In Big Walk, players just walk and talk – and find joy along the way: ‘Some stories we’ve heard are punch-in-the-gut beautiful’
Australian studio House House, best known for Untitled Goose Game, has released a new title called Big Walk, in which players simply walk and talk their way through a virtual landscape with friends, using proximity voice chat to converse only with those nearby. Deliberately conceived as something very different from its predecessor's slapstick chaos, the game has struck a chord with players, racking up more than a million downloads in its first week and prompting emotional player stories that the developers describe as deeply moving.
The game's design grew out of the House House team's experience playing online with international friends during Covid lockdowns, when an early prototype had players simply walking together across the map. Designer Nico Disseldorp says this fostered a feeling of looking out for one another, while sound designer Em Halberstadt and audio programmer Nicholas Zhang shaped the game's ambitious sound design. Its richly detailed, semi-realistic setting is modelled on Wilsons Promontory, a national park a few hours south of Melbourne, chosen over an initially considered Faroe Islands location for its isolated, atmospheric geography.
- House House follows Untitled Goose Game with new title Big Walk
- Players simply walk, talk and solve puzzles together via proximity voice chat
- Over 1m downloads in first week; setting based on Wilsons Promontory, Australia
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House House is an Australian video game studio whose earlier hit, Untitled Goose Game, centred on comic mischief. Big Walk takes a different approach: friends explore a natural landscape together and talk to one another when they are nearby in the game. Its setting is inspired by Wilsons Promontory, a national park south of Melbourne.
The idea grew from the developers’ experience of playing online with friends in different countries during Covid lockdowns. They found that simply walking together in an early version of the game created a sense of looking out for one another. Big Walk explores how a shared virtual journey can make room for conversation and companionship.