Violence in video games has been a heated topic of debate since the medium first came to prominence in the cultural mainstream. Mortal Kombat was one of the first games to demonstrate the potential of video game graphics to show increasingly life-like depictions of violence, sparking a controversy that would follow the medium for years after. To many, the claims seem spurious in the face of countless gamers who enjoy violent games and manage to go about their lives without leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Because let’s face it, violent games are fun as hell.
Take a look at some of the most influential and popular games of the medium, and you’ll find that violence is a major facet of their core gameplay loop. It’s difficult to think of many games that don’t incorporate violence in some shape or form. Even Super Mario, a franchise lauded specifically for its family-friendly nature, still has players stomping on Goombas and Koopas to reach their goal. Violence may be fun, but it seems for most games to be the primary way through which the player can interact with the game and its world. This is why it’s so fascinating that A Short Hike, an unobtrusive little indie gem, managed to do something rather interesting with regards to its in-game violence; there is none.
A Short Intro
A Short Hike was released in 2019 by developer adamgryu. The game follows a young bird named Claire visiting Hawk Peak Provincial Park, where her Aunt May works as a ranger. Claire is expecting an important call from her mother, but the park has very poor reception. Aunt May suggests making the infamously difficult hike to Hawk Peak, the tallest mountain in the park, to have a better chance at receiving her mother’s call. From here, the player takes control of Claire as she explores the park, interacts with the inhabitants, and slowly becomes strong enough to make the fabled hike.
Another Peak to Climb
At first glance, the absence of violence from A Short Hike might seem like an odd thing to draw attention to. After all, there have been plenty of notable games in the past that contain gameplay without the presence of violence. Tetris, The Talos Principle, Gone Home, all of these are games that do not allow the player to engage with the world using violence of any kind. However, these types of games also have a very strict ruleset regarding how players may interact with the world. Puzzle games by definition are about solving problems within that game’s structure and ruleset. Gone Home and other walking simulators are most often primarily focused on the narratives they are trying to tell, and thus don’t require more complex gameplay to engage the player. But outside of a few specific genres, a surprising number of games can be boiled down to having an adversary standing in your way, and overcoming that adversary by force. Even a rhythm game such as Thumper still has you shooting a laser into a boss’ face at the end of every stage. And many games that offer non-lethal options like Metal Gear Solid, Undertale, or Dishonored still have violence baked into their core mechanics.
A Short Hike breaks the mold for non-violent games by having an open-world exploration structure, rather than the more restrictive gameplay types of other typically non-violent games. Claire can climb just about any mountain or structure by simply walking into it. However, the height she can climb without losing her grip is dictated by a stamina meter (represented by Golden Feathers). Once ascending a peak, she can glide through the air using her wings to reach more distant destinations. If this sounds familiar it should, as it’s nearly identical to the climbing mechanics in Breath of the Wild. Besides their gameplay being similar, both games also start by giving the player a vaguely-defined objective and then letting them off the leash to roam the world as they wish. “Climb Hawk Peak” is essentially this game’s “Destroy Ganon.” Where they begin to differ however is how they allow the player to interact with their worlds. Without any combat, A Short Hike chooses to go all-in on exploration.
The primary gameplay motivator is the collection of Golden Feathers to build up Claire’s stamina and climb higher and higher mountains, eventually conquering Hawk Peak. On paper, the game may sound like nothing more than a walking simulator with extra steps, and not worth noting for its non-violence any more than other games in the genre. However, by borrowing some of the most intuitive climbing gameplay in the last decade, A Short Hike manages to make exploration itself engaging enough to carry players through its entirety. Strategically planning out gliding paths, judging the distance of a climb, and praying to have enough stamina to make it. Every cliffside is a peak waiting to be conquered, and every jump is a leap of faith. Simply controlling Claire is fun and engaging without the need to litter the world with enemies to jump on or fight. Breath of the Wild may offer a wider breadth of experiences for the player, due in no small part to how prominent combat is as a part of its core gameplay loop. However, by forgoing combat altogether, A Short Hike allows players to focus purely on the exploration aspect of its world. This simple change in focus allows A Short Hike to deliver a completely different type of experience than many gamers might be used to. The only adversary in this game is nature itself, and how far you’re willing to test it for your own curiosity.
Breathe That Fresh Mountain Air
But exploration would be meaningless if there was nothing to discover. Luckily, A Short Hike has no shortage of surprises and challenges for players. While collecting Golden Feathers is the primary focus for players, the game provides a variety of ways to go about it. Several charming NPC’s litter the park, offering activities ranging from scavenger hunts, fishing, races, and even a volleyball match. Most rewards from these activities do end up being Golden Feathers. However, since Golden Feathers help build your stamina in service of your ultimate goal, it’s a neat way of keeping players invested in exploring the park while making sure they always feel like they’re progressing.
Even still, gameplay mechanics on their own are only a part of building player investment. The atmosphere of A Short Hike is the final ingredient to its success. When you’re not actively searching for the next peak to ascend, simply basking in the world of A Short Hike is an indescribably pleasant experience. The crunch of grass beneath Claire’s feet, the chirps of birds soaring overhead, the gentle winds softly dancing among the treetops. A Short Hike puts in the effort to create a world that is, for lack of a better word, cozy. Paired with a soundtrack utilizing a combination of light acoustics and piano melodies, and you have a game world that simply feels good to exist in. As many similarities one may be able to point to between this game and the average walking simulator, having a greater mechanical investment in their ability to interact with this world means that the cheerful atmosphere becomes all the more tangible to players. By having such engaging exploration and movement mechanics, the player becomes an active part of the world rather than a spectator. It’s the difference between seeing an elephant in captivity, and actively watching one march across the Serengeti. Cutting down as many barriers for players between them and interacting with the world makes all the difference when creating engagement, especially in a game without combat of any sort.
A Unique Case, or Untapped Potential?
There are admittedly a few aspects of A Short Hike that assist in its success as a non-violent title. Firstly, the title is more than just a snappy moniker. The main goal of climbing Hawk Peak can be completed in one to two hours. Completing all the achievements takes around four to six hours in total, depending on how long players take to bask in the scenery. One could argue that the major reason the game works on a non-violent basis is its brevity. That a longer game wouldn’t be able to keep players’ attention as well without some sort of combat or adversary-based gameplay. One could also argue that non-violent mechanics work well for a game as lighthearted in tone as this one, but games wanting to tackle more serious subject matter would be hard-pressed to not have some sort of violence present as a result.
Regarding the first point, the counterargument would be that if the gameplay is interesting enough and fully fleshed out, developers can get players on board with just about anything. Papers, Please proved that you can make filing paperwork entertaining given the right context. As for the second, the idea that games can’t tackle darker subject matter without putting a weapon in the player’s hand or abusing violent imagery is indicative of a lack of imagination more than anything.
But perhaps this type of gameplay philosophy is just inherently more niche than more combat-focused games. Well, all it takes is a glance at A Short Hike’s Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam to show that gamers are more than receptive to this type of gameplay experience. It just depends on how developers present their game’s mechanics and condition their players to engage with their games based on said mechanics.
Over the Next Horizon
Despite how interesting it may be to speculate on the potential for more non-violent mechanics in games, the truth is that violence in video games isn’t going anywhere. And in all honesty, that’s a good thing. The best games of the medium are about players overcoming challenges and conquering obstacles. For better or worse, combat is one of the simplest ways to deliver that type of experience. However, as the medium of gaming continues to grow and mature, both gamers and developers should keep an open mind to these less common types of experiences. A Short Hike is not unique in its lack of violence, but it is a rare example of such a concept outside of the usual genres we’ve come to expect this from. If gaming is to grow and develop as a medium, there need to be different ways of interacting with titles beyond fighting every foe that comes our way.
As the old saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If more developers become brave enough to hand gamers a different tool than they’re used to, it can only mean good things for gaming as a whole.