The year 2020 may of gotten off to a bad start. My country is burning, war is brewing, and my dog has badly injured his foot. So, let's look back to a charming release from 2019 that I have had installed since June and only just gotten around to playing.

Be warned. It is kinda adorable.

Oh no! You, Claire the Bird-Person have been dragged out to the woods by your Park Ranger aunty May, and there is no mobile reception. This is awful! How will you continue to be hip and with it while you are spending a day in the woods?

You are told that technology will eventually come, and that you may get a signal at the top of the mountain peak. Guess you better go out and explore nature and jump, climb, and glide your way to the top.

The path is to the left side of the screen. So, of course I decided to flip it and go to the right. Oooh, a shell! Oooh, some lost tourist coins! Oooh, a stick! Uh. Yeah! A Stick! The game even comments it does not know why you picked it up. I tired bashing an annoying kid and some wilderness, but nothing happened. But it is my stick. Mine!

It eventually became clear that I was in the middle of a giant crater. Obviously this is post apocalypse, the humans killed off by comet strike and cute anthros now dominate the land. Going far enough to the right the camera started to turn as I circled the cliffs. I was able to end up back where I started. The water is simply too deep and dark to cross the centre of the crater, so it is the long glide around the edges.

It is classic way of containing the player with a mountain barrier, yet does have a slightly different flavour in doing so.

Wandering around and speaking to the other visitors, you begin to get little quests. One of them really is a 'find me 15 shells' fetchquest. Others are there to help advance the plot of your ascent and fill in a little world building. I did get the impression the time period was at the end of park season, things are beginning to wind down and close. The visitors shop has little in stock and there are not too many campers out here, with hints the college season is about to return soon.

The visitors here will help you out, they are mostly all friendly. Even the jerk has his reasons for being a jerk.

One mechanic you will have to learn is the climbing/gliding abilities, and for that you'll need Golden Feathers. I managed to get, like, ten of the things. This is overkill, but does mean you can explore all the hidden away platforms and areas of the mountain. The ROCK CLIMBERS ASSOCIATION would be proud of my rock climbing skills.

And while the ascent is the aim, it is worth exploring and speaking to people. Play a game of stickbeachball with your stick! Do a parkour race, with or without shoes (madness)! Learn to fish and catch some fish!

Honestly, a mountain climbing and fishing game could be a game in its own right. Finding various fishing spots was neat, and this has always been an appealing minigame.

The cold-region as you climb higher is much much shorter, and I suspect I may of accidentally taken some shortcuts. Though finding little ledges and jump-gliding between them is a totally viable way of completing the adventure.

I did eventually make it to the and get the phone conversation that has made Claire all anxious about receiving a phone call. It does make it more understandable than a angsty kid needing her social media fix. Once done, you sit in silence and breathing in the cold mountain top air before diving back home for some hot food.

A Short Hike is a short but cute and sweet little game. You can blast through it in 1-2 hours, and speedrush it really quickly. But then, you would be missing the charm this title has to offer.

Definitely worth a look. Especially if you've had a rough week and need something cute.

Game Acquisition: Humble Original (April 2019)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 - 5 January 2020
PC Used: Scorptec Master-RTX2070 2019 MK1

OS: Windows 7 SP1+ (or later)
Processor: Intel or AMD Dual Core at 2 GHz or better
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel Graphics 4400 or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 400 MB available space