From Mischief to Mindfulness: Inside House House’s Big Walk

Six years after Untitled Goose Game transformed a small Australian studio into a viral sensation, House House is charting a very different course. Instead of another slapstick solo escapade, their new project Big Walk is a mellow, cooperative exploration puzzler designed as much around conversation and camaraderie as it is around solving problems.

Where the goose was noisy, disruptive, and laser-focused on comedic chaos, Big Walk is slower, quieter, and more open-ended. It asks a simple question that reshapes everything: what if a game was built around the feeling of taking a long walk with friends, with puzzles and discoveries emerging naturally along the way?

From Honking Goose to Quiet Island

To understand Big Walk, it helps to briefly reflect on what came before. Untitled Goose Game became one of the most widely shared indie titles of its era, celebrated for its playful stealth-slapstick, expressive animation, and instantly meme-ready premise: you are a horrible goose making trouble in a small town.

That success brought visibility, awards, and pressure. Following any breakout hit, a studio faces a handful of familiar questions:

• Do you make a sequel or expand the existing formula?
• Do you pivot into something safer, or lean into experimentation?
• How do you deal with expectations that did not exist before?

Big Walk is House House’s answer. Instead of escalating mischief, they shifted to a sprawling, social landscape. Instead of designing around pranks, they design around hanging out. It’s a tonal pivot that still retains the studio’s love of physical comedy and expressive, tactile worlds—but channels it into a slower, more reflective style of play.

What Is Big Walk?

Big Walk is a cooperative exploration and puzzle game set on a large island filled with strange architecture, secret paths, and odd contraptions. Rather than a linear campaign, the island is more like a playground or hiking trail network: you and your friends wander, discover puzzles in the environment, and work together to manipulate objects or navigate tricky terrain.

The game’s core identity can be summarized through a few key pillars:

• Group exploration: Movement and navigation are shared experiences, not just ways to move between objectives.
• Light puzzle-solving: Environmental puzzles encourage communication and experimentation, but rarely rush you.
• Social focus: The game assumes players will be chatting, joking, and improvising as they go.
• Generous pacing: There’s no ticking clock, no fail-state spirals, and very little in the way of traditional combat or survival mechanics.

House House’s trademark style is still visible: minimalist characters, clean shapes, and physical interactions that invite playful experimentation. But the emotional tone is different. Where the goose thrived on confrontation and mischief, Big Walk aims for something closer to a relaxing group hike with occasional moments of communal “aha!” as a puzzle clicks into place.

Designing a Game Around Hanging Out

Most co-op games treat social interaction as an add-on—voice chat layered on top of a structure originally built for solo play. Big Walk approaches it from the other direction: the developers began with the social experience they wanted people to have and built the mechanics to serve that.

Conversation as a Core Mechanic

In conventional co-op titles, communication often focuses on coordinating combat or optimizing strategy. In Big Walk, talking is not just a tool; it’s one of the main reasons to play. The game creates reasons for you to:

• Call out landmarks and directions across long distances.
• Describe what you’re seeing when others can’t.
• Share small discoveries that aren’t strictly “progress” but enrich the shared journey.

That emphasis aligns with broader research showing that cooperative play and shared problem-solving can strengthen social bonds and improve well-being when experiences are positive and non-toxic.^1,2 Big Walk aims to provide a structure that naturally encourages those kinds of interactions rather than stress or competitive friction.

Designing for Wandering Instead of Winning

Big Walk moves away from traditional win conditions and failure loops. There are objectives and puzzles, but the island is also designed to support:

• Unstructured exploration, where wandering off the “intended” path still feels rewarding.
• Downtime, where players can simply sit, observe, or goof around.
• Emergent stories that arise from getting lost, improvising shortcuts, or discovering odd detours.

This reflects a larger shift in parts of the game industry toward experiences that prioritize relaxation, curiosity, and social connection—as seen in titles like Journey, Abzû, or Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which players have used intentionally as digital spaces to unwind and connect with friends.³

Co-op Puzzles Built for Laughter, Not Frustration

Making puzzles work well in a multiplayer environment is a design challenge. Too simple, and they become trivial busywork; too complex, and players end up waiting, confused, or talking over each other. Big Walk leans toward playful, physical interactions that are easy to understand but satisfying to coordinate.

Environmental Challenges Over Abstract Riddles

Instead of relying heavily on textual riddles or complex logic chains, Big Walk emphasizes the environment itself as the puzzle. Examples of the kinds of challenges the game leans toward include:

• Navigational puzzles that require players to split up and guide each other across space.
• Physical contraptions where multiple players push, carry, or operate different parts together.
• Perspective tricks requiring someone to stand in just the right place while another operates a device elsewhere.

These approaches encourage natural communication and body language—even in the stylized figures—and avoid the feeling of one “puzzle expert” solving everything while others watch.

Preventing Co-op Dominance

In many cooperative games, one dominant player can inadvertently take over: giving all the instructions, solving every puzzle, or rushing ahead. Big Walk’s island layout and puzzle design push back against that by:

• Scattering points of interest so that different players notice different things first.
• Creating situations where one player physically cannot proceed without help.
• Encouraging splitting up and reuniting, so attention naturally rotates.

