Game Club Discussion: A Short Hike

[elf]

Now that we've had time to play (...and possibly, time to forget why we played and lose track of time because of NaNoWriMo), let's talk!

This month's megabundle game was/is (for another week) A Short Hike (itch.io version), "a little exploration game about hiking up a mountain."

Here are some potential questions to discuss, but you're not required to answer any of them. Feel free to make up your own questions and answer those, or just talk about what caught your attention.

1. What did you think this game was going to be, before you played it? What was surprising about it? 2. How far did you get in the game? Do you want to play more? 3. What was the central focus of the game, and what was on the sidelines? How did the sidelined parts support or detract from the central focus? 4. What kind of worldbuilding does it have? What questions about the setting were left unanswered? 5. Did you particularly like or dislike any of the characters? 6. What parts were most frustrating? What parts were most fun? 7. Did you use a keyboard, a controller, or both? How do you think that affected the game?

Comments

[packbat]

This was our second playthrough! We originally played it a couple years ago, I think - and then, we expected it to be much shorter and more linear. It was pretty delightful finding out just how rich it was with material to explore.

On which note, it was an interesting contrast playing it again versus the first time. On that first game, we were very much in a mindset of embodying Claire, whereas this time it was much more of a "let's complete a game" feeling. The writing continues to be wonderful, and I highly recommend on a second playthrough going for the peak with only seven feathers - it adds a little platforming puzzle that we didn't get to explore the first time.

Oh, and definitely recommend controller. We played it with keyboard this time, and while they do their best to accommodate it, it was clumsier. Especially during camera moves.

[vriddy]

It is such an unexpectedly rich game! I think I'd like to play it again at a more relaxed pace when I have some quiet time, there are some places I didn't explore as much as I would have liked. I doubt I'd try to "complete" it as I'm terrible at things like races, but at least discovering most of the places would be nice.