A Short Hike
Roger Whitson, Managing Editor
In Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games, Alenda Chang argues that the slow, methodical mechanics of walking simulators can profoundly connect us to the natural ecologies and slow temporalities of our world. AdamGryu’s A Short Hike is not technically a walking simulator as small quests slightly complicate the otherwise aimless wandering found in some simulators. Instead, the game offers breathtaking vistas while using the quest system to highlight the characters’ entanglement in the ecologies of Hawk Peak Provincial Park. A Short Hike presents us with a fully realized ecology filled with trees, cliffs, trails, ponds, and beaches — all of whose contours suggest hidden paths leading to stunning sights or nudge the player into clearings hiding new items. In such moments, the landscape becomes its own storyteller. By modeling a narrative told through the landscape, A Short Hike gives the environment its own agency.
The game begins with dialogue between the protagonist Claire and her aunt. The aunt tells Claire that there is no cell phone coverage except at the summit of Hawk’s Peak, which is a bit of a hike from her current position. The young bird is expecting an important phone call, and so the majority of the game outlines her attempts to reach the summit. Along the way, she encounters several characters and completes quests to acquire items that will make climbing to the summit easier. Sea shells or coins found scattered throughout the park, for instance, can be exchanged for golden feathers that make climbing easier.
Yet such quests are really MacGuffins to get players to experience the vibrant colors and lush vegetation, as well as the fascinating characters and intriguing locales found on Hawk’s Peak. Unlike Celeste, in which the developers crafted a masterpiece of climbing focused on mechanics and varying levels of difficulty, any difficulty players have with climbing in A Short Hike can be easily overcome by simply finding another golden feather. Instead of focusing on developing skills, the game gives us ample opportunity in its 2.5 hour runtime to focus on its world. The characters have intriguing storylines as well. Some of them are in the middle of a race through the middle of the mountain as Claire passes them. You can join in on the race or pass them. AdamGyru said he was influenced by the films of Studio Ghibli, the game Animal Crossing, and the Sufjan Stevens album Carrie and Lowell. Their influence can be seen in both the cute character designs populating A Short Hike, the ambient soundtrack, and the autumn palette that blankets the hills and mountains of the game.
While the third-person perspective of many walking simulators presents the environment as surrounding and enveloping the character, A Short Hike has more of an isometric perspective. This enables breathtaking views of the mountains around Hawk’s Peak, especially when Claire flies and glides down various paths of the game. The overall tone of the game is one of curiosity and exploration, presenting various possibilities for the player to entertain or ignore. The casual nature of the game ensures a light yet also awe-inspiring and picturesque experience.
As game designers find better ways to link us to our natural environment, it’s worth questioning what we expect from nature when it is simulated in a game. A Short Hike values disconnecting us from the rapidity of modern life and reconnecting us to the people that surround us and are in danger of disappearing in the half-relationships we maintain online. This trope of reconnecting with nature and healing is perhaps less compelling in A Short Hike than the way the game models the spontaneity of simply setting off on a new trail. What details are we missing when we speedrun through a level of Doom or walk a city block while our vision is fixed on our cell phone? If anything, A Short Hike asks us to let go of these pre-planned trips through natural or virtual environments, and allow nature to create the path for us.
GwG Recommends provides a spotlight for games that catch our interest, with short explanations as to why the author is intrigued. We prioritize self-published, short-form experiences. For other recent pieces in this series, check out Don Everhart on Waste Eater and Tof Eklund on Walk With the Living.