These techniques reflect broader best practices in co-op and educational game design, where equal participation and shared agency are critical for engagement and satisfaction.⁴

A Virtual Hiking Trip: Atmosphere and Worldbuilding

House House’s distinctive visual style carries over into Big Walk, but with a different purpose. The goose’s village was dense, almost stage-like; Big Walk’s island is broad and layered, more like a patchwork of hiking trails, open clearings, and strange, quiet structures.

A World That Invites Curiosity

The island is not a traditional fantasy kingdom or high-stakes sci-fi frontier. Instead, it’s closer to a surreal national park: familiar enough to feel grounded, but odd enough to feel intriguing. Players might encounter:

• Unusual towers and walkways that hint at a forgotten civilization or unknown purpose.
• Ambient environmental sounds that encourage players to pause and listen.
• Small, self-contained areas that feel like pockets of mystery rather than linear levels.

The result is a world that rewards looking around, pointing things out to friends, and treating the island like a shared place worth knowing—more like a virtual vacation spot than a mission field.

Balancing Silence and Sound

Because conversation is central, Big Walk’s audio design must leave room for it. That means:

• Ambient music and environmental audio that sets a mood without overwhelming voice chat.
• Clear, readable sound cues for key interactions so players can coordinate without staring at HUD elements.
• Moments of deliberate quiet, where the absence of noise becomes part of the atmosphere.

This kind of audio direction is increasingly common in games designed for relaxation or reflection, where soundscapes support calm attention instead of constant adrenaline.⁵

Building a Game Around the Developers Themselves

One of the most intriguing aspects of Big Walk’s development is how closely it appears to mirror the team’s own interests and social habits. Rather than chasing market trends or replicating the goose’s virality, House House leaned into the question: What kind of game would we actually want to play together?

This evolution reflects a broader trend in indie development: once a studio has enough stability from a hit, it can sometimes afford to choose projects based on internal creative needs and values rather than short-term market pressures. The result may be less immediately viral, but often more distinctive and personal.

Why Chill Co-op Experiences Matter

Big Walk is part of a growing category of games that serve as social spaces first, games second. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers observed how players used games as vital platforms for maintaining relationships and reducing feelings of isolation.^1,3 Titles that supported low-pressure social interaction—like cozy simulators or open-ended builders—played a particularly important role.

By designing an experience that is explicitly about walking, talking, and solving gentle puzzles together, Big Walk taps into that same need for connection without competition. It offers:

• A shared activity for friends who want to hang out online but don’t enjoy high-pressure multiplayer games.
• A way to maintain or build relationships across distance when meeting in person isn’t easy.
• A flexible time commitment: sessions can be as short as a quick stroll or as long as an extended expedition.

From a well-being perspective, this type of game can support positive social experiences when used in moderation, especially when players approach it as a cooperative, respectful space.²

FAQs About Big Walk

Is Big Walk just a walking simulator?

No. While walking and exploring are central, Big Walk is built around cooperative puzzles and environmental challenges. The island is full of interactive elements that require coordination and communication, so it plays more like a shared adventure than a purely narrative walking simulator.

Do I need a large group to enjoy it?

The game is designed with multiplayer in mind and benefits from having several players, but it doesn’t strictly require a full lobby to be enjoyable. Smaller groups can still explore, solve puzzles, and appreciate the island’s atmosphere, though some challenges may feel different depending on player count.

Is there a story or is it entirely freeform?

Big Walk leans toward environmental storytelling and implied context rather than cutscene-heavy narrative. Players piece together a sense of place and history through exploration, architecture, and the puzzles themselves. The main “story” is often the journey you and your friends experience together.

How is Big Walk different from other co-op puzzle games?

Many co-op puzzles focus on escalating difficulty and tight mechanical coordination. Big Walk prioritizes mood and conversation, with challenges that enrich the experience without overwhelming it. Its open island structure and quiet, surreal aesthetic help it stand apart from more linear, objective-driven co-op titles.

Will fans of Untitled Goose Game enjoy Big Walk?

Players who loved the expressive animation, physical humor, and charming world of Untitled Goose Game will likely recognize House House’s touch in Big Walk. However, the pace and tone are quite different: it’s less about causing chaos and more about sharing a relaxed, exploratory journey with others.

Looking Ahead: A Different Kind of Legacy

With Big Walk, House House isn’t trying to replicate the lightning-in-a-bottle success of their honking antihero. Instead, they’re asking what it means to build a game around the kinds of experiences they personally value: slow exploration, friendship, quiet humor, and the simple act of moving through a space together.

Whether or not Big Walk becomes as ubiquitous as Untitled Goose Game, it already represents something important. It shows how a studio can respond to viral success not by scaling up spectacle, but by scaling inward—toward a more personal, reflective, and socially grounded design philosophy.

In a landscape crowded with competitive shooters and high-stress live service titles, Big Walk stands out by making a modest but radical offer: log in, gather some friends, and just go for a walk.