Big Walk - Switch 2 Review

Big Walk is a game unlike most. Its focus is, first and foremost, online interaction with friends and family. The goal is less about completing all the puzzles and getting to the end and more about spending time with loved ones and taking in the beautiful Australian outback scenery along the way.

The Good

The world and its puzzles differ depending on whether you play with two, three or four players, but regardless of how many players, each setting is vast. Whilst fairly open, it still holds a certain level of linearity, as you and your friends need to solve puzzles in order to find the keys that unlock your way forward. But while it is linear, the worlds and their serenity provide perfect playgrounds for players to simply soak in and enjoy their time in the space. You’re welcome to go from one puzzle to the next, or you can spend some time simply kicking some light orbs around or even having a chicken fight on the beach by jumping on each other's shoulders. Better yet, you can all take a seat and watch the horizon, basking in the impressive beauty that House House has put together. It’s a video game, sure, but it’s also an intimate social hub for you and your loved ones.

All of this is wonderfully accentuated by the Australian outback setting. Hearing kookaburras laugh in the distance and being surrounded by gum trees made me miss camping (which, I’m not much of a camper, so that’s no small feat). But if you’ve ever gone camping in Australia, you’d know that it’s a wholly unique and serene experience, and Big Walk nails that feeling to a T, especially for an online multiplayer that’s not about causing chaos for once.

The pièce de résistance that helps to bring everything together is the proximity voice chat, in that the voices of those around you get louder the closer you are, much like in real life. This not only accentuates the feeling of being in a living, breathing world, but it’s the basis for most puzzles within the game, where as soon as you need to split up or if one player is behind soundproof glass, you need to get creative with how you can communicate. It’s a clever method to build the game’s puzzles around, despite it getting confusing at times.

TL;DR

• A perfect playground for friends and family
• The Australian outback setting is wonderful
• Voice proximity chat makes the world feel real

The Bad

While Big Walk was designed first and foremost to be based around communication and having a shared space for friends and family to play around with, I was perhaps a little disappointed in the game’s puzzle variety. Each puzzle tended to fall into certain categories; they were either too simple, too needlessly obtuse or too tedious (especially when it was due to the proximity voice chat). I found most of my fun in the exploration and being with loved ones as opposed to that eureka moment that would often be met alongside a 'finally!'

Big Walk was a great game for my wife and I to play when she was away from home for a few weeks. It allowed us to keep in contact with more than just "So, how was your day?” or "What are you going to do tomorrow?" Instead, we got to explore and laugh as a couple and have fun with others like we would in real life. That being said, when we went back to playing locally, it just didn’t offer that same experience. Most of the game’s puzzles are built around the proximity chat, and that’s fine if you play online a lot, but when we were in the same room together, we quickly learnt that it wasn’t the same experience. And I don’t think asking my wife to play on the other side of the house would’ve been a wise question to ask.

TL;DR

• Puzzles and gameplay feel like an afterthought
• Not ideal for local co-op

Final Score: 8/10

Big Walk feels like something the world needed five years ago when lockdowns were at their all-time high. Many people have grown to accept online as their primary way of socialising and that works for them, but outside of recreating the Australian outback and throwing some mediocre puzzles in there, it may be difficult to warrant as opposed to simply going outside. That being said, there is still an audience for this, especially if hiking and camping are something you’re not able to do, and the world and characters that House House have created are full of wonderful charm. I can see my wife going back to this the next time one of us is away, just to simply have a way we can watch the sun set together. And for a video game to be able to do that - well, that’s pretty special.

Thank you for checking out our Big Walk Switch review, thank you to Panic (via Popagenda) for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt
• Bobby Jack
• Jack Caven
• Nintendo Maniacs
• RedHero