A Short Hike

Developer: adamgryu | Released: 2019 | Genre: Adventure, Exploration

This was a charming little exploration game on an island with steep cliffs. As the blue bird Claire, I could run around, get simple quests from other people, collect coins for buying golden feathers, and float – no flying upwards! That would be cheating. Golden feathers had to be collected to be able to climb steeper cliffs. The goal was to climb to the top and receive a phone call there.

The game sported a pixelated retro look, but it was possible to change the size of the pixels. I made them as small as possible, making for a sharper look. The excellent music added to the already quite charming atmosphere. I also played with a gamepad – a lot better than using the keyboard.

It didn’t even take me two hours to get through it. However, I saw in screenshots on the internet there were locations I never found, and I also never watered the sprouts. So it does have some replayability.

Pros

  • Charming and relaxing exploration almost devoid of anything to stress you out.
  • Claire runs and swims fast and can get virtually anywhere you can see.
  • Sometimes more ways than one to get onto that higher cliff.
  • You can find various tools, for example a shovel for digging up coins.

Cons

  • Swapping to other tools in the menu takes one more click than you would expect.
  • I experienced two crashes to desktop while exploring the upper snowy cliffs.

8/10

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