Peace in the Park
Plus, a small complaint about difficulty settings
Resident Evil 4 (2023) | A Short Complaint
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in the final stretch of WeblogPoMo over on my personal site. For some reason I didn’t consider it, but reading other’s posts, researching for my own, and then actually writing the entries always meant my free evenings were heavily occupied and left me little room for anything else.
However, I did manage to make some additional time to make progress in the remake of Resident Evil 4, but unfortunately after I decided the “Hardcore” mode was a little too tough for my first playthrough I discovered that in order to change the difficulty setting I needed to start over from the beginning.
Now, when it comes to decisions like that I’m typically of the mindset of “hey, they designed it so they get to make that choice”, but they failed to include that important detail on the difficulty selection screen and that seems a little unfair. “Hardcore” is only described as being “for players who have played Resident Evil 4 (2005)” and mentions “stronger enemies”, “harder challenges”, and “higher prices”. I’m sorry, but that’s just poor communication.
I was just an hour in, so it wasn’t that big a deal for me. But I can only imagine the frustration one might feel if they are halfway through the game and find themselves in an unsolvable situation. Take this more as a PSA than anything. I still think the game has been fun so far, but if you’re like me “Standard” may be the better difficulty to start with.
A Short Hike | Touching Grass
Anyway, in order to have something a little less complainy to write about this week, I took inspiration from Kyle’s post about short games over on his blog and finally¹ sat down to play A Short Hike.
The game is a peaceful indie where you play as Claire, a young bird who is visiting Hawk Peak Provincial Park with her aunt. It opens with Claire expecting an important call and her aunt explaining that the peak of the mountain is the only place in the park that may have cell reception. With that simple setup, you are off on a hike to the summit.
The way the landscape of the park is laid out invites deviations. The main path is simple to find and follow, but there are characters and items breadcrumbed alongside it that lead you deeper into the woods and off into side stories. I half-expected myself to stick to the road to the summit in order to ensure I completed it in time to write about it, but the game’s charm and my curiosity won out in the end. I got distracted by mini-games, sucked into fetch quests, and sunk time into climbing and gliding through the air for the pure joy of it.
I’ve also got to give a shoutout to the soundtrack by Mark Sparling. In game, it naturally adapts to both the environment and the activities Claire finds herself in. I played this with headphones on, and it was the perfect compliment to the game’s vibe, elevating the immersion. From personal experience, I can also attest that it’s an excellent companion to writing about video games as well.
A Short Hike was a worthwhile way to mentally take a breath and chill out after a particularly packed week. It could easily be completed in about an hour, but the fun is in allowing yourself to wander around the playground that developer Adam Robinson-Yu has designed. I explored for a couple of hours and there are still a few rocks unturned that I can go back to.
If you’re in need of something light and calming you’d benefit from tucking in for an evening with A Short Hike.
¹ I originally got this game as part of the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality on itch.io nearly 4 years ago!