A hikelike mystery game would be incredible. I imagine a small town with some dumb mystery like “who stole the cake” or “who took the majors pants” and through exploration you can find little clues. Instead of the main progress being: climb the mountain, its: find the clues. You can do little things for people just as in a short hike, but instead of golden feathers you get clues that lead you to the big mystery, instead of the mountain.
haha. In that sense you could call zelda 1 a hikelike I suppose. I picture that a nice little game like a child goes missing in the woods would be great for this. Kind of like Firewatch but exploration is more encouraged.
Amazing video and analysis, as always. I played this game a few years ago and really liked it too. You can find a postmortem virtual talk by the creator of the game on youtube in which he explains choices that he makes to build the game, it is very intersting if you haven't seen it :)
Your proposed mystery hike like made me think of FEZ, given that it's platformer elements are not the games main focus. Also: In the beginning of the video you mentioned the tight control scheme of A short hike. This too would be a genre defining mechanic for me, since it is just so much fun to do exploration with a perfectly implemented movement, like BotW or Sable (another contender for me)
god man it's so criminal you don't even have a thousand subs :( i really hope the algorithm plays in your favor once again like with the fez video, if anyone deserves it it's you!
Very interesting standpoint and analysis as a propposal for a new genre classification. I think one should also take into consideration the Game Feel given the emotions the Exploration mechanics produce, like a Warm and Cozy feeling or serenity for example, but also responsiveness and coherence with the aesthetics and animations of the characters (given that three examples you show are antropomorphic children like-charicatures in Naturalistic beatiful enviroments; nothing wrong with that, just interesting to note that it would be difficult on first sight to associate the genre to other type of Style in that sense, and also very interesting to come up with a game that goes farther than that percieved limitation [like Outer Wilds, yeah]). The story can't be tensive enough like in a 'enviromental story telling exploration game' as Gone-home or Umurangi Generation, so ¿How simplistic or laid back it should appropiately be and to what extent there should be a limit to cross a metanarrative line (and propose some kind of "deeeper meaning in this facade of a game" of the sort)? Another important aspect is that, more than an iteration of what the Zen games are supposed to represent for a Casual playthrough, what is the replay value of this games? Are the game-loops, the mechanics, the tone, or the story the main differentiator here from other genres? If the game has sort of a hub, it's very important for keeping the consistent feeling of familiarity, despite the posibility of player expression in the crafting mechanics or akin to personalization of the hub or his own character. Also, the idea of blending genres with mechanics from other ones is interesting; I would argue that 'paper mario the origami king' is a good example of hike-like, as a combination with the easy platforming-puzzle + RPG mechanics. But surely there are better examples to think of.
On the note of that "where is the line" part, there cant relly be one, when is something a roguelike and a roguelite? Is gungeon a roguelite becuse you can oermanatsly unlock new wepons? Or is it a roguelike becuse you always gotta start from teh start? Some argue one way, others the other way, my point is, for most game genres there isnt a conssistent line, ya just gotta go with it
When I read the title the second game that came in mind was Alba: A wild life adventure and was shocked that later on in the video it was mentioned. Despite not being a fan of overly cute designs and feelings I still really liked the short compact experience Alba gave me and made a mark on me better than other larger games. Due to this I've been searching more slightly obscure titles and have gained quite a lot from it. That being said, now I MUST play a Short Hike. Other games that have currently caught my eye are Demon Turf and Blue Fire because of the impact A Hat in Time and Psychonauts have made on me. Of course, going for more out of the way stuff may be risky and you might find something that does not live to your expectations for whatever reason but, unlike with larger games, theese games might carry enough charm, charisma or effort that you still enjoy trying it like with Hob or Cris Tales. After watching your videos for a bit I've really come to appreciate your content and I'm happy I found you.
