For all the grandiose sights of alpine valleys and overgrown woodlands that hiking has to offer, the biggest bummer about the activity is that it can be very, very exhausting for the untrained trekker. After ascending a steep, craggy peak, my mouth becomes dry from thirst and weariness that no amount of water can quench. On longer trails my calves burn with a persistent soreness, while my lungs demand an impossible supply of oxygen that my frail regulatory system struggles to keep up with. Making things worse is the compulsion to visit an outhouse or, god forbid, relieve myself at a deserted bush for the sheer crime of drinking too much water. “Practice makes perfect,” the elite backpacker may say, but I beg to differ; my constitution is weak, and my mental state is weaker. Let me wallow in my misery. As a petulant hiker, I want the best of both worlds: to walk without feeling drained, and to witness the splendour of nature as much as I can.
Thankfully, House House, the developer behind the multiplayer hiking game Big Walk, seems to understand this predicament. Taking a hike here is particularly breezy as there is no health or stamina bar. Free from the tyranny of diminished endurance, I can finally walk for days without the trifling need to carry bags of food and water. It’s truly a thing of glorious wonder, and its only request is that I witness as much of its lush swaths of greenery and mountainous ranges as I can – that is, alongside one or a party of friends.
The latter is, incidentally, the most distinct facet of Big Walk. Hiking here is not a brief, solitary jaunt, but a journey that has to be experienced with a few folks. Unlike Aggro Crab’s acclaimed co-op climbing game Peak, a title that Big Walk has some ostensible similarities to, there is no solo mode in Big Walk. For a start, you’ll need at least one friend to experience Big Walk with, with the game accommodating up to 12 players (for the record, this review is based on a playthrough with one other player). Every session, too, is designed around the number of players. A two-player session will be populated with puzzles, for instance, that require two people to solve; a 12-players session, on the other hand, will likely require multiple players to complete the puzzles together. Moreover, there will not be any online matchmaking capabilities, a deliberate decision according to House House, which pointed out that Big Walk is meant to be played with the same group of people across multiple sessions. And given Big Walk’s emphasis on communication and collaboration, the game should also be played with a pair of headphones and a microphone. This may well feel like a dealbreaker for people who are used to solo play, and if you can’t find someone to go through the game with, Big Walk may not be for you.
But just as how Cairn is very much about surviving dangerous climbs in solitude, the appeal of Big Walk is in learning about its curios and gawping at scenic landscapes with someone else. You begin in a lobby with a friend, wandering around a room that’s filled with structures and objects to manipulate and explore. It’s where you learned about the basics of interacting with its world, as you discover how to run, crawl, and even slide down slopes. You’ll also find nothing more in terms of explicit instructions, as discovery and figuring your way forward, is the point.
Once you’re ready, you can exit the building and be introduced to your first intoxicating view of the vast wilderness. Make your way down the river towards a nearby cottage, or traipse right into the dense backwoods. Walk wherever takes your fancy – but perhaps don’t stray too far from your friend. After all, you won’t even be able to hear them if you’re separated. Central to Big Walk is the in-game’s proximity-based voice chats, which means that the further away you are from your fellow hiker, the less you’ll be able to hear them.
What makes Big Walk so charming is how well it makes use of this communication system. You can, of course, choose to go your separate ways, but you likely wouldn’t get very far at all. As mentioned earlier, placed around the landscapes are puzzles that will offer players an object that, when placed in specific slots across the forest, will reward you with gigantic keys. These unlock new areas and even tools that will enhance the way you explore the vicinity, from maps to access to trains that zip around the island.
Crucial to solving these puzzles, however, is teamwork. You will need to tap on a button on a towering crane. You will have to complete obstacle courses, involving walls that are much too high for an individual to climb. And in one puzzle, you’ll even need to tap on several lights on a wall in a specific order, but the sequence is randomized, and can only be found in a soundproof room nearby. This means you’ll need to pantomime and direct the other player to the right order using a combination of gestures. Working through obstacles and planning your hikes as a team is integral, and the result is a meticulously crafted game that’s utterly joyful to play through together.
In fact, this focus on collaboration is the guiding principle behind every aspect of Big Walk. For one, a hut close to the lobby has a palette of colours, a giant paintbrush and a full-length mirror. It’s a place for players to customize their bulbous avatars, but you can’t slap on the colours yourself. Instead, your friend will have to paint your avatar for you. Backpacks, too, can be picked up along the way, letting you carry multiple tools, but you can’t retrieve the items strapped on your back; you can only use them when a friend takes them out and pass the item to you themselves. I can only imagine the cacophony of playing through this game with 11 other players, but Big Walk delivers on the wonder of exploration and forging new, memorable experiences with friends. Had Big Walk been launched in the midst of the pandemic years ago, it may very well rival the popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizon.
Another part of what makes Big Walk a hike worth embarking on is that it encapsulates the joy of bush walking in a picturesque environment — one that’s inspired by Wilson Promontory National Park in Victoria, Australia. Prick up your ears for the chirps of the Fairy Wren and the distinct calls of the Eastern Whipbird. Look out for the Bottlebrush, a plant that’s native to the country. The puzzles too, are numerous and varied, which means there’s barely ever a dull or repetitive moment. But while Big Walk begs exploration, it also suggests that you do so at your own pace; there’s no real need to scramble through the island.
One of my favourite moments in Big Walk, however, involves staying absolutely still. For one particular puzzle that requires us to traverse quite a bit of distance, one player needed to trek towards five disparate platforms, each etched with symbols that must be described to the other from far. The trek is long, and required us to communicate with each other via walkie-talkies. But when the sun sets, and the route became difficult to traverse in the dark, my friend decided to take a break within the stark darkness of the forest. From a distance we chatted about the splendour of the night sky and the chirping of the crickets around us. These are the sort of stories you’ll forge with your friends in Big Walk – memories made over campfire nights and multi-day hikes. Right after the session, we made plans for an actual, real-life bush-walking trip over the weekend.
