Big Walk Review: House House Strikes Gold Again Beyond the Goose
In a year teeming with hotly anticipated releases, like Wolverine and Grand Theft Auto 6, one of the games I was looking forward to the most was Big Walk by developer House House, the team behind Untitled Goose Game. If you are unfamiliar with Untitled Goose Game, I suggest you go play that and come back. I’ll wait.
Okay, now that you understand what House House is capable of, you can understand why I’ve spent the last few years waiting for this game. And it turns out it's come at the best time possible, since games like Peak and REPO have taken physics-based chaos and proximity chat games into the stratosphere in terms of popularity for both players and those players’ favorite streamers.
But Big Walk appeals to me in a way those other games don’t. I don’t want to lose you here, but Big Walk feels like multiplayer Myst. Yeah, that CD-ROM game from the 90s. To be fair, it’s been remade and modernized a few times over the years–most recently in 2020 (and is still being updated as of this year!). But while Myst and puzzle games that gravitate towards being Myst-like tend to be cryptic, slow, and boring for those that aren’t explicitly into that sort of thing, Big Walk takes away the pomp and circumstance and leaves nothing but fun and co-op puzzle solving.
My absolute favorite thing about Big Walk is its puzzles. There is a vast variety of them, and while some puzzles are similar, no two are exactly the same. Unlike most games that are similar to Big Walk, you aren’t just collecting items and hoping to get them back. You find tools you sometimes need or sometimes choose to use, etc.
The puzzles themselves are very clever with a variety of teamwork-based tasks, like handing off heavy items in a chain, timing-based puzzles, puzzles based on logic, and others where communicating symbols and complex tasks have to be through a system you and your friends figure out. It's led to some really fun and hilarious interactions. And failure is never permanent. You can’t die in Big Walk, and any failed puzzles can be retried as many times as you like.
While Big Walk is physics-based and relies on proximity chat–which is a must–it doesn’t feel gimmicky. Instead, these components are a part of the presentation. Many puzzles, for instance, would be easier or even trivialized without proximity chat. And getting lost and having to find your friends again is part of the adventure.
There are in-game items like maps, walkie-talkies and other similar items to make communication and pathfinding easier, but it doesn’t solve these problems outright. In fact, carrying items reduces what you can hold in your hands, or takes up valuable backpack or hip slot space.
Exploration is a major factor in Big Walk, and it's a lovely world where realistic backdrops are in juxtaposition to player characters and structures painted in primary colors.
If you can see something in Big Walk you can get there eventually, even if that means finding items to make new keys to progress to the next area. Most of the game’s progression is based around gathering items to unlock keys that then give you access to new areas, needed information and other surprises. You can get lost in exploration just as easily as you can in trying to figure out solutions.
While a lot of games that rely on physics and proximity chat can be played in rounds, Big Walk has a more permanent progression. You can create different saves to play with different groups of friends, but since Big Walk has an intentional ending,your mileage may vary in terms of replayability down the road. Let’s hope that House House releases a few DLC levels–bonus points if they’re cheap, free, or there is some other way to support the developers while keeping updates free.
You can’t play Big Walk solo, unfortunately. But you can play with just one other friend if that’s all you have available. The game scales the puzzles based on up to a 4 player group, but in an online lobby you can play with up to 11 friends, which I assume would be absolute chaos. I have to admit I haven’t had a chance to see what Big Walk looks like with a full 4 or 12 player group yet, but I can’t wait to get more of my friends to jump in with me.
I love Big Walk’s charm and presentation, which help go a long way in selling it. But I stuck around for the great exploration, clever puzzles, and unadulterated fun with friends. Games that can warm this reviewer’s jaded heart are few and far between, and Big Walk does so easily.
It’s not only one of my favorite games this year, it’s one of my favorite games I’ve ever reviewed in ten years of being a game reviewer, and I’m going to convince all my friends to go on this Big Walk with me.
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