A Short Hike gets goofy, unofficial online multiplayer mod

An Easy HikeIt’s a game all about birds going on nature walks. You can get so much exploration from this game, which is an advantage over the lengthy quest lists of larger games. You can think of packing. An Easy Hike with other players is entirely counter to the ethos of the game — which is what makes the PC mod A Short Hike 99 so wonderfully chaotic.

The idea started as an April Fools’ Day bit about making the game a “battle royale,” developer Adam Robinson-Yu said on Twitter — though the implementation is for “just vibing,” not fighting. It’s a “rough mod” that will allow you to “see up to 99 other players” as you play, according to a tweet in Robinson-Yu’s thread.

The mod’s unofficial version is available at itch.io. The page details how to download and install A Short Hike 99 on Steam, as well, using the “betas” tab. The mod isn’t going to be a long-term implemented change, and is instead “a fun experiment,” according to the page. And while Robinson-Yu said the server will be up for two weeks, the Itch.io page also notes that “you can download and run your own server if you’d like.”