Game profile
A Short Hike
A little bird girl climbs a relaxed mountain to get phone signal at the top, meeting all kinds of quirky hikers along the way. Its short playtime makes it the perfect feel-good game for a quiet afternoon.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Adventure / Cozy, set in the present day. Visually it is built on pixel art, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It is built around short sessions, which makes it easy to pick up for half an hour.
Difficulty stays forgiving, so progress rarely depends on your reflexes. Story exists mostly as background texture rather than a reason to keep going. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Deeply relaxing hiking vibe
- Short and thoroughly charming
- Free exploration, no pressure
This fits you if
- you want to wind down rather than be tested
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you usually have thirty to sixty minutes and want that to be enough
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- you want zero frustration and no difficulty wall
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
Look elsewhere if
- you need real difficulty to stay interested
- you want something that lasts, this is over after 3 hours
- pixel art puts you off
- you want to play it side by side with someone
How long is A Short Hike?
About 3 hours in total. That is roughly 2 evening(s), so you can realistically finish it this week.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 85 out of 100, which puts it above 59 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 436 overall. That is mid-table for this database. Not a standout at the top, but solidly rated.
For comparison, Adventure averages 83 points across the database, so this one sits 2 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 313 collected ratings.
Released in 2019, so it has 7 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2019
- Genres
- Adventure, Cozy
- Playtime
- approx. 3 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Relaxed, forgiving
- Story weight
- Background flavour
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Present day
- Visual style
- Pixel art
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 85 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Short Hike | 2019 | approx. 3 hrs. | 85 | Budget |
| Lil Gator Game | 2022 | approx. 8 hrs. | 80 | Budget |
| Rooftop Rascal: The Farmer Cat | 2026 | approx. 8 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
| Abzû | 2016 | approx. 3 hrs. | 81 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- 80/100 Lil Gator Game Shared: Adventure, Cozy, Present day, longer
- n/a Rooftop Rascal: The Farmer Cat Shared: Adventure, Cozy, Present day, longer
- 81/100 Abzû Shared: Adventure, Cozy
- n/a Tukoni: Forest Keepers Shared: Adventure, Cozy
- n/a Orchard Odyssey: Chestnut Christmas Shared: Adventure, Cozy, longer, rated higher
- n/a Orchard Odyssey: Pumpkin Party Shared: Adventure, Cozy, longer