Rock Paper Shotgun's Ed Thomas offers a tongue-in-cheek take on Big Walk, the newly released 12-player open-world game from Untitled Goose Game developer House House. Rather than treating it as the cosy "hangout sim" it has been widely billed as, the piece argues it doubles as an accidental stealth-horror experience, since its restricted communication tools let players lurk unseen and startle their friends.

The game strips out standard multiplayer features such as squad voice channels, pings and map icons, forcing players to rely on distance-distorted proximity chat or in-world devices like walkie-talkies, flare guns and handheld signs to communicate. The author is dismayed that House House is already patching a bug that makes nearby players' voices too quiet, since this undermines the stalking potential of the "sock drawer microphone" tactic. The piece is written as a playful opinion/preview rather than straight news, closing with the writer inviting readers to share their own experiences with the game.