The Verge has published its review of Big Walk, a co-op multiplayer game from Melbourne-based studio House House, one day ahead of the title's August 4, 2026 launch on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Switch 2 The Verge.

Big Walk is House House's third game, following Push Me Pull You and the breakout hit Untitled Goose Game. The studio describes it as a game where players "hang out and get lost with close friends in a big world" bigwalk.game. Where Untitled Goose Game was a single-player experience played on one screen, Big Walk shifts the studio's playful style into a shared online world.

Players control round little characters with arms and legs and explore a large island, collecting red objects the reviewer calls "nubbins." The game is described as being in the "Zelda mold," with an open-ended approach to exploring similar to Breath of the Wild The Verge.

What makes Big Walk unusual is that it refuses to guide the player. There is no map menu, no waypoint markers, and no instructions telling you what to do. Players have to find their way using landmarks, talking to each other, and remembering the island's layout.

Communication works through proximity voice chat and a proximity text system. This means you can only hear or read what another player is saying when your characters are close to each other in the game world. Think of it like trying to talk to friends in a large park — if you wander too far apart, you can no longer hear each other. This turns staying together into part of the challenge.

Puzzles on the island are designed for two to four players, while up to twelve people can be in a game session at once. The puzzles are balanced for a small group, but the world has room for more players to wander around, split off, or come back together as needed.

When night falls in the game, the island gets very dark. Players have to use lanterns and stay close together. The day-night cycle works as a way to push the group into tighter quarters and make coordination more important during nighttime exploration.

House House's path from the local multiplayer physics game Push Me Pull You, through the single-player puzzle sandbox of Untitled Goose Game, and now to a large-scale co-op island adventure is a notable jump in scope. Untitled Goose Game kept its chaos on a single screen with one player. Big Walk spreads that chaos across a group and a full 3D open world, with the studio's love of physics-driven interaction and unexpected comedy presumably intact.

The decision to ship without a map, waypoints, or guidance fits a pattern we have seen before. Open-world games have increasingly tried minimal on-screen interfaces and player-driven navigation, and the proximity-only communication model echoes games that treat voice distance as a mechanic. Big Walk appears to push both ideas further than most mainstream co-op releases, making the lack of guidance itself the central feature.

The launch on Steam, PS5, and Switch 2 covers PC, current-generation console, and Nintendo's successor platform, giving the title broad reach. Cross-platform play was not mentioned in the review or the game's promotional materials. For a co-op game built around playing with friends, whether those friends need to be on the same platform is a question prospective buyers will want to clarify at launch.

In my view, for a studio that turned a hissing goose into a cultural phenomenon in 2019, Big Walk is a real bet on shared experience over solo charm. Whether the deliberate friction of no maps, proximity-only voice, and darkness-enforced togetherness feels like compelling design or frustrating friction will depend heavily on who you bring to the island.