A Short Hike

Lore & Background

A Short Hike was created by Adam Robinson-Yu, a Toronto-based developer who was the game's programmer, art designer, level designer, sound designer, and writer. After quitting his job as a software engineer in 2017, he began working on a role-playing video game inspired by the Paper Mario series, but grew stressed and anxious about its long completion time. In December 2018, he stopped that project and started A Short Hike, inspired by his hiking trips to national landmarks. He obtained funding from Humble Bundle and committed to releasing the game within three months. Initial development lasted from December 2018 to April 2019, when the game was released as a Humble Monthly exclusive, with full release in July 2019 on Steam and Itch.io. The Nintendo Switch version was released in August 2020, and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions in November 2021.

Reader's Guide

A Short Hike is significant as a critically acclaimed indie game that demonstrates how a small team—essentially one developer—can create a compelling open-world experience. Its design emphasizes exploration, stamina management via Golden Feathers, and a peaceful meditative feeling of reaching a summit. The game's pixel art style was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and its music by Studio Ghibli and Joe Hisaishi. Critics widely praised its gameplay, map design, characters, art style, writing, and soundtrack, though some noted its short length as both a blessing and a curse. The game won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2020 Independent Games Festival and was nominated at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards and 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Its legacy includes influencing other small-scale open-world games and showing that a focused, personal project can achieve broad recognition.

Did You Know?

• The game's stamina bar and navigation mechanics were first explored in Robinson-Yu's earlier game jam project The Secret of Dank Mountain.
• Robinson-Yu used the Yarn Spinner tool for dialogue, which he had previously used in his unfinished role-playing game.
• The player can collect up to 20 Golden Feathers, but only seven are needed to reach the summit.
• The game's logo was created by David Czarnowski.