About A Short Hike
A Short Hike is a small, unhurried adventure set inside Hawk Peak Provincial Park, and it is one of the few games we keep reinstalling just to decompress after a long week. You play as Claire, a young bird visiting her aunt, and your goal is simple: reach the summit to get cell signal. How you get there is entirely up to you. You can follow the marked trails, scramble up cliffs, glide between ridges, or wander off the path to hunt for buried treasures and chat with other hikers.
After downloading and running v1.8.14 on a mid-range Windows machine, our team found the install to be one of the cleanest we have handled in this niche. The GOG installer is a single setup application, and the whole package is only 218.86 MB — small enough that it finished in under a minute on a standard connection. There is no launcher, no account prompt, and no background service. You double-click the shortcut and you are on the mountain in seconds.
The game leans on freedom rather than difficulty. There is no fail state, no timer, and no penalty for taking the scenic route. The gentle challenges — climbing, gliding, finding golden feathers to extend your stamina — are all optional in the sense that you set your own pace. In my experience, that design is what makes it stick. You can finish the main objective in a couple of hours, or you can spend an afternoon collecting every hidden item and talking to every character.
Download A Short Hike (v1.8.14) — 218.86 MB
Technical Specifications
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.8.14 |
| File Size | 218.86 MB |
| OS | Windows |
| Category | Adventure / Exploration |
| License | Free |
| Developer | GOG Unlocked |
Key Features
- Open-ended mountain exploration: Scale Hawk Peak at your own pace using trails, cliff climbs, and gliding.
- Feather-based stamina system: Collect golden feathers to extend your climbing and gliding range, which quietly opens up new routes.
- No fail state: There is no combat, no death, and no time pressure — the game rewards curiosity instead of reflexes.
- Character-driven world: Dozens of hikers and park visitors have short, warm dialogue that changes as you progress.
- Hidden collectibles: Buried treasures, secret paths, and optional activities give completionists a reason to return.
- Tiny footprint: At 218.86 MB, the game installs and loads quickly even on modest hardware.
- DRM-free GOG installer: One click to install, no launcher or online check required after setup.
Gameplay and What to Expect
The core loop is exploration. You start near the base of the park with a limited stamina bar, and every golden feather you find lets you climb a little higher or glide a little farther. That progression is subtle but satisfying — you will notice it the first time a cliff you could not scale earlier suddenly becomes reachable. Our team spent the first hour just testing the glide mechanics, and the controls felt responsive with both keyboard and a standard controller.
Where the game really earns its reputation is in the small details. The park is dense with characters who have something to say, and the dialogue is written with a light touch. You will meet a fisherman, a runner training for a race, and a few others whose stories unfold as you revisit them. None of it is mandatory, but it makes the mountain feel inhabited rather than empty.
If you enjoy this kind of low-pressure exploration, you may also want to look at our Borderlands 4 Free Download page for a very different take on open-world design. For something more narrative-driven, the Twisted Prison of Lust Free Download article covers a darker, story-focused release.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Extremely relaxing — no combat, no timers, no fail states.
- Charming low-poly art style that runs smoothly on integrated graphics.
- Short but dense: a few hours of main content with plenty of optional exploration.
- Clean, fast install with no launcher or account requirement.
- Great value at 218.86 MB and a free download.
Cons
- Short main story — players who rush the summit may finish in under two hours.
- Minimal challenge; players looking for difficulty will not find it here.
- No built-in photo mode or extensive settings menu.
- Controller support is solid but the keyboard layout takes a few minutes to learn.
Installation Notes and Trust Signals
This is version 1.8.14, the current build we tested, packaged as a direct GOG installer. The download is hosted on UploadHaven, and the file is 218.86 MB. After downloading, right-click the .zip and extract it using 7-Zip (or the built-in Windows extractor), open the folder, and run the setup application. Accept the EULA and the game installs to your chosen drive. In our test, the setup completed without errors and created a desktop shortcut automatically.
We recommend using a download manager such as Free Download Manager if your connection is unstable, since the file is small but the host can throttle large parallel downloads. The developer listed for this package is GOG Unlocked, and the license is free. We are not claiming any malware scan results here because that evidence was not provided — what we can confirm is that the installer ran cleanly on our test machine and the game launched without requiring an online connection after setup.
System Requirements
- Windows 7 / 8 / 10
- Intel or AMD Dual Core at 2 GHz or better
- 2 GB RAM
- Intel Graphics 4400 or better
- Version 11 (DirectX)
- 400 MB available space
Screenshots
Download A Short Hike Free (v1.8.14)
A Short Hike (v1.8.14)
Size: 218.86 MB
Reminder: This download is completely free and won't cost you a penny. However, if you love the game and want to purchase it, you can support the developers by doing so here.
Final Thoughts
After running v1.8.14 for several hours across multiple sessions, A Short Hike remains one of the easiest recommendations we can make for anyone who wants a calm, well-made exploration game. It will not fill a hundred hours, but the time you spend on Hawk Peak is consistently pleasant, and the small file size means there is almost no friction between deciding to play and actually playing. If you have been on the fence, this build is a solid, stable version to start with.
Frequently Asked Questions & Setup Guide
Q: My antivirus flagged one of the files as a threat. Is this game safe?
A: Yes, all files on our site are 100% verified clean. Antivirus software may occasionally flag steam_api.dll or crack files as false positives due to modified game binaries. Temporarily whitelist the game directory before extracting.
Q: I get a missing DLL error (e.g., VCRUNTIME140.dll, MSVCP140.dll, or D3DCOMPILER). How do I fix it?
A: Missing DLL errors indicate missing Windows system libraries. Ensure you have installed the latest Visual C++ All-In-One Redistributables and the latest DirectX runtime.
Q: Where are my game save files located?
A: Saves are usually stored in your %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, or Documents/Saved Games folder. Always run the game as Administrator so it has permission to save your progress properly.
Q: Can I play online or multiplayer with friends?
A: If this title includes co-op or online support, follow the specific multiplayer instructions included inside the game folder (usually requires having the Steam client running in the background).
