People might argue that enough has been said about Sexy Hiking, but I doubt that. It is the dadaist statement of a Czech game designer, unleashed in 2003 to puzzle art snobs and hardcore platform nerds alike. Remember it has been said that Franz Kafka couldn’t have written such intense novels of nightmarish organizations, of absurd rules and imcomprehensible officialdom, hadn’t it been for all his insurance company work which left his sensitive soul deeply impressed and also in need for a creative outlet?
Well, Jazzuo is a guy who is obviously taking seafood cooking classes in Japan and dressing up as a yellow ninja. Now, imagine Sexy Hiking to be the creative outcry of a sensitive soul, caught between seafood and ninja masquerade. You are exposed to a world of wrongness and pain, and despite the salacious name of the game you are chastely equipped with nothing but a 3D hammer, 3D boots and your ability to glitch gravity. The author does little to help or guide you on your quest:
use the humer as if u were really climbing something and ull see
to hang on rope u have to have the left mouse button pressed!
Now all there is left for you is to hike, hike with your hammer, hike over trees, stone walls, waterfalls, and all the while be careful not to violate the boundaries of this hiking universe: The floor is not always what it seems, and the set of rules to be used against you can be stretched ultimately.
To hike all over to my introduction – again: Lots of people have already praised the surrealist potential of this game, while others still fail to see it. In my opinion, if I were to name a single game that is honestly kafkaesque in its game mechanics, graphical presentation and general feel, oppressive in its set of rules, yet still giving the player a deceptive feeling of control, it would have to be Sexy Hiking.
