In A Short Hike there are a multitude of things for players to do on their way to call their mom. The player can fish, rock climb, play stickball, race, collect objects, and complete quests. The game allows the player to shape their experience however they prefer.
One of the most effective ways the game does this is by allowing players to forget that there are mechanics to begin with. Unlike other games, where one’s inventory is always visible and reminding the player that there are things to collect and accomplish. A Short Hike keeps the players that roam the map in the dark about quests, their money, and their entire inventory filled with stuff. By making one’s inventory something that’s bothersome to scroll through, the game is encouraging one to forget about it all together. Why would I look through 20+ items when I can just walk around and do what I enjoy?
The player is constantly stumbling upon the same mechanics and rediscovering them after having forgot they existed. After finding the rock climbing near the beginning of my playthrough, I was only able to find/finish it after I completed the game because I could not for the life of me think about it (and the amount of effort it would have saved me too…). This allows the player to be present and play in the moment, rather than focus on completing the various quests that one can simultaneously take on.
“Got any fish?” “beachstickball?” One is only reminded of quests and activities by the NPCs themselves. If you do not happen to pass by one and interact with them, there is no way to keep track of your “to-dos” and they hardly have any purpose besides one’s own altruistic inclinations.
Additionally, these prompts from the NPCs are not only reminders for things one can do but provide the player with hints at how to do them. They do not leave it up to the player to understand fishing, beachstickball. Rock climbing, or running, the NPCs always explain tasks and how to do them. Knowing that re-learning skills is possible removes the pressure of memorization from the player’s experience.
In other words, A Short Hike is a game filled with things to do but provides the player with little reminders/pressure to do them. It makes things feel natural by letting the player know that they can interact with things if they want to and will make it accessible by explicitly stating what they need to do it. There is little for the player to actually think about when playing A Short Hike and that’s what makes it comforting.
I agree with the idea that not shoving a massive options list towards the player inadvertently makes for a more liberating experience although it initially might seem like fewer options are being given overall. It reminds me of a study in which two groups of people are told that they have to choose a picture to keep out of several different choices. The first group can at any time decide they want to swap out their selected picture for the others, while the second group has to keep the one they initially chose. The study indicated that the first group was less happy with their choice due to a never-ending feeling that they maybe made the wrong decision and ought to swap it out. The second group on the contrary grows to really accept and appreciate their initial choice. I know I personally experience a sort of decision paralysis when so many potential actions can be taken at any given time and at any given place, so it is a nice experience for me when I can just progress without having to memorize every action or combo I can use for a particular context or situation and just instead play and figure things out right as I need to and as many times as I need to.