Given that their debut title was one of my favorite quirky games of the Switch generation, the “jerk simulator” also known as Untitled Goose Game, I was eager to see what the folks at House House would have in store for indie gaming fans this time around. I’ll admit that the announcement of Big Walk, and its somewhat odd minimalist characters exploring a far more realistic world threw me, but the promise of creative people finding ways to make co-op gaming somehow different and challenging still had obvious appeal. Now, having spent some quality time with my 20-something daughter playing through this quirky world, I’m happy to say that we’re sold, even if it may have some limitations, even some that feel more specific to the Switch 2.

Since one of the game’s greatest strengths is that it not only relies on, but demands, that the people playing it work pretty well everything out themselves, if you think you may be interested in it I’d encourage you to learn as little about it as possible in terms of specifics. While you’ll get an early orientation on the different controls you’ll need to make different signals with your arms, pick up and manipulate objects, and perform very general tasks, for the most part from that point you’ll be on your own. That’s not just in terms of how to do things, but even in terms of what to do in the first place. Discovery is probably the game’s greatest strength, and that’s where knowing too much ahead of time can sort of ruin things. Communication is central to the experience, with players ideally not being in the same room and being forced to rely on only in-game communication, since you’ll quickly learn that it’s proximity-based, unless you’re using a walkie talkie, or something similar, to talk over longer distances. Early on this can sometimes be aggravating, but once you work out some shorthand messages through body language, you’ll find that it can be quite manageable.

What’s quite remarkable about the game though is the scope of its world. At the very beginning it will already feel quite large, but once you make progress and realize that to that point you’d only seen a small portion of the overall space, it’s pretty impressive. Sadly, on the Switch 2 at least there does sometimes feel like there’s a price to pay for that scale though, as problems with pop-in or visual glitches here and there do crop up, and paired with the locked framerate those issues collectively diminish the grandeur of your surroundings. Still, while there have been some terrific more action-based co-op titles out there in the eShop, the more puzzle-focused nature of this makes it stand out nicely. Unfortunately, even though the game’s characters look more simplistic, I wouldn’t consider it a great option to play with younger gamers, since its more open-ended nature and slow pacing would more likely frustrate them. Thankfully, considering the cross-platform capabilities it has, you should hopefully be able to find others to enjoy this with regardless, as it stands out as a unique treat on the system.