As the game A Short Hike nears its ending, protagonist Claire finally reaches the top of Hawk Peak, a mighty goal she had her eyes on throughout the game. Upon arriving, she basks in the wonderful views and a sense of pride for how far she has traveled. At this moment, Claire receives a call from her mom, who shares that same pride and comments on how much Claire has grown and how far she has come. While the statement initially sounds like a mere observation about growing older, considering the exploratory journey that had led Claire to this ending, it takes on a more profound emotional meaning. From my reading of A Short Hike, the game presents a fantasy of coming-of-age that does not require abandoning childlike curiosity or wonder. Unlike many games that tie growth and achievement to mastery or successful task completion, Claire’s emotional development emerges from wandering itself. Often, this includes getting distracted from the main objective, exploring simply because something looks interesting, helping strangers with small requests, and slowly learning to navigate uncertainty with increasing confidence. In this sense, the game aligns closely with Melissa Kagen’s discussion of wandering games as experiences that resist formal productivity structures and instead frame movement and exploration as meaningful in themselves.
Image 1: Claire’s mom reflects on how much she has grown at the summit of Hawk Peak
Through my gameplay, A Short Hike constantly encouraged Claire to drift away from sheer efficiency and instead engage with side quests, conversations, and freeing moments of exploration, which I would argue contributed the most to her emotional growth. At the beginning of the game, hiking up Hawk Peak appears to be the clear central objective. While reaching the summit remains crucial to the plot, the game consistently interrupts attempts to optimize or speedrun that process through frequent digressions and distractions. Rather than punishing this wandering, the game actively rewards it in an emotional sense. For example, I spent much of my time collecting seashells, learning how to fish and catching my very first fish both in real life and in a video game, learning how to play Beachstickball, helping people search for missing items, riding a motorboat by myself, and simply gliding around the island because something in the distance looked interesting. Many of these moments technically pull Claire away from the “main” goal, yet they become the experiences that shape her the most, leaving me, as the player, feeling content with my choices.
Image 2: Claire learns how to fish, a small side activity that enriches the game’s sense of exploration and wandering
Throughout this journey, the game also gradually teaches Claire how to approach the strenuous climb up Hawk Peak not simply through physical skill, but also through openness to new people and experiences. I found the island to be constantly nudging Claire into conversations with strangers who provide both practical guidance and encouragement along the way. One conversation teaches her that she needs several golden feathers in order to successfully climb Hawk Peak, while another ropes her into joining a rock climbing club where she slowly gains confidence navigating difficult terrain. Along the way, Claire is also forced to make small choices that may seem trivial to the main objective, yet still shape her emotional maturity and morals. One moment where this stood out to me was when Claire agreed to keep an eye out for a marathon runner’s lucky headband. Later, another character handed Claire a different headband and told her to pretend it was the missing one. At first, Claire goes along with this, but when the marathon runner notices it is not actually hers, Claire confesses the truth. To my surprise, the interaction still ends positively because the runner chooses to interpret the replacement headband as a sign of extra luck because it once belonged to a successful runner. Moments like these make Claire’s journey feel human, as she learns to navigate uncertainty and ambiguous decisions while wandering across the island. These moments reminded me of Kagen’s discussion of the Romantic wanderer who discovers meaning and emotional transformation through exploration. Similar to the Romantic wanderer, Claire’s journey across the island slowly grows her confidence and establishes a stronger sense of self than what she came in with. That being said, while Kagen discusses dramatic, solitary wanderers, Claire’s growth rather emerges through playful exploration and small moments. By the time she reaches Hawk Peak, the journey feels less about conquering a mountain and more about the emotional growth she experienced while wandering toward it.
Image 3: Claire collects golden feathers, small discoveries that gradually build her confidence/ability to reach Hawk Peak
Taking a step back, A Short Hike presents coming-of-age as a process of becoming more comfortable with uncertainty without losing one’s sense of wonder. By the time Claire reaches the summit of Hawk Peak, the journey feels meaningful not just because she completed a goal, but because wandering across the island gradually reshaped her confidence and perspective on exploration. In this way, the game reframes maturing not as abandoning childlike curiosity, but as learning how to carry it with you while growing older.
Hi Varsha! I really enjoyed your reading of the game as a commentary on coming of age. This is something I hadn’t considered but now resonate with after reading your thoughts. In many coming of age stories, growth is usually represented through increasing focus, discipline, or mastery where characters mature by becoming more goal-oriented and efficient. A Short Hike almost seems to reverse that logic, as Claire becomes more emotionally prepared for the phone call not by single-mindedly pursuing Hawk Peak, but by allowing herself to drift, experiment, and connect with others along the way. I also appreciated your point about the “small moments” of moral and emotional uncertainty, like the headband interaction, because it highlights how the game treats maturity as something subtle and interpersonal rather than heroic. Even mechanically, the golden feathers embody this idea well, for Claire’s growth is gradual, exploratory, and tied to openness rather than conquest. I like how you captured the idea that the game reframes wandering itself as a meaningful form of emotional and personal development rather than merely a delay from the “real” objective.