Introduction
Big Walk is an online-only cooperative game from Australian indie studio House House, the developer best known for the 2019 breakout hit Untitled Goose Game.
Presented on Nintendo Switch 2 and promoted through digital storefronts like the eShop and publisher updates often highlighted during Nintendo Direct streams, Big Walk places groups of players on a large island where exploration and cooperative problem solving drive the experience.
Social design and developer intent
House House has leaned into the social element as a defining feature of Big Walk: the studio frames the social time spent with friends as a core part of the experience, placing communal play alongside exploration.
Reviewers, including the Pure Nintendo team who received multiple press codes, found that the social intent is clear but that opinions differ on whether it should take precedence over the gameplay itself.
Gameplay and puzzle design
Big Walk’s gameplay resembles a cooperative Myst-style escape-room spread across a large island.
Teams search for puzzle sites, acquire key items (described in-game as gourd-like objects) and work together to solve multi-step challenges.
Puzzles scale depending on party size—some adjust for duos or trios—and the title technically supports up to 12 players online, though most sessions reported better cohesion with smaller groups.
Design choices that divide players
A number of deliberate design constraints proved controversial among reviewers.
Players can carry only a single item at a time, a restriction intended to encourage involvement but one that some found cumbersome.
Night cycles and limited personal light sources further shape pacing: ornament-shaped lights and flares serve both as tools and navigational aids, and ambient radios and soundtrack cues help sustain momentum during downtime.
Accessibility, pacing and conclusion
Big Walk leaves much of the pacing to player coordination; a sparse tutorial and a learning curve mean sessions can require repeated returns to regain context.
The Pure Nintendo review aggregated a team consensus and landed on a positive but measured score, praising the puzzles and atmosphere while critiquing certain design limitations.
For groups with reliable internet, time to spare, and patient coordination, Big Walk can be memorable.
Given House House’s track record and the game’s commercial and critical traction, many players will watch for future updates or a follow-up that tightens balance and adds quality-of-life features such as improved shared-play support.
Big Walk is an online-only cooperative game from Australian indie studio House House, the developer best known for the 2019 breakout hit Untitled Goose Game.
Presented on Nintendo Switch 2 and promoted through digital storefronts like the eShop and publisher updates often highlighted during Nintendo Direct streams, Big Walk places groups of players on a large island where exploration and cooperative problem solving drive the experience.
Social design and developer intent
House House has leaned into the social element as a defining feature of Big Walk: the studio frames the social time spent with friends as a core part of the experience, placing communal play alongside exploration.
Reviewers, including the Pure Nintendo team who received multiple press codes, found that the social intent is clear but that opinions differ on whether it should take precedence over the gameplay itself.
Gameplay and puzzle design
Big Walk’s gameplay resembles a cooperative Myst-style escape-room spread across a large island.
Teams search for puzzle sites, acquire key items (described in-game as gourd-like objects) and work together to solve multi-step challenges.
Puzzles scale depending on party size—some adjust for duos or trios—and the title technically supports up to 12 players online, though most sessions reported better cohesion with smaller groups.
Design choices that divide players
A number of deliberate design constraints proved controversial among reviewers.
Players can carry only a single item at a time, a restriction intended to encourage involvement but one that some found cumbersome.
Night cycles and limited personal light sources further shape pacing: ornament-shaped lights and flares serve both as tools and navigational aids, and ambient radios and soundtrack cues help sustain momentum during downtime.
Accessibility, pacing and conclusion
Big Walk leaves much of the pacing to player coordination; a sparse tutorial and a learning curve mean sessions can require repeated returns to regain context.
The Pure Nintendo review aggregated a team consensus and landed on a positive but measured score, praising the puzzles and atmosphere while critiquing certain design limitations.
For groups with reliable internet, time to spare, and patient coordination, Big Walk can be memorable.
Given House House’s track record and the game’s commercial and critical traction, many players will watch for future updates or a follow-up that tightens balance and adds quality-of-life features such as improved shared-play support.
