Big Walk, the latest title from Untitled Goose Game developer House House, is an experience that leans heavily into its core ideas, offering a blend of puzzles, physics, and cooperative exploration. While the game features a variety of activities including basketball, music, and hidden secrets, its primary mode of interaction is walking with friends, a journey that proves to be surprisingly engaging.
The game strictly requires cooperation, with puzzles dynamically adjusting for lobbies of two to four players, and supporting up to twelve players, though puzzles remain scaled for four. House House strongly encourages the use of in-game proximity voice chat, eschewing external communication tools like Discord or split-screen play. This emphasis on coordinated play, while potentially stringent, fosters a unique sense of shared experience that the developers argue is essential to the game's design.
Players control customizable, bird-like avatars called 'orbishes'. The tutorial area introduces various tools that allow for detailed character customization and teach the game's mechanics, including expressive gestures like raising arms, pointing, and sitting. Movement is tactile and responsive, with actions such as jumping, crouching, picking up and kicking objects, and sliding down hills contributing to a sense of physical presence. The ability to communicate through gestures and avatar actions enhances the feeling of connection between players.
Long-distance communication becomes a key mechanic due to proximity-based voice chat. Tools like walkie-talkies, radios, and whiteboards are vital for maintaining contact across the island. The inventory system, limiting players to holding one item at a time, forces strategic decisions about which tools to carry. While some creative tools like the whiteboard are less 'effective' than communication devices, they offer unique opportunities for nonverbal interaction and emergent fun.
The passage of real-life time during travel is a deliberate design choice, fostering downtime that leads to some of Big Walk's most memorable moments. Spontaneous discoveries of new puzzle rooms or gadgets often result in lighthearted chaos, such as arguments over who gets to use a newly found megaphone or frantic searches for dropped items. The game evokes a feeling of camaraderie reminiscent of childhood adventures.
The overarching objective involves collecting small red objects, colloquially termed 'gourds,' which are typically found after solving ambient puzzles. These puzzles are diverse, ranging from blindfolded obstacle courses and pitching machines to mazes, light-and-picture sequences, and symbol-based challenges requiring players to signal agreement or disagreement. The game often integrates communication challenges within these puzzles, such as in soundproof rooms where players must find nonverbal ways to coordinate, leading to the development of unique shorthands and amusing interactions.
Collecting a sufficient number of gourds unlocks secondary puzzles that, in turn, reveal new features on the island. These reveals are significant, recontextualizing areas and introducing novel gameplay elements that keep the experience fresh and exciting. The game intentionally keeps these mechanics vague to preserve the impact of their discovery.
However, the pace of Big Walk can slow as players focus on island exploration and puzzle completion, sometimes overshadowing the core 'walk' mechanic. The traversal itself can occasionally be finicky, particularly when navigating terrain and ledges. While the island's expanse offers many secrets, the focus on progression can make it feel smaller over time, though a post-credits puzzle chase offers additional content for dedicated players.
Across nine hours, a trio of players experienced the entirety of Big Walk, feeling as though they had undertaken a genuine shared journey filled with laughter and creative problem-solving. The game's conclusion effectively reinforces its central theme: the shared journey is paramount. By isolating players in a dedicated game space with proximity chat, Big Walk aims to simulate the experience of traveling together in a virtual world. It provides the tools for separation and reunion, allowing players to choose their own objectives, whether it's exploration, puzzle-solving, or adventure, all while embarking on a memorable cooperative walk.