Game Design Breakdown: A Short Hike
A cozy game that respects player’s time, encourages exploration, and reminds me of Banjo Kazooie.
A Short Hike is a game about hiking to the top of a mountain. On your way, you meet other creatures and people on the island who ask you to do things for them as they help you get to the top. I really enjoyed playing this game and felt like I’d achieved something at the end. I’ve picked out some of my favorite experiences and wrote about them below.
Playtime
The major thing I want to call out here is that this game is very intentional about the player’s time. It not only is under a few hours of playtime, but also is intentional about keeping the player in the moment for certain scenes (I’ll get to this at the end of the article).
Exploration
Not only is the world beautiful and stylized, but it’s fun to explore because of the light questing and collection. In order to make it to the top, you need golden feathers to increase your climbing ability. Because you need to purchase these from various vendors or find them throughout the world, you’re encouraged to explore all the nooks and crannies.
Flying Mechanic
I spent a lot of time going back up and down the mountain, looking for items. The flying mechanic was a really delightful way to get down and around easily, and help explore little caves and nooks on the side of the mountain.
I found this reminiscent of Banjo Kazooie’s Treasure Trove Cove, which asked the player to glide around to get to high up caves to collect Jiggys.
Pausing to Reflect in Your Achievement
Once you reach the top of the summit, the game makes you pause to take the scenery in, while you’re waiting for the moment where the story ends. I won’t spoil it for anyone so I’ll leave out the climactic part, but once that happens, you’re rewarded with a beautiful glide down the mountain, and are able to continue exploring, racing other creatures, or just chatting with people.
Definitely take a few hours to play this through. It’s well worth it.
Also be sure to check out the post-mortem from the creator: https://youtu.be/ZW8gWgpptI8
