For those who enjoy:
aimless wandering
charming characters
quality over quantity
small packages that are very nicely presented
No? Sounds too brutal? Well don't worry, this isn't like a Celeste situation or anything--this game is super chill. I promise you'll like it.
See? Doesn't this look chill? Now you're interested.
You play as Claire, a cute little bird who's been dragged off to Hawk Peak for forced relaxation. Your ultimate goal is to reach the very peak of the park's titular mountain, but before you can make it there, you'll have to explore around a bit and collect enough Golden Feathers to fly better. The "Short" in the title is no lie--took me just over an hour to "beat" for the first time, though I wringed almost four and a half hours total by going for 100% completion. If you're stingy with your money like I am, I'd maybe suggest waiting for the game to go on sale to get the most bang for your buck. I do stand by my love for it, though!
Look at her go!
(Don't worry about the hat...)
A Short Hike carries a very distinct and very appetizing visual style, and the music, composed by Mark Sparling, can be similarly praised. The adaptivity of it is really excellent as well, which is an aspect of the intersection between video game design and music composition that I will never not nerd out about. What I'm trying to say is that the presentation here is top-notch. You've already seen a screenshot and a gif, but here's a little taste of the music ("Somewhere in the Woods"):
In the most amazing way possible, playing A Short Hike feels like being dropped into a little diorama. You get to run all around Hawk Peak however you'd like (when I first played, I immediately ignored the "main path" and jumped straight into the ocean. Upon realizing that I actually wouldn't drown and instead had the incredible ability to swim, I quickly bolted off in the opposite direction than where I was "supposed" to go and had a ton of fun for it). Walk far enough in one direction and you'll loop back around to where you started--the world is just large enough to have plenty to see while also being small enough so that it is never a chore to get from one place to another. It's all perfectly bite-sized.
There is something about A Short Hike that is just so incredibly, amazingly human to me. It is not some grand, sweeping, cinematic adventure. The plot barely exists, but hits a certain genuineness nontheless--one which I might admittedly be overly prone to based on my own life experiences. The characters you meet are all just people you pass by in life, and yet they have such a sense of realness to them. A Short Hike is such a small little thing, but it has so much love poured into it. Just by calmly being the way that it is, A Short Hike has moved me in a way I have difficulty articulating. (And which makes me worried someone else will play it and just think, "I dunno... it was fine, I guess. Don't know what you're on about.")
A Short Hike is available both for PC and for console! Rather than listing everything out, I'll instead invite you to check out the game's cute little website if you are interested. I truly believe the world needs more short hikes like this.