A Short Hike

A Short Hike is a 2019 adventure video game created by Canadian indie game designer Adam Robinson-Yu. Set in the fictional Hawk Peak Provincial Park, the open-world exploration game follows Claire, a young bird tasked with reaching the summit of a mountain to get a phone signal. To ascend, the player must locate Golden Feathers, which grant increased stamina for climbing, sprinting, and midair jumps, while interacting with various non-player characters (NPCs) along the way. Following burnout from an earlier role-playing video game project, Robinson-Yu developed A Short Hike over several months, drawing inspiration from his personal hiking trips and the open-ended design of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game features a pixelated art style and an adaptive soundtrack inspired by the music by Joe Hisaishi for Studio Ghibli films. It was initially released in April 2019 as a Humble Monthly exclusive before receiving a full release for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux on the Steam and Itch.io digital distribution services in July 2019. The Nintendo Switch version was released in August 2020, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in November 2021. A Short Hike was well received by critics, who praised its gameplay, island design, characters, art style, writing, and soundtrack. Some reviewers have, however, criticized the short length of the game, with one stating that it is "a bit of a blessing and a curse". The game won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2020 Independent Games Festival and earned nominations at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards and 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.