A Short Hike is a 2019 adventure video game created by Adam Robinson-Yu, a Canadian independent game developer who is also known as adamgryu. The game is an open world exploration experience where players must climb to the top of a mountain in Hawk Peak Provincial Park to gain cell phone reception. To reach the summit, players collect Golden Feathers, which allow them to run, climb, and double jump. During their journey, players meet non-player characters (NPCs), some of whom provide mini-games and tasks to complete.

After working on a role-playing video game, Robinson-Yu decided to make a hiking-themed game, inspired by his own hiking experiences. A Short Hike uses a vibrant pixel art style and an open world design influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game’s music was inspired by Studio Ghibli and Joe Hisaishi. The first phase of development took place from December 2018 to April 2019, when the game was released as a Humble Monthly exclusive. Development continued until the game’s official release in July 2019, when it became available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux through Steam and Itch.io. The Nintendo Switch version was released in August 2020, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in November 2021.

Critics praised A Short Hike for its gameplay, map design, characters, art style, writing, and soundtrack. However, some reviewers noted that the game’s short length was both a positive and a negative aspect. The game won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2020 Independent Games Festival and was also nominated for awards at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards and the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.

Gameplay

A Short Hike is a video game that combines platforming and adventure gameplay. The player controls a character named Claire, a bird that looks like a human. Claire moves through an open world map and can fly, run, climb, and double jump. The goal of the game is to reach the top of the map. Signs placed throughout the map guide the player toward the summit. Claire can meet other characters in the game, called NPCs, and collect Golden Feathers. These feathers increase the player’s stamina, which is needed for flying, running, or jumping. Coins can also be used to buy Golden Feathers. When the player uses energy for activities like running, a stamina bar, shown as Golden Feathers, decreases. This bar can be restored by waiting or, in snowy areas, by soaking in hot pools of water. The player can collect up to 20 Golden Feathers, but at least 7 are needed to reach the top. To climb high areas, the player must use combinations of movement, such as flying, running, and jumping. During exploration, the player may find "bouncy flowers" that help reach higher points on the map.

The map includes several islands that form a park-like area. Different environments, or biomes, include a beach, a forest, and snowy mountains. The player can find treasures such as coins, sticks, and shells. A shovel and a fishing rod can also be found and used to dig for treasures or fish. Collected items are stored in the player’s inventory, which can be accessed at any time. The player may meet NPCs, such as children participating in a marathon, characters who assign tasks to find Golden Feathers, or those who help with navigation. Some NPCs offer minigames that give achievements or simple tasks to complete. The player can also join races, play on the beach, or fish to earn money.

Plot

Claire, a young bird, chooses to spend her time off by visiting Hawk Peak Provincial Park, where her Aunt May works as a ranger.

In the beginning scene, Claire's mother drives her to a ferry that will take her to the park for the summer. When Claire arrives, her aunt tells her that there is no cell phone reception in the park except at Hawk Peak, the highest point in the area. Claire has never hiked the Hawk Peak Trail before, but she is expecting an important phone call, so she decides to hike to the summit. The player can choose whether Claire helps other animals on the island or goes directly to Hawk Peak. A sign at the mountain's base warns that the hike is difficult, and other characters say the trail is too hard for them.

When Claire reaches the peak, she congratulates herself for completing the hike and sees an aurora, a beautiful light show in the sky. Soon, her cell phone rings, and the caller is her mother. Claire's mother explains that she had surgery after sending Claire away. Claire feels sad she was not there, but her mother says she is proud of Claire for climbing Hawk Peak. The call is interrupted when a sudden wind rises from the mountain. Claire feels nervous, but her mother tells her to ride the wind before it disappears. Claire follows her mother's advice and soars over the park.

Claire returns to her aunt and shares details about her activities during the hike. Later, she goes to sleep.

Development

A Short Hike was created by Adam Robinson-Yu, a game developer from Toronto, also known as adamgryu. He was the game’s programmer, artist, level designer, sound designer, and writer. He received help from family and friends. The game was made using the Unity video game engine. Dawn Blair helped with designing models and writing, while Andrew Wong created some 3D models. The game’s logo was designed by David Czarnowski.

