This is a nice game, but a very short one (obviously, it's in the name). You can crack a few good hours out of it. However, while the gameplay is nice enough, it's not the real appeal, for me at least.

The real appeal of this game, for me at least, is the atmosphere. The game is beautiful. The pixels are crunchy in just the right way, so that the game can stay good looking while still being old looking. The soundtrack is great, too. The vibes are on point here.

If I had a nickle for every mountain climbing game I've played where the player character had something that's red when the character has an extra movement option, but turns blue when they run out of ability to use that option, as well as golden feathers that extend your movement, I would have 2 nickles. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice. I think you knew the Celeste comparison was coming. However, A Short Hike is quite distinct, For one, it's 3D, not 2D. Secondly, in A Short Hike, feathers are your double jump. With each feather you get you get another jump. A Short Hike is also notably easier than Celeste (and shorter, but that kinda obvious).

I don't know how to rate this game, given it's short runtime, but I think it's done a good job doing what it set out to do. 4/5 Stars.