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Morgan Park
As a lot as I really like lots of the video games that’ve come to outline “friendslop,” they don’t seem to be hitting with my pals like they used to. Big Walk is one thing completely different.
I would not be shocked if the devs at House House are just a little disillusioned that their new co-op puzzle sport, Big Walk, will inevitably draw comparisons to “friendslop,” the free style utilized to viral hits like Repo, Lethal Company, and Peak.
Despite its floppy characters and emphasis on proximity chat, Big Walk would not have a lot in widespread with the most important friendslop sensations. It has no runs, no quotas, no dying—not even a failure state. It would not squeeze comedy from capitalