I’m not really one for histrionics. In my years of doing this sort of thing and somehow convincing people to pay me to do so, I don’t recall ever calling something a ‘must play’ or uttering ‘everyone has to experience this’ because neither of those statements can ever be true. I bloody love Sega Rally with every fibre of my being. But blimey, how can I even call that slice of absolute genius a ‘must play’ when some people who play games hate driving? Or what about those who’ve tried and despised 3D games?

But I think Big Walk is the closest I’ve ever got to saying ‘everyone has to experience this’ and truly meant it. And even then there’s a really massive caveat to that statement which I’ll come on to shortly.

So what is Big Walk? Created by the same people who made Untitled Goose Game – another great game, but also one with enough flaws to make it difficult to recommend for all – it’s essentially a combination of exploration simulator, and hardcore puzzler. But rather than an UbiSoft style collect-a-thon with several billion icons dotted around a giant map, this time it’s all about hanging out with your friends.

Now I’ll admit that I am likely the absolute pinnacle of the perfect player of Big Walk. With a group of gaming friends, we’ve been playing co-op titles for quite a few years now. Often weekly for hours at a time. So finding a bundle of like minded and pleasant people I’m happy to play regularly with was as simple as dropping a message into a group chat.

And I think this is actually the key point about Big Walk. Do you have a similar handful of friends you can play with regularly? Then you’re sorted. Are you someone who doesn’t have a close knit friendship group and you’re not overly keen on finding people to join with and spend a dozen or more hours figuring out puzzles, arguing over who carries what, and spending stretches simply wandering through wooded areas trying to figure out where to go next? Then you might really fail to experience the absolute joy that Big Walk contains.

You start simply enough. You all find yourselves in this bright and colourful space which teaches you all the pretty simple controls you’ll need to learn in order to solve some of the wicked puzzles ahead. Then, things open up. And now you can explore. While there is a semblance of structure to proceedings (which I won’t spoil here – it’s best to figure it all out within your little group) especially early on, there’s a huge amount of freedom. Spot a far off hill with some weird structure atop it? Then why don’t you convince your chums to come join you as you explore it. You’ve got the full freedom to do so.

The essence of Big Walk is solving the quite epic number of puzzles. I’m told that these puzzles change based on the number of players you have, but for the group of 4 or 5 we had the entire way through, we stumbled across some that took a couple of minutes to figure out and complete. Others we struggled with, proceeded elsewhere, and eventually came back to once we’d made other discoveries and could figure out what we needed to do, and how we could do it effectively.

Some of these puzzles are genuinely quite fiendish, but we never came across any that were unfair. Some will tax your brain, others your dexterity. Lots of them could be solved in multiple ways. What I absolutely would advise is to use the proximity chat in game. You’ll understand why once you start playing.

You’ll gradually discover items to help. Some are just handy to carry with you to make finding each other when one of you inevitably tumbles off a cliff a little easier. Others can make the even the trickiest of puzzles now solvable. 

No two puzzles (that I’ve witnessed anyway) are the same. Some may have similarities with others, but others are just entirely unique. Some you’ll come across and you’ll struggle to not exclaim something out loud when you start exploring some brand new location and the tricky puzzle the developers have left for you to find. Eventually you’ll unlock something to make it easier to find these new puzzles. And even ways to make traversing the landscape quicker. Though do still expect plenty of time for exploration where your main job will be to chat to your gaming pals as you fling your arms in the air, and highlight yet another far off point you’ll have to head to next.

We have reached the end of Big Walk, only to discover there’s still more to do. And the 14 or 15 hours that’s taken have honestly been my most favourite gaming memories of the last year. The sheer joy of figuring out a puzzle collectively, taking on the challenge, completing it, and pushing on and exploring elsewhere has been a consistently pleasant experience.

As long as you have that group of friends available (Big Walk supports Crossplay, so format concerns are thankfully removed too) then Big Walk can’t come recommended highly enough. It’s the sort of feeling I expect I must have had playing the likes of Buggy Boy, Elite, and Paradroid so so many years ago when gaming felt so fresh and exciting as a youngster. Just complete and utter joy.

Verdict: Get it bought