This week I played A Short Hike on Steam, a game developed by Adam Robinson-Yu. The target audience for this game could be anyone who can understand the language it supports. I played for about one hour. During this time I collected two Golden Feathers, learned how to climb, went fishing once, and after talking with a rabbit, I started helping her find a red headband. In A Short Hike, walking is actually the way that the story is told.
At the beginning, I thought my main goal was simply to climb to the top of the mountain. However, after playing for a while, I realized that the game almost never pushes me to do that. Instead, I kept going different directions because I found something interesting on the road. For example, sometimes I saw another character standing beside the trail, so I went to have a short talk with them and discover some new small tasks or storyline. Sometimes I noticed a small path that looked worth exploring, and sometimes I just wanted to see what was behind a hill. I think this is one of the smartest design choices in the game. Walking is not only movement, but also exploration. The game lets players discover the story by themselves instead of telling everything directly. You can also explore everything according to your own choices and enjoy your own story.
The main mechanic is very simple: walking, climbing and collecting Golden Feathers. These mechanics create a dynamic where players are encouraged to explore in their own pace instead of rushing to complete objectives. The aesthetic is not excitement from combat. It helps players feel relaxed and happy while discovering different plots. I noticed that even though the aim of the game is to reach the mountain top, I was not thinking about making to the spot as fast as possible. Instead, I kept going different directions and talking to different NPCs. That feeling made me continue walking naturally.
Another thing I like is how the environment tells the story. There are very few long conversations. Most of the information comes from what I see and encounter while walking. Different areas have different activities and different characters. For example, after I learned climbing from the fox, I found out that many places I could not reach before became accessible. So I went back and explore those places again and I got a golden feather using the skill of climbing I just learned. The game does not force me to follow one route. Instead, it rewards my curiosity. This is a good example of environmental storytelling, because the world itself encourages players to understand it through exploration.
The NPCs are also designed around walking, instead of standing in one pot permanently. During my play session, I met several different characters by simply following different paths. One rabbit asked me to help find her red headband. I probably would never receive this small story if I only focused on climbing the mountain. These optional interactions make the island feel alive. Different players may meet different people in different orders, so everyone creates a slightly different experience. This gives players more agency, since the story depends partly on where they decide to go instead of following a fixed sequence.
Compared with another walking simulator like Dear Esther, I think A Short Hike gives players much more freedom. In Dear Esther, players mainly follow a linear path while listening to narration. In A Short Hike, I can decide where to walk, who to talk with, and even ignore the main objective for a while. Because of this freedom, I feel more connected to the world and less intense because I could plan my own time. Walking becomes a meaningful choice instead of simply moving to the next checkpoint.
If I were the designer, I would probably add a few more environmental hints in the early game. Sometimes I was not sure whether I was going in the right direction or whether I had missed an important area. I actually enjoy exploring, but I think some new players might feel a little lost during the first hour. Small visual hints could help players without reducing the freedom of exploration too much.
