9th August

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing. This week, Tom O wants your recommendations for co-op games now that he's finished Split Fiction; Victoria discovers the joys of A Short Hike; and Bertie plays the strangest driving game he thinks he's ever played.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.

A Short Hike, PS5

I was looking for something laid back and wholesome to while away a rare quiet evening at home, when A Short Hike was recommended to me by some friends. I didn't know what to expect when I booted it up, having only been told that it had a similar cosiness to Flock, a game I had already enjoyed.

The basic premise of A Short Hike is that you, a bird, want to reach the highest summit within Hawk Peak Provincial Park to make a phone call. Before you make your way to the top, though, you explore the open world of the park, which includes ruined buildings, sandy beaches, and a delightful array of characters including a maratho-running turtle. Needless to say, within moments of starting, I was charmed.

I finished A Short Hike in one go, the whole game from start to finish. I didn't really think that could still be done these days, with games now often spanning hours upon hours. But A Short Hike really was just as its name suggested: a short hike. And what a lovely one it was. The experience, which probably only took me a little over an hour in total, wrapped me up in a cosy blanket of a hug as I relaxed after a long day.

It just goes to show that games don't need to be overly complex or have an alarming collection of button prompts and convoluted mechanics, or take 40+ hours to tell their stories. Sometimes, short really is sweet.

-Victoria

Any co-op game, on anything

I finished Split Fiction finally, so I'm on the hunt for another great co-op game that I can play with my 11-year-old son. We've done It Takes Two (wonderful, probably better than Split Fiction), and A Way Out isn't really suitable, so I've been trawling through my library to see what else might be good. It turns out most games aren't co-op or suitable for kids, but I did remember that Revenge of the Savage Planet hit Game Pass a while back and it has split-screen. Problem solved. I just hope it's good!

-Tom O

Heading Out, PC

I got a press release about Heading Out coming to console on 29th August and I'd never heard of it, so I looked it up and decided to give it a try, because it's been out on PC since last May.

It's a weird one - a blend of driving game and roguelike game, which has you pick a route across the United States via various highways. But it's also a game with a deep story and choice and consequence, all presented in a kind of noir, black-and-white, comic book way. It's one of those games someone seems to have thrown all of the ideas at, which makes it a slightly dense and messy concept, but also charmingly unique.

The idea is that you're dead, I think, and you reawaken with a mission to escape your fear by literally outdriving it, and to get across America to meet and then race the best racer in the world. See what I mean about it having all the ideas? This works in gameplay by mixing driving sections with map-based strategy, where you'll choose routes, manage your tiredness, encounter story sections, gain items, deal with wanted levels if you've been speeding and annoying the police, and so on. There's a lot going on.

But at the heart of it all, underneath that strategy and edgy styling, which is very effective actually, there's a chill game about hitting the road and bombing along endless cross-country highways that America seems to have.

Heading Out is heavily discounted on Steam at the moment as part of a From Poland with Love promotion, if you fancy giving it a go.

-Bertie