The Left Behind Game Club: ‘A Short Hike’

When I began working on the Ludonarrative Podcast a few years back, one of the first things I did was look around for similar podcasts – shows that produced thoughtful, engaging, critical, and unique content about games. One of the first shows I found that stuck with me was the Left Behind Game Club podcast, a show that focuses on very similar games to what Preston and I tend to play and discuss on our own podcast. While the Ludonarrative show has been in relative hiatus between seasons – we’re working on season three right now – the Left Behind Game Club have kept themselves extremely consistent, producing shows at a sometimes alarming rate. I recently joined them as a guest for their episode on A Short Hike, releasing at the same time as this post.

We talked about A Short Hike on the episode where I was invited as a guest to their show, and I’m fairly confident we all loved it. In fact, it was one of my favorite games of 2019 – indie or otherwise. Developed by Adam Robinson-Yu, A Short Hike is – as I describe it in the episode – like taking the characters and dialogue of A Night in the Woods and the traversal mechanics of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, putting them into a blender, and then pouring the mixture into a tiny shot glass. As someone who avoids Animal Crossing content, I also have to acknowledge the thematic similarities in presentation between that game and A Short Hike. It’s a charming and fundamentally relaxing experience that evokes joy above all.

I had a blast talking about this game at length with Jacob, Mike, and Moe, who run the Left Behind Game Club podcast. They’re great people to talk to and I always find their episodes engaging and positive – even when their hot takes catch me off guard. For anyone familiar with my work who hasn’t had the treat of listening to their show, I think this episode about A Short Hike will be a great starting point for you. I’m grateful they decided to invite me on, and I look forward to more episodes with them in the future. Here’s the latest episode of the Left Behind Game Club podcast. 

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