A Short Hike

just amazing

Everything in this game is perfect. The gameplay feels great, the characters are charismatic, the visuals are full of personality. It's a very relaxing experience, I loved every second of it.

So, this could basically be explained as a light adventure game where you, as the title suggest, go on a hike. You are on an island and your goal is to make it to the top of a tall mountain that is at the center of said island. You play as a cute bird named Claire and you can interact with certain objects on the island with tools like sticks, shovels, buckets and pickaxes. In order to scale the mountain you need to collect golden feathers that acts as Claires stamina meter and makes it possible for you to climb, sprint and flap your wings as you paraglide through the air. On your journey you meet various characters who will either give you tasks, present challenges or just chatting away. It's all rather adorable and the visuals are simple yet gorgeous. I played ASH together wth a less skilled player who had no problem handling the controls of ASH (we played the game on a Nintendo Switch console). The camera can get a bit annoying but since the game is so easy (and forgiving) it never becomes a real problem. ASH is a short game and will be over in a couple of hours. If you are in need of a relaxing gaming session or just feel down and need something cheery to pick you up, ASH is a solid recommendation. It basically feels like a gaming alternative to a hot cup of chocolate.

Do you like pixel graphics games? Do you like to explore? Or you just like a cute, relaxing game to spend a couple of hours? Well this game is fill all of these chechboxes. I really enjoyed the small micro-cosmos the game let you to explore and in a very enjoyable way. The movement and control is just make this game even more fun to explore. It's very simple, but making the game such joy to play. I guess the game meant toward younger audience, but it doesn't step in the way for the more mature audiece to enjoy the game. I recommend this game if you like the genre and styles it premises.

It's a really nice and relaxing game, but the title isn't exaggerating with the "short" part. The game is about 2-3 hours long if you help every single NPC and really take your time exploring every last bit of the island. Also the soundtrack is really nice.