Robinson-Yu loved making video games since he was young, but became more interested in game development while studying in university. Before working on A Short Hike, he released a few games on Itch.io, a website for sharing games. After leaving his job as a software engineer, he became an independent game developer in 2017. The next year, he started working on a role-playing game inspired by the Paper Mario series. He struggled with the project and felt stressed, knowing it might take years to finish. In December 2018, he paused that project and began working on A Short Hike. He shared updates about the game online, which helped him get funding. After playing other games like The Haunted Island and Minit, he decided to focus fully on A Short Hike.

Robinson-Yu was inspired to make a hiking game after his trips to national landmarks. He wanted to show the feeling of reaching the top of a mountain and the peaceful, calm experience of exploring nature. At first, he thought about making a simulation game where players manage a national park, like RollerCoaster Tycoon. While working at Stugan, an indie game development program, he pitched a hiking game during a game jam with two coworkers, creating a game called The Secret of Dank Mountain. After finishing that, he found navigation and route planning to be interesting ideas for a game. The endurance bar in A Short Hike is similar to one in The Secret of Dank Mountain.

He worried that A Short Hike’s gameplay might be boring and not attract players, especially since other games with strong stories already existed. After getting money from Humble Bundle, he committed to releasing the game in three months. He divided the development into three stages: alpha, beta, and release candidate. He set two sets of goals: one for basic gameplay, like movement, dialogue, and save systems, and another for extra features like volleyball, parkour, and fishing. He said the game would still be fun even without the extra features. Some of these features were not included in the final version. He used a simplified version of a project management method called scrum to track his progress.

Writing was the hardest part for Robinson-Yu. He used a tool called Yarn Spinner to create dialogue, which he had used in his role-playing game. He also used a plugin called InControl to add controller support and Cinemachine to set up a dynamic camera system. He reused scripts and assets from his previous projects and created some tools himself. He used short, informal messages, like texting language, in conversations. When making NPCs (non-player characters), he wanted to show different types of anxiety and self-doubt. He chose not to add voice acting, instead using sounds that mimic speech.

The game has a pixelated art style with voxel and isometric graphics. It does not use anti-aliasing, which smooths edges. One of the first things Robinson-Yu worked on was the art style. Since he had more experience with visual effects, he tried a "crunchy" pixel art style, which helped him create models faster and expand the game’s scope despite limited art skills. He wanted to make the world look beautiful with as few pixels as possible. To achieve this in Unity, the world was rendered with a point filter mode. The color palette was taken from photos of the Canadian Shield during autumn. He made a custom shader to control shadows, making them flat and consistent. The flat style also helped him create UVs (texture maps) faster. He added post-processing effects, like fog, edge detection, and color correction, to improve the visuals.

Robinson-Yu used Unity’s terrain editor to create the game’s map. He aimed to make an open world where players could explore freely. This inspired him to add mini-games players could play after taking breaks from hiking. He intentionally wanted players to get lost, adding landmarks and collectible items like coins, paths, and signs. He used a triplanar shader to texture the terrain, which uses the mesh’s normal to decide which texture to show. His main inspiration for the game’s open world design was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). He was also inspired by the Animal Crossing series. He made places on the map unique, like the fire tower, inspired by Mount Pilchuck, and the park, inspired by Algonquin Provincial Park.

In the starting area, a dirt path leads players toward the town. During playtesting, some players went to nearby islands or the mountain’s back side. To fix this, Robinson-Yu added a cave that returns players to the town. He used natural obstacles, like high walls, to prevent players from climbing the mountain until they collected enough Golden Feathers. Early in development, Golden Feathers were harder to find, but this changed later.

One of the first items added to the game was a shovel, which Robinson-Yu said was a simple way to add secrets. Players could trade a toy shovel for a larger one. At first, he placed one toy shovel at a crossroad, but players avoided it. To solve this, he placed five shovels around the starting area. Once a player collected one, the others would disappear. He said players would feel like they discovered it on their own, even though it was guaranteed. Later, he added a bucket to water plants.

The game’s soundtrack was composed by Mark Sparling. It is adaptive, meaning it changes based on events and player actions. Sparling used live recordings of a guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, and drums. He was inspired by The Binding of Isaac (2011), composed by Danny Baranowsky, when starting his career. For A Short Hike, he was mainly inspired by Studio Ghibli.

Release

"A Short Hike" was an exclusive game available on Humble Monthly in April 2019. After its release, the game’s creator, Robinson-Yu, added new features that he had not included earlier, such as fishing, parkour races, and volleyball. He used Twitter to share information about the game. The game was released on Windows, Linux, and macOS on July 30, 2019, through Itch.io and Steam. This release also included the "Extra Mile Update," which added new characters, fishing, and changes to the game map. The Nintendo Switch version was released on August 18, 2020. A motorboat update was added to this version and also released on other platforms. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released on November 16, 2021. In March 2020, the game was available for free for one week on the Epic Games Store. In July 2023, the game was included in a Whimsy and Wonder bundle on Humble Bundle.

In April 2022, Robinson-Yu created a version of the game that allows up to 99 players to play together on a single island. This version was developed for April Fools’ Day as a battle royale mode. Robinson-Yu announced that this mode would not become an official part of the game.

Reception

A Short Hike received mostly positive reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. Another review aggregator, OpenCritic, reported that the game was very well received, with 100% of critics recommending it. Four Famitsu critics gave the game a score of 32 out of 40.

Critics praised the gameplay. Willem Hilhorst of Nintendo World Report and Matthew Reynolds of Eurogamer described it as a game where players collect items, with Reynolds comparing it to the gameplay of Banjo-Kazooie. Lauren Morton of PC Gamer and Mykel Bright of Hardcore Gamer called A Short Hike a cozy game. Hilhorst said the game not only delivers what the title promises but also goes beyond players' expectations. Cathlyn Vania of Adventure Gamers praised the fishing and climbing mechanics, as well as the ability to find treasure. Kevin Mersereau of Destructoid liked the flying mechanics. Stuart Gipp of Nintendo Life described the in-game activities as "refreshingly organic," noting that the game makes players feel like they are pushing its limits. He also praised the game's overall design. Khee Hoo Chan of GameSpot especially liked the activity where players give a frog a toy shovel, which the frog uses to build a sand castle.

Critics also praised the map's design and its characters. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer enjoyed exploring different locations on the island, while Donovan Erskine of Shacknews appreciated the open world approach. Sergio González of MeriStation praised the exploration features. Chan said the park looks like real-life nature, especially hiking experiences. Erskine said the characters are memorable, describing them as funny with authentic dialogue, and noted that each character and story feels unique. Chan said the interactions with Claire made him happy. Moore described the characters as "quirky and clever," while Mattia Pescitelli of Multiplayer.it said the characters are well-developed. The writing and dialogue were also praised.

The game's art style and soundtrack were also praised. Chan praised the environment's appearance, while Vania praised the water, environment, wind, and animations. She described the park as having "vibrant colors and nature-inspired details." Hilhorst said the game's presentation reminded him of Nintendo DS games and the Animal Crossing series. Erskine praised the game's colors and lighting, saying the world looks lively, and noted the soundtrack is similar to Animal Crossing. Donlan praised the main island's appearance. Christopher Byrd of The Washington Post was not satisfied with the pixel art style, describing it as having a watercolor look. Gipp praised the game's controls, saying they are "smoother than butter." Alexis Mariel Zema of Jeuxvideo.com and Lukas Schmid of PC Games complained about the camera controls.

Reviewers mostly mentioned the game's short length, with Mersereau saying it is "both a good and bad thing." Mauro Ferrante of IGN Italy said the game's short length is its biggest advantage. Erskine only criticized the NPC quests and their locations, saying players might forget or mix up the order of tasks.

Eurogamer named A Short Hike in 2024 as one of the best video games "to play right now." Eurogamer and Rock Paper Shotgun also named A Short Hike as one of the best games of 2019, while Digital Spy, PC World, and GameSpot named it as one of the best indie games of 2019. The Verge listed it as one of "the best short games of 2019," while PC Gamer listed it as one of the "hidden gems" of 2019. Robert Purchese of Eurogamer wrote, "Will there be a better game this year? […] Unlikely." In 2024, Rock Paper Shotgun listed it as one of the best open world video games for the PC.

Analysis

Chris Tapsell of Eurogamer described A Short Hike as "Zen," explaining that the game explores more than just nature—it focuses on the experience of being in nature. Nicole Carpenter of Polygon noted that the game highlights how many people are too dependent on new technology. This is shown in the game’s beginning, where the main character, Claire, is focused on using her cell phone. However, the game’s activities and the island’s design encourage her to explore and enjoy other things instead of rushing to climb the mountain. Carpenter also said that the game challenges the usual relationship with technology, offering a thoughtful look at what it means to do nothing and everything at the same time.