Thanks for yet another great video!! I feel like the reason why rogue-like works so well as a genre term is partially because the original game rogue is such a blank slate; you can have roguelikes set in fantasyland and in hell; or both, in the past and present in any art style- and it would still be a roguelike. To consider stylistic choices in a genre might narrow it down too far for it to be broadly applicable. A Short Hike is already such a complete package.. So, looking at it purely from a bread and butter, cold, like, design standpoint: a hikelike would be like a small-open world story driven collectathon/exploration game….? Counter argument; this would also vaguely classify mario 64 as one- which, while it may be true for some people, kind of misses the point of what a hikelike is I think. Maybe its the lack of combat that defines it mechanically? For this reason, I think even more interesting than genre fusions would be the style fusions you omitted. Could an adult hikelike exist? would SOMA be a psychological horror hikelike? You have a gun, but it’s mostly useless: most of the game takes place exploring narrative concepts and exploring the ship. No? Okay, what if it didn’t have stealth segments and/or you couldn’t hold a gun? I think its an interesting thought experiment to try define the edges like this, but it might be too early to say so
I just played through a short hike. As someone who is in wild anticipation for Tears of the Kingdom, these bite sized open worlds are quite compelling. Another game I think falls into the hikelike genre is Bowser’s Fury. It’s by far the most seamless, open ended Mario game. So glad sandbox Mario has made a comeback.
Thanks for the recommendation for A Short Hike, as its been on my list to buy+play for a long while now, but I keep putting it off since I play a lot of "wholesome indies" to propose a genre of my own, and I was trying to instead clear off some newer indie metroidvanias from the backlog for the last while. Haven Park also sounds good, as I initially thought it was more of an Animal Crossing clone, which always tends to overwhelm me as there are simply too many tasks to do. But it looks much more small scale, so on the wishlist it goes! Speaking of wholesome indies, would love to see a more fleshed out video talking about such games, or to put it in more general terms, games with a "cozy" vibe. Seems to be a theme/genre consistent with lots of newer indie releases, from Cozy Grove to Spiritfarer to the recent Bear and Breakfast. Just figured the topic could be worth a dive into. :)
A hikelike mystery game would be incredible. I imagine a small town with some dumb mystery like “who stole the cake” or “who took the majors pants” and through exploration you can find little clues. Instead of the main progress being: climb the mountain, its: find the clues. You can do little things for people just as in a short hike, but instead of golden feathers you get clues that lead you to the big mystery, instead of the mountain.
haha. In that sense you could call zelda 1 a hikelike I suppose. I picture that a nice little game like a child goes missing in the woods would be great for this. Kind of like Firewatch but exploration is more encouraged.
Amazing video and analysis, as always.
I played this game a few years ago and really liked it too.
You can find a postmortem virtual talk by the creator of the game on youtube in which he explains choices that he makes to build the game, it is very intersting if you haven't seen it :)
Your proposed mystery hike like made me think of FEZ, given that it's platformer elements are not the games main focus.
Also: In the beginning of the video you mentioned the tight control scheme of A short hike. This too would be a genre defining mechanic for me, since it is just so much fun to do exploration with a perfectly implemented movement, like BotW or Sable (another contender for me)
Yet another video crafted with care and thought thats underated in evr aspect
Great video!
god man it's so criminal you don't even have a thousand subs :( i really hope the algorithm plays in your favor once again like with the fez video, if anyone deserves it it's you!
Very interesting standpoint and analysis as a propposal for a new genre classification. I think one should also take into consideration the Game Feel given the emotions the Exploration mechanics produce, like a Warm and Cozy feeling or serenity for example, but also responsiveness and coherence with the aesthetics and animations of the characters (given that three examples you show are antropomorphic children like-charicatures in Naturalistic beatiful enviroments; nothing wrong with that, just interesting to note that it would be difficult on first sight to associate the genre to other type of Style in that sense, and also very interesting to come up with a game that goes farther than that percieved limitation [like Outer Wilds, yeah]). The story can't be tensive enough like in a 'enviromental story telling exploration game' as Gone-home or Umurangi Generation, so ¿How simplistic or laid back it should appropiately be and to what extent there should be a limit to cross a metanarrative line (and propose some kind of "deeeper meaning in this facade of a game" of the sort)?
Another important aspect is that, more than an iteration of what the Zen games are supposed to represent for a Casual playthrough, what is the replay value of this games? Are the game-loops, the mechanics, the tone, or the story the main differentiator here from other genres? If the game has sort of a hub, it's very important for keeping the consistent feeling of familiarity, despite the posibility of player expression in the crafting mechanics or akin to personalization of the hub or his own character.
Also, the idea of blending genres with mechanics from other ones is interesting; I would argue that 'paper mario the origami king' is a good example of hike-like, as a combination with the easy platforming-puzzle + RPG mechanics. But surely there are better examples to think of.
On the note of that "where is the line" part, there cant relly be one, when is something a roguelike and a roguelite? Is gungeon a roguelite becuse you can oermanatsly unlock new wepons? Or is it a roguelike becuse you always gotta start from teh start? Some argue one way, others the other way, my point is, for most game genres there isnt a conssistent line, ya just gotta go with it
When I read the title the second game that came in mind was Alba: A wild life adventure and was shocked that later on in the video it was mentioned.
Despite not being a fan of overly cute designs and feelings I still really liked the short compact experience Alba gave me and made a mark on me better than other larger games.
Due to this I've been searching more slightly obscure titles and have gained quite a lot from it.
That being said, now I MUST play a Short Hike. Other games that have currently caught my eye are Demon Turf and Blue Fire because of the impact A Hat in Time and Psychonauts have made on me.
Of course, going for more out of the way stuff may be risky and you might find something that does not live to your expectations for whatever reason but, unlike with larger games, theese games might carry enough charm, charisma or effort that you still enjoy trying it like with Hob or Cris Tales.
After watching your videos for a bit I've really come to appreciate your content and I'm happy I found you.
Thanks for yet another great video!!
I feel like the reason why rogue-like works so well as a genre term is partially because the original game rogue is such a blank slate; you can have roguelikes set in fantasyland and in hell; or both, in the past and present in any art style- and it would still be a roguelike.
To consider stylistic choices in a genre might narrow it down too far for it to be broadly applicable. A Short Hike is already such a complete package.. So, looking at it purely from a bread and butter, cold, like, design standpoint: a hikelike would be like a small-open world story driven collectathon/exploration game….?
Counter argument; this would also vaguely classify mario 64 as one- which, while it may be true for some people, kind of misses the point of what a hikelike is I think.
Maybe its the lack of combat that defines it mechanically?
For this reason, I think even more interesting than genre fusions would be the style fusions you omitted. Could an adult hikelike exist? would SOMA be a psychological horror hikelike? You have a gun, but it’s mostly useless: most of the game takes place exploring narrative concepts and exploring the ship. No? Okay, what if it didn’t have stealth segments and/or you couldn’t hold a gun? I think its an interesting thought experiment to try define the edges like this, but it might be too early to say so
I just played through a short hike. As someone who is in wild anticipation for Tears of the Kingdom, these bite sized open worlds are quite compelling. Another game I think falls into the hikelike genre is Bowser’s Fury. It’s by far the most seamless, open ended Mario game. So glad sandbox Mario has made a comeback.
Thanks for the recommendation for A Short Hike, as its been on my list to buy+play for a long while now, but I keep putting it off since I play a lot of "wholesome indies" to propose a genre of my own, and I was trying to instead clear off some newer indie metroidvanias from the backlog for the last while. Haven Park also sounds good, as I initially thought it was more of an Animal Crossing clone, which always tends to overwhelm me as there are simply too many tasks to do. But it looks much more small scale, so on the wishlist it goes!
Speaking of wholesome indies, would love to see a more fleshed out video talking about such games, or to put it in more general terms, games with a "cozy" vibe. Seems to be a theme/genre consistent with lots of newer indie releases, from Cozy Grove to Spiritfarer to the recent Bear and Breakfast. Just figured the topic could be worth a dive into. :)
I'll be honest. I was expecting this to be about Sexy Hiking and imitators like Getting Over it, Jump King, others.
But this was a pleasant surprise
is a horror hikelite possible?