In the great miasma of life there is sometimes an urgent need to stop, to withdraw into oneself and to meditate. Titles such as Firewatch , Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon manage to perfectly articulate the calmer and more relaxed rhythms you need when life presses on the accelerator in an unwelcome way, but it is also true that these are, in any case, games of a little special and not really for everyone.
The degree of simulation and, occasionally, of narrative that can be achieved in these games is truly mind-blowing. Not all titles, however, need massive stories or narrative developments to build a unique and enjoyable experience.
Often it is simplicity that captures the player, and A Short Hike exploits it for as long as we decide to hold the controller and play, without too many pretensions and without anyone chasing us.
After a long drive with her aunt, the protagonist, an anthropomorphic bird named Claire, finds herself at the campsite she visits every year in Hawk Peak park. This time around, though, Claire seems to be somewhat lost in thought, and perhaps there is some connection to a surgical operation her mother will have to have soon. In order not to think about it, Claire decides to make a phone call, but unfortunately there is no field: to find the signal again, the girl will have to climb the mountain and reach the summit . Apparently climbing is a typical thing there, but we don’t know anything else. The dialogues in English and fragmented to give a distinct rhythm to the exhibition leave us, therefore, at the mercy of this little big world full of details,
There is no right or wrong way to play A Short Hike : it all depends on what we want to do. The title leaves us the most complete freedom from the beginning, allowing us to move without actual limitations and, indeed, enticing us to explore every corner of the small world of Hawk Peak, a bit like it also happens in titles like The Touryst. Will we finish the game immediately, focusing on the short but intense journey to the top of the mountain, or will we prefer to explore the environments well, before deciding that it is time to move on? We believe that the journey is better than the destination, and apparently A Short Hike seems to think the same way, as the side missions are quite important and vital in making exploration more engaging thanks to the game’s only real collectible: feathers. Claire is a bird, and the feathers are trivial for her to soar:
the gold ones correspond to the maximum number of wing beats available after a jump (for a maximum of 20), while the silver feathers passively increase the vertical distance. Collecting them is quite simple: just talk to all the people (or rather, animals) that we will find along the way. Many will have something to offer, whether it is a running challenge (or climbing), to find something lost, to fish and much more. In addition to the golden feathers, the missions hide objects common to the genre of the title, which can also be found around and in large quantities, such as Shovels, Pickaxes, Fishing Rods and money. Finally, hats are the third type of object that can be obtained, both as a reward for difficult missions, and through purchase with in-game currency.
Let’s find out what this short but exciting adventure has in store for us!
Towards the end it will be really fun and liberating to soar in the air to discover extremely secret points of the island. And actually we have already said a lot, because the rest of the exploratory experience, apart from feathers, is contained in many small moments that make the world of A Short Hike alive and independent from the player, almost as if it were able to breathe even without his input. This degree of immersion is certainly due to the conception of the game, which is maintained on a very fresh and interesting informality, almost comparable to that of Brian Lee O ‘Malley in Scott Pilgrim vs The World.. Fragmented sentences full of digressions color all the dialogues of this game in a very funny way, although there are still very touching and important moments. To stimulate exploration and immersion in the world , the game contains a series of achievements with rapid completion, which require a maximum of half an hour of play more. Furthermore, these are objectives that are often achieved by simply continuing the game, so it will be very easy to complete them all, especially for the completists.
All the raids and explorations are seasoned with a respectable sound design , which increases the instrumental base as you climb the mountain and instead prefers silence during the moments in which you are at the base of the slope. The lack of a dubbing, then, stimulates the player to fill the holes and sound gaps, making the experience even more personal and characteristic. Finally, it is important to give a huge applause to the graphics sector: A Short Hike demonstrates great mastery in the use of the Unity Engine
, keeping the graphics performance intact even on Nintendo Switch, on which it always runs at 60 FPS granitic. And speaking of graphics, the title allows you to change the amount of details and artifacts even during gameplay, in the pause menu. These changes can give the game features similar to titles from the Nintendo DS era, or why not, even from previous generations, such as Playstation 1 or SEGA Saturn.
In conclusion, A Short Hike turns out to be exactly what it wants to be: a light, intimate and fresh story, with a short duration but full of fun and exciting moments, showing a truly touching realism in the themes, especially in the final notes. It is in our opinion one of the most competitive titles on Nintendo eShop and Steam, especially given its low price. If you are looking for a relaxing, fresh, fun and full of character, yet unpretentious experience, A Short Hike will reward you with lots of love and care.
Pro
– Relaxing and unpretentious, but can be exciting!
– Varied and fun side missions
– Lots of collectibles
– Playable at your own personal pace
– Short but intense!
Versus
– It might be distracting for some
– Little replay value
– English could be a language barrier
– It might be a little … too short for some!
