Release Date: 30/07/2019
Played On: Win
Available On: Lin / Mac / NS / Win
Time Played: 1h 14m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Adam Robinson-Yu
Publisher: Adam Robinson-Yu
I think one of the most interesting things about discussing art in any form, is that one hundred different people will give you one hundred different interpretations. Of course there are often common threads to each understanding, but every one of us brings our own past experience and context to every piece of art we encounter. At least, this is what I tell myself when I fail to connect as deeply and meaningfully as everyone else around me does.
This isn't really a new thing as it applies to us all, just in unique and varied ways. However, I often feel like I'm missing something in particular when discussing my own take on any number of artistic pieces. Whether it's movies, music, paintings, books, or video games, I often find myself trying to figure out if my own interpretation is insightful or entirely blind to everything I was being shown. I can only assume that I am not alone in this aspect, and there are many others out there who feel the same.
A Short Hike is a fine example of that feeling, as it happened to be a game that I overheard a lot of conversations about since it came out. While this is undoubtedly a short little indie game, there's something about it that managed to break into mainstream gaming podcasts and forums in a way that held it in some kind of reverence. Much like other indie darlings that have come before it, this seemed like a game that I should have on my radar, if only because it's made something of an impact above and beyond its limited production scope.
A lot of the rhetoric surrounding A Short Hike spoke of its contemplative nature, as it asks you to emotionally invest in taking a character for a simple hike up a mountain. From all the talk it was clear that this was a game about meditative exploration and discovery, while telling a soft and emotional story along the way. I mean, that all sounds pretty great to me, so at this point I was sold.
Then for some reason I read a lot about how the game's graphics evoke that of PlayStation 1 era 3D graphics, which were quite pixelated and low-poly. Now that might have been fine in the days of the PS1 as it was the best we could get, but that was also the awkward era of 3D with a lot of games that simply don't hold up in modern times. For someone to purposely emulate one of the dodgiest eras of computer graphics might seem a little silly, and I would say that it really is.
After all, to de-res a game's graphics in this way means that they started from a point that was no doubt a lot better than what we were left with. However, as I've said before in other posts, nostalgia is a powerful deceiver and I suspect that a lot of people applauding the early PlayStation graphics "style", are actually the same people who still play old games more than new. As it was, I'd heard enough about A Short Hike to be interested, but there were loads of red flags being flown by everyone praising the "retro" graphics. Nevertheless, I'm always up for a contemplative and emotional little indie game, so I dove straight into A Short Hike with an open mind and optimistic expectations.
Thankfully I was not disappointed and am happy to report that A Short Hike is a very pleasant little game that is definitely worth playing if you find anything about it interesting. The general idea is that you are playing a bird character on an island holiday where loads of other animal characters are also going about their holidays and doing their own thing. Sadly though, where you're staying doesn't have any mobile phone reception and you're waiting on an important call, so we are tasked with heading out and climbing the mountain that makes up most of the island.
From the start it's clear that this is not a frantic speed-run type of game, as the ambient soundtrack happily eases you into the environment. What's more, the other characters you bump into along the way all seem to be in the middle of their own journey, which is often easily ignored for them to stop and have a conversation with you. Some of them even have requests that you can chose to fulfill or ignore, as it seems like they'll be fine with or without you.
The graphics are certainly reminiscent of those low-poly pixelated PS1 era 3D graphics, which was one of the big let-downs for me. Instead I would have liked to see the environment and characters rendered with smooth lines and a bit more fidelity, as there were many scenes where I had to stop and figure out what I was looking at. Suffice to say that even though they brought back memories, those memories were not fond ones that I needed to revisit.
I suppose if I was being generous I might argue that the graphics serve the narrative a little bit, as they distort the reality of the place in the same way that our main character may have a distorted view on it. After all, we're stressed about something and exploring this mountain to get reception for an important phone call, which sound ominous at best. To top off the atmosphere, our player-character tended to sound a bit defeatist and melancholy when they spoke to other characters. Thus, I wonder if this is all a master plan of designing the graphics and characterisations in such a way that we're pushed to feel uncomfortable and question everything.
Then again, maybe I just don't like 3D platforming, although this isn't exactly a platformer. Sure we're moving around in three dimensional space, but the costs we get to platforming is when we start flying around to out of the way places and discovering hidden locations and characters who continue to expand the local environment and the extended world we find ourselves in.
In the beginning, our movement is somewhat limited and our character runs out of stamina fairly quickly. Stamina gets depleted when we climb up steep surfaces and glide around in the air, making some areas in the early game a little harder to reach than others. In order to get more stamina and get to those harder to reach places, we're tasked with collecting feathers during our journey, which can be found, bought, and earned by helping out the cast of characters we meet along the way.
It's a neat system and there are plenty of feathers that can be found easily along the main path up the mountain, but if you want to find them all you'll need to do a bit of exploring. Some feathers won't appear until certain conditions are met that uncover them or call them into being, so talking to everyone and looking at every nook and cranny is a must. Especially if you're on the hunt for golden feathers that are often hidden in places that you'd never encounter on a straight run of the game.
Ordinarily I'd find these kind of treasure hunts to be a bit of a drag, but it's kind of all there is to do in A Short Hike other than talk to other characters and make your way to the top of the mountain. None of the other characters were all that memorable on their own, but I did enjoy interacting with them and completing their challenges and requests. A few even show up again later in the game, as they're progressing alongside your own path, which is a nice way to add some dynamics and mock-simulation to the game.
What confused me though, was how much I heard everyone talking about the emotional journey they were taken on throughout the course of A Short Hike. Other than the very end of the game, I can't say that there was anything all that emotionally complex going on with all the exploration and other characters I encountered. I mean, sometimes there would be a nice bit of dialogue, or a sweet little task to perform that would help out someone in need, but ultimately the game is all about walking around and potentially getting lost.
Instead I found myself worrying about everything I'd missed along the way as I tried to explore every inch of the island I could find. Knowing that there were hidden locations and feathers to find only left me with a feeling if dissatisfaction when I was done, as I knew that I'd missed an undetermined amount of content along the way. It took the edge of the emotional impact of the game for me, and I would have much preferred it if there were no collectibles and a clear path to follow with very little deviation. Part of me wishes this was more of a walking simulator, but this is all where I find myself digressing from the popular interpretations I've heard.
Aside from the graphics, which are merely a matter of taste, I heard a lot of talk about how A Short Hike really rewards you for exploring and how it takes you on a beautifully intense and satisfying journey. It sounds great when you put it like that, but by the time I was done with the game, I was torn between having enjoyed it for what it was, and being annoyed that I had no way of knowing just how much I'd missed along the way.
I guess I'm the kind of gamer who values a highly tailored and directed experience when a game is trying to have an emotional impact and tell a relatively sentimental story. This was the genius of games like Blackwood Crossing and Virginia, as they kept you focused on the story being told and ensured that you felt every beat along the way. Then again, I'm also the kind of gamer who cringes when they hear the term "procedurally generated" as it always feels like it's synonymous with "terrible world design".
Thus I can't deny that while I did enjoy my time with A Short Hike, I can't say that it had a deep impact on me in any real way. The story itself is just a simple little story that consists of nothing more than a setup and the payoff at the end. I can't even say anything about it, as it would give away the whole point of the game. However, I will give it props for working well with the gameplay to draw me into a certain mood throughout.
Where A Short Hike really succeeds is in the way that it reminds us how time is constant, and sometimes you just have to put one foot in front of the other to get where you want to go. Nothing else will rush the situation and cutting corners will set you back more than help you out, so there are times when we need to be reminded that life goes on and there's nothing we can do to alter it
Perhaps that's what everyone is getting at after all when they sing the praises of A Short Hike, as it does well to deliver its message of taking time to live life. I definitely would have enjoyed a more contemporary treatment given to the overall style, but I can sort of see why the game was made in this way, even though I don't really like it.
Despite anything else though, A Short Hike is an enjoyable and short little game that deserves to be played and enjoyed, no matter what your overall interpretation may be. After all that's kind of the beauty of art isn't it? When meanings are too obvious and spelled out in front of us, interacting with that message becomes boring and short-lived. I'll always prefer a narrative that requires a little bit of teasing to figure out and form an opinion on.
Maybe A Short Hike does a good job of highlighting the breadth of diversity that exists in life, or maybe it's trying to say something about how we often find ourselves in an echo chamber of commodified thoughts and perceptions. Actually I think that's all bollocks and this is nothing more than a game about a bird going on a hike up a mountain.
Thankfully, that's all it ever needed to be.