I saw this game a while back and it looked hilarious. Alas...not available on xbox :(

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I look forward to next time.

Big Walk is capital-D Delightful

Cody, CheapLEY, and I hit credits on it last night. There’s still more to do, puzzles and locations we haven’t discovered yet, and we intend to play on until we see them.

Big Walk is a co-op puzzle game. It’s not like Lethal Company or Peak, which are more roguelike, but it does share the proximity voice mechanic. It makes use of this in both predictable and surprising ways. It does an excellent job of slowly ramping up difficulty as you progress- I use the analogy of Destiny having Story Missions at first, then Strikes, and then Raids.

But the game luxuriates in giving you and your friends downtime. Sometimes an objective will have you trekking over a large mountain or valley in order to complete it, and there’s nothing to occupy yourself with aside from your own discussions. Natural discovery is another big hook; stumbling across new things on your own volition is extremely rewarding.

It’s very visually interesting; serene, realistic landscapes are juxtaposed with bright playground-like equipment or structures to indicate points of interest. The lighting and shadows are great, and it gets very pretty during dawn and sunsets.

Speaking of lighting, the game’s main source of friction outside of puzzles is managing your inventory. When it gets dark at night, it’s VERY dark. You’ll need a flashlight or some equivalent way to illuminate the surrounding area. Each player can only carry one thing in their hands at a time, so choosing what your party’s inventory looks like is a very deliberate process. Everything has some purpose, so you’re always making trade-offs.

Getting separated from your friends is distressingly easy because of the short fall-off of your voices. Again, this feels intentional. The game provides a few ways of signalling your location to your friends, but keeping track of each other is a skill that it forces you to learn.

It’s the most fun I’ve had with a game so far this year. Highly recommended that you pick it up if you have a friends group you can play with. It supports from 2 up to 12 players, but we ran with just 3 for most of the game and had a blast.