a short review

masterful use of spare time by flying over a deserted island in fucking nowhere

a short hike is a game that i played a lot of time ago and forgot to review because im dumb as shit but i just wanted to play it again for how cozy comfy and short it is and here i am

being one of those games in the vein of TOEM i was absolutely dumbfounded at how relaxing this game is (take notes unpacking or whatever that shit was called) just going around this lonely little piece of land getting to know its inhabitants and all their quirks and traits while the gentle summer breeze passes by and the sun shines bright in the sky just losing yourself into this small but incredibly alive world to such an extent that after a couple playthrough you can just speedrun through the game for how restrained the whole experience is

youre a furry bird on a vacation with her furry bird aunt just camping in this beautiful place and youre left with no other choice then exploring the surrounding since the cellphone got zero internet and in the meanwhile you will find so many different people who will give you some side quests here and there and with only the main objective or reaching the peak of the mountain but you can actually take your time and enjoy the view and just walking around the place to see what the others are up to and what the scenery is like

the art style of this game is incredibly tight its definitely on the cartoony side and the whole game is done in a pixelated fashion (you can actually turn that shit off but i liked the mid pixel setting to be the most interesting for me) and the town and characters have these super saturated models that just scream summertime on the shore and thats such a fucking vibe

ideally the gameplay should be devoid of any kind of depth but exploring is the main focus of the game just chilling out in this small diorama of an island like its a snowglobe and just interacting with people finding treasures here and there and slowly ascending to the mountain

to do that as the protagonist is a bird youre gonna use your wings to fly around but thats not enough you will be required to find golden feathers around for some double jumps and climbing power (a la breath of the wild) either by exploring or doing side quests here and there and you can take your time with it and youre not obliged to take them all nor the game exploits you in doing so you get as many as you want and try to climb the mountain on your own see what awaits you there and conquer the summit

the finale made me also think about TOEM as in youre just you yourself and a natural phenomenon that looks insanely chaotic and calm at the same time like the final hours in outer wilds or majoras mask and then you realise that the entire thing was worth it even for the journey alone of idling under the sun and breathing the environment in and youre left with an emotional convo that really is the cherry on top of the entire experience sure its a bit wild that you can get 5G on top of a mountain but who am i to judge

a short hike comes and goes too fast for my own good i wouldve loved to have a longer and more expansive idea but maybe that wouldve ruined the entire premise of the game so im left with a warm and pleasant experience to revisit from time to time

everyone should play this game it just has some of the most peaceful and joyful atmosphere ive ever seen in any game maybe even more than kirby as a whole somehow this is something special that i will absolutely replay again some time in the future and i advice anyone whos interested in a super short experience that will stuck with you to play this one and if you do check it out what i can say is see you at the top

Still mad that I wasted 60 damn dollars on this game, animal crossing games just are not for me. The way everyone hyped up this game and acted like it was gonna be the best game of 2020 just for it to be mid really disappointed me and pissed me off. I probably don’t like this game because it has no story or no “end” or “objective” just mindless playing, but it gets so ridiculously boring so fast. It takes too much and too long to actually transform your island into something cool which I just don’t have the patience for it. Only reason I’m giving it a full star and not half of one is I actually had a bit of fun upon playing this for like the first 30 hours and some of the animal crossing residents were really cute and fun like Bucky.

Sometimes there is a game so beautiful, so impactful, that you continue to think about it for years after playing it, and are willing to overlook it's flaws. For me this is that game.

A strange mystery lies at the heart of Outer Wilds, and the pursuit of that mystery kept me invested and thinking about this game for the week it took me to beat. The ending was everything I could have hoped, and has profoundly changed me and what I look for in games.

You only get to play this game once (I say having played it twice), so it's best to know as little as possible about it.

Also as a little added thing, waiting around in the later cycles sucked a lot, but I still love this game <3