Ninrates

This guide is designed to help you if you struggle with the overall progression.

A Short Hike, created by Adam Robinson-Yu, debuted on Windows PC, and is exactly what it sounds like — a leisurely stroll up a mountain. We thought it was one of 2019’s best games.

General tips

In order to avoid skipping anything, you may want to talk several times to each animal you will meet. Many of them have quests for you, and their rewards are sometimes required to help you progressing through the mountain, but they are also necessary if you want to unlock all the achievements.

Moreover, as soon as you discover a new water source, be sure to fish for a minute or two. A couple of tries should be enough to allow you to get a new entry in your journal.

Eventually, do not hesitate to explore the mountain away from the main trail, because many chests and resources are hidden around the mountain.

Quests

📷
Meeting point: First beach next to the aunt’s cabin
Quest 1: Bring her 15 seashells
Tip: Seashells are spread all over the mountain and your surroundings. You can find way more than just 15 and you should be able to gather them through your normal progression.
Reward: None

Quest 2: Deliver a necklace to the Ranger May
Tip: Talk to your aunt, by the fireplace near her cabin.
Reward: Golden feather (even if it wasn’t meant to be a reward)

A Short Hike Game Wiki

📷
Meeting point: First beach next to the aunt’s cabin
Interest: Teaches Claire how to use a compass
Reward: Compass

📷
Meeting point: First beach next to your aunt’s cabin
Quest: Bring him a toy shovel
Tip: You can find several toy shovels around the mountain. The nearest one is located on a grass patch a little bit further, just follow the main path and you should find it quickly.
Reward: Regular shovel ⚠️

📷
Meeting point: ⚠️
Quest: Find her headband
Tip: Talk to the turtle (Taylor) to get his own headband.
Reward: Running shoes

📷
Meeting point: White Beach trail (running along)
Quest: Bring him his headband back
Reward: Red headband

📷
Meeting point: Near the 2 caravans ⚠️
Quest: Find his watch
Tip: The watch is held by the tough bird at the entrance of Hawk Peak trail. Give him 400 coins and he’ll thank you by giving you the watch.
Reward: Silver feather

⚠️ 📷
Meeting point: Illegal camping spot (blue tent) near ⚠️
Quest: Find his camping licence
Tip: The licence has been eaten by a fish: cath a few ones in Meteor Lake and you’ll get his licence.
Reward: Fishing baits

A Short Hike Game Guide

📷
Meeting point: Meteor Lake
Interest: Teaches Claire how to fish
Reward: Fishing rod

📷
Meeting point: Boat, located near the electric pylons
Quest: Will buy any fish you bring him. He will trade you any fish you already shown him for fishing baits.
Reward: Bring him enough fish and he will give you his journal. Bring him each single species listed inside and he will give you the golden fishing rod and you will unlock the “The Fish Are Biting Today” achievement.

📷
Meeting point: Entrance of the Hawk Peak trail
Interest: Sells golden feathers (100 coins each)
Tip: By talking with him, you’ll learn that he does sell feathers because he needs 400 coins for his tuition fees. If you give him those 400 coins, he will lower his price (40 coins for a feather) and give you the mouse’s watch.
Reward: Mouse’s watch

📷
Meeting point: Southwest peninsula
Quest: Help him finding inspiration for his paintings
Tip: Each time you will meet him, be sure to talk to him several times. At the end of each discussion, he will try to find inspiration elsewhere. After meeting him, he will move to the lighthouse, then he will set his easel above a waterfall, then near the graveyard, then on Outlook Point and his last inspiration source will be the visitor’s center.
Reward: Golden feather

Meeting point: Little island, north-east from the fisherman’s boat
Quest: Pick up all the waste on the island
Tip: While talking with him, he will offer you to buy a hat like the one he wears. You will be able to buy it for 100 coins or more, depending on the choice you will make during your conversation.
Reward: ⚠️

A Short Hike Game

Treasure maps

Games Like A Short Hike

Map location: In a chest located on the deck of the fisherman’s boat
Treasure location: Dig at the tip of the lighthouse shadow

Map location: The dog gives it to you if you talk to him while he is standing on Outlook Point
Treasure location: ⚠️

A Short Hike Game Machine

Map location: In a chest located near the abandoned building
Treasure location: Dig on the grass top of a rock platform on Royal Ridge

Related Posts:

Over the festive break we'll be running through our top 20 picks of the year's best games, leading up to the reveal of Eurogamer's game of the year on New Year's Eve. You can find all the pieces published to date here - and thanks for joining us throughout the year!

Following up on a hunch is the most satisfying thing, isn't it? Someone asks for something in a game, and chances are you won't have it. Often, what they want is a complete mystery. You continue playing and almost forget about it. And then! It falls into your lap, almost by accident. Even if you don't remember where exactly it's supposed to go, or what it's for, you probably have a feeling in your gut, enough to drop everything and see if the pieces fit. And when they do, that feeling of getting it right is like nothing else.

Adventure and exploration games do this best, and whereas most have these moments humming along in the background - the trading sequence quest in one of the year's best remakes, Zelda: Link's Awakening, is a brilliant example - A Short Hike is all about these mini revelations.

The goal of A Short Hike is to scale the highest mountain on a holiday island. Starting your journey from the bottom, you skirt past lush forests and sun-bleached beaches, pinging between one holiday-goer to the next, learning about their hobbies and some rumours of what's hidden all around you as you climb.

In no time at all, you reach the foot at the mountain. To scale it, you need a number of special items - double-jump enabling feathers - and so you must set off to find them. This is when the game leans into its 32 and 64-bit trappings the most, harking back to the likes of collect-a-thon platformers such as Banjo Kazooie, as you realise feathers can be found everywhere - but all just out of reach.

Thankfully, you already have some idea of where to start looking. Perhaps it's tracking down a roving artist you first spotted earlier, or seeking out a lighthouse mentioned in passing conversation. Maybe you need to pay the gift shop a visit, or search some of the out of view cliff tops. The more you discover, the more you realise where others might be. Even the most seemingly isolated activities - collecting loose seashells, or coming across a watering can, perhaps - can give you something, perhaps the eureka moment you were looking for to connect the dots elsewhere, and gift you one more feather to further your ascent.

There's so much to love about A Short Hike - the way it looks and feels, with its low-res, isometric perspective you can tug at with the right analogue stick; the chunky coins that spill on the ground when uncovered; and the sound of strings kicking in as you soar high above the island's parameter. But what I appreciated most is the density of the island, and how it teases its secrets just enough for you to go on an adventure far richer than games many times of its length because of it.