Where to get it

2026 · House House · Adventure · Indie

Big Walk

Hang out and get lost with close friends in a big world. A cooperative online walker-talker from the creators of Untitled Goose Game.

Released: 4 August 2026
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2 PlayStation 5 Windows macOS
Genres: Adventure Indie Platformer Puzzle
Developers: House House
Publishers: Panic
Modes: Co-op Multiplayer
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Comedy Sandbox Open world Mystery
Age ratings: PEGI 3 ESRB E GRAC ALL USK 0 CLASS_IND L ACB G
Languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Mexico) and 2 more
Copies sold: 1 million as of 2026-08-11
Time to beat: 27hcompletionist

About

Big Walk is a 2026 cooperative adventure video game developed by Australian studio House House and published by Panic. It is an exploration-focused game in which players trek through an open-world bushland area and solve puzzles, communicating in many different ways.

Following the release of Untitled Goose Game in 2019, developers at House House felt a need for a virtual space during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, creating a prototype of the game in response. The game's full development took six years. Big Walk features a proximity chat system and items which allow players, who appear as colourful segmented humanoid avatars, to communicate. The game's map, plant models and sound design are directly based upon the landscape, flora and fauna of Wilsons Promontory, a national park in Australia. It was released for macOS, Windows, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2 on 4 August 2026.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Big Walk is a multiplayer cooperative adventure video game in which a group of players walk through an open-world environment. Players form a group of two to twelve in an online lobby, with content adjusting with the size of the group. The lobby host maintains save data, allowing other participants to join or leave.

Each player is represented by a humanoid avatar with a segmented head with eyes that glow in the dark, as well as a torso and legs. The game's tutorial area, which takes the form of a playground, contains various objects and a number of signs which teaches players how to jump, crouch, pick up objects such as cowbells, and use them. Players can learn the controls in any order, and are able to leave into the full game at any time.

Development

Big Walk was developed by Melbourne-based independent studio House House, creators of Untitled Goose Game. Untitled Goose Game had given the studio enough funds to remain afloat through the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and afterward. During this time, the developers and their friends used online video games to reduce their isolation from each other. Playing games such as Overwatch, they found inspiration from the waiting lobbies before each match.

They wanted an alternative to their large Zoom meetings which would allow for side conversations, and as a solution envisioned a virtual space with proximity chat. They played the survival games Raft and Valheim, though later switched to the platform Roblox on which they played and gained inspiration from Scuba Diving at Quill Lake, the open-world train game Somewhere, Wales, and Theme Park Tycoon 2, developer Michael McMaster having designed a colourful "shape zone" in the latter.

Reception

Following its announcement, several publications identified Big Walk as one of the best games of the Day of the Devs showcase. Matt Wales of Eurogamer praised the concept as "wonderfully distinctive". Adam Newell of Destructoid stated in 2025 that the puzzles seemed "wonderful" and "feels like a game where no two play sessions are the same".

Big Walk received "universal acclaim" reviews for the Windows and PlayStation 5 reviews while the Nintendo Switch 2 version received "generally favorable", according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game was recommended by 96% of critics.