Big Walk Review: A Walking and Talking Game That Shouldn't Work (But Does)

When we first saw Big Walk on an indie showcase last year, the whole panel went, "I don't know about this." It's a game where you... walk and talk? Ryan pictured a weird social experiment. Josh fully expected to hate it. Ace had a little more faith, because it comes from House House, the folks behind Untitled Goose Game.

Then it sold half a million copies in its first week with a 93% positive rating. So we ran two VGP community nights with as many people as the game allows (12, and on night two we had to turn people away) and found out.

What do you actually do?

You get a small toolkit: move each arm on its own, grab, kick, point, jump, crouch, slide, and pick up objects (and your friends). The whole game runs on proximity chat, and it's strict. Turn away or drift about five meters off and people vanish from your ears. The developers warn you not to use Discord, and we 1,000% agree. Being on a call breaks half the puzzles.

There are no public lobbies, so bring friends. (We know a Discord server full of them.)

Josh got lost in the woods

This is our favorite story from the episode and Josh's least favorite memory. Night one, 12 people partying, and Josh slips down a mountain, slides, gets launched off a rock, and is completely alone. No map yet, no fast travel, and nobody can hear him yelling "ACE? RYAN?" into the trees. He couldn't even leave because he was hosting. After 10 to 15 lonely minutes, the game crashed, and he has never been so happy about a crash.

Later he got stuck alone outside a puzzle room. He'd learned that opening the door resets the puzzle, so he sat out there playing catch with a glowing ball for 10 minutes until everyone came out laughing at him. Good times.

The puzzles are the real star

This surprised all three of us. The puzzles are some of the most creative co-op puzzles we've played, and they're built around making you communicate in new ways:

• A telephone-relay puzzle where you pass a message down a chain of people.
• Two teams split across a playground, where one side has to tell the other where to place tea kettles at different heights.
• A mask that leaves one player blind and mostly deaf while everyone shouts directions through an obstacle course. (We carried it all the way back to base just to keep putting it on Ryan.)
• Soundproof rooms where you're stuck pointing and banging on the glass. THAT ONE. NO, THAT ONE.
• A room where the puzzle is just to sit together for five minutes. We turned it into a group therapy session.

Each solved puzzle gives you a little token that looks like a dog's chew toy. You carry it back to one of the colored towers to unlock shortcuts, the map, and a ski lift across the island (which Ryan and a friend promptly rode the wrong way). The puzzles scale to your group, too, so two players get two-player versions.

The magic is the hangout

Here's what got us. Some of the best moments came from doing nothing at all: walking back to the tower as a group with someone holding a lantern over their head, Ryan belting out Creed through a megaphone at the top of the tower until it turned into group karaoke, and a laser-pointer rave.

That's also what makes it hard to score. Josh's honest question: how much of the fun is the game, and how much is the people? Ryan felt the same: he had a blast every minute, but he could play it again tomorrow or never and be fine either way.

The VGP take

Ace gave it an 8.8 and called it one of the best indies of the year. Josh landed on an 8, because the sandbox is great but getting lost alone has zero fun in it. Ryan gave it a 7.8, a great experience that won't keep him up at night. All three agree $15 is a no-brainer.

Big Walk is at its best with four or more people you like. It's easy to pick up, family-friendly, and so silly that our community members' kids got hooked. It looks dumb on the surface. It is not dumb.