"I never get tired of this view. Claire, you're gonna have a great time here this summer!"

A Short Hike is an adventure video game developed and published by indie game designer Adam Robinson-Yu (also known as adamgryu).

Story
In A Short Hike you play as Claire, young bird who spends her days off by traveling to Hawk Peak Provincial Park, where her Aunt May works as a ranger.
During her visit at the Park she awaits for an important phone call. Unfortunately cellphone reception is only at the top of Hawk Peak, forcing Claire to go and reach the summit.

Gameplay
If case you haven't figured it out yet, in A Short Hike your main goal is to take...a short hike, to the top of the summit! But game provides open world you can explore from the get-go, as Hawk Peak Park provides few activites for interested.

To reach the top, you have to hike, jump, swim, jog and glide your way through, and to do so you have to collect golden feathers. Each feather grants you extra jump and time you can spend on climbing, essentially increasing Claire's stamina. Running out of stamina during climbing means dropping down like a rock or gliding away to safety, depending on your choice. To recharge stamina you have to wait few seconds on solid ground. In higher areas, there is also temperature difference, as cold makes it hard for Claire to get her tired feathers all warmed up for another hike. So you will have to find a source of heat to warm up. Obtain feathers by exploring the Park and participating in different activites.

What is there to do? There is a sport minigame, ton of buried and not-so-buried treasure chests lying around with coins, used to buy cool hats or even more feathers, treasure hints to solve, fishing minigame, races and interractions with other park visitors. They have side quests you can take for extra rewards helpful on the hike, granting helpful items or, you guessed it, more feathers!

Playtime and replayability
Short Hike is indeed short. Completing everything game had to offer took me 4 hours, and if you will focus solely on reaching the top you can probably do so (and ultimately, beat the game) in less than an hour!
After you beat the summit you can just jump into a game again to explore a bit more, maybe get all achievements or just relax at the Park.

Pros and cons
Short Hike is a wonderful little cozy game, there is no denying that. Compact size of the world you can explore, simple controls and colorful, variable environment combine together into a charmful title. Surprisingly filled with content for a bite-sized game, probably it's biggest positive. It's very flexible, you can beat it in an hour or spend few to enjoy chilling at the beach, peacefully gliding across the Park, strolling through woods or just fishing across many ponds and rivers, making it a very relaxing experience. Characters you encounter provide nice dose of humour, exploration is enjoyable, flying/gliding around especially is very pleasant. To improve the experience further, game comes with adaptive soundtrack, changing based on the weather and how you travel to extra immerse yourself.

Unfortunately compact size and focus on gameplay took a toll on the story. It's barely in the game and what is included is very...shallow. If you seek great, or pretty much any narrative, you might want to check something else.
But if you look for a sweet comfort game that will set you in a mood to spend another free weekend hiking and strolling through woods, this is definitely one of them! Perfect for a rainy evening. And without mosquitoes!

Conclusion!
A Short Hike provides charming artstyle, fantastic relaxing gameplay and freedom of exploration that wraps around you for few hours to deliver cozy adventure. Highly recommended!

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