Interesting concept! Personally, I have not really played anything like this before so it def sounds unique. Nice work on the timeline considerations, this will def help with prioritizing your core gameplay. Can’t wait to play the MVP this up and coming weekend!

This is really intriguing. I have not played through anything like this before. It sounds very cathartic.

You might consider how valuable fog could be in being the mechanic for displaying the area the hiker has yet to interact with and the tiles the player has not dealt to the board yet. You could play with the opacity and color of the fog to signify both states with the same asset that way you only have to make one thing but can have it serve two different purposes.

I'm a fan of your design pillars, this sounds like a really enjoyable game, and I look forward to reading some of the stories that it will tell!

Best of luck!