rewarding and fun seeing all the rare variations of the fish, my favorite being 'actually rainbow trout'. There's over 20 fish, a book with tips on locations, and a seagull who buys them from you, and an achievement at the end for selling every fish. I feel my playthrough was around 2 hours of minigames, 2 hours on fishing, and 2 hours of actual exploration and the hike.

Sound - ⭐⭐⭐ The background noise and music is nice, but it isn't constantly being played, so you might need something more in the background, or use this as a chance to listen to a podcast like I did as it wasn't much of a strenuous game or entirely great sound base.

Graphics - ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Could do with some better zoom, and fully rotational camera, but graphics are customizable with 4 pixel sizes, big and cruchy (low pixel count) is the default, I personally played on the small and sharp setting (high pixel count), I think that definitely improved my enjoyment rather then the large.

Story - ⭐⭐⭐, The main story is likely good in retrospect, but I completely avoided the hike til endgame, so my intro to the story and my end to the story were not really the best.

Overall - ⭐⭐⭐⭐, If you're aiming for just a short hike, you'll probably get about an hour or two of this game, you'll likely enjoy it. If you like exploration you'll probably get more enjoyment then just the hike, because finding all the feathers and exploring the world was quite fun. If you enjoy minigames you'd get the most enjoyment, because this game really is at least when going for 100% just about the minigames, and if anything a fishing game rather then a hiking one.

This game was just great from bottom to the top.

I feel like this game was an example of a developer knowing what they want to do and did it well. It's short but it's all fun the entire way through. I went into the game thinking it was somewhat linear. The game then surprised me by being fully open for me to explore in whatever way i wanted. There's no pressure, nothing at stake, you just gonna go for a hike and enjoy it.

I was scared this would be too much Metroidvania, but it really wasn't. I pretty much rushed through it, it took me exactly one hour to get through, while still doing some side quests, some of which aren't even necessary to beat the game.

The gameplay is terribly simple which adds to the fun, but the actual feel of it is great too. It's really fun to travel through the map faster and faster with upgrades you make (by either exploring or buying objects, mainly feathers). You can walk, run, fly, climb and ride a boat (and maybe more which I might have missed). It all feels very smooth and frustration is pretty much non-existent in this wholesome little adventure.

Oh man, there was a lot of good stuff in this showcase. So excited for Spiritfarer, Garden Story and A Short Hike on Switch. I might hold out for physical copies of each.

Also co-op Goose craziness!

Edit: nope, couldn't wait on A Short Hike. I'll just buy it again if there's a physical edition, lol. The dev deserves all the monies.

So... unlike literally everyone else in the world (or that seems based on my Twitter timeline) I don't have Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Thankfully, I found the perfect game to help me relax and give me a few smiles during this difficult times.

A Short Hike is adorable. You can finish it and reach the peak of the island in less than two hours, but this little sandbox is full of little surprises, delightful dialogues with other characters and mini-games in every corner. It is a really wholesome game.

You can read my not-actually-a-review in GamerFocus (in spanish). I make my argument about why this is a great alternative to ACNH even if they don't really are in the same genre.

I have a real soft spot for games that offer nice places to spend one's time. A Short Hike is like a little stylized playground, with many small (yet surprisingly varied) areas to explore and collectathons to opt into (or not), all tied together with a pinch of narrative to lend its ending some emotional impact. I really enjoyed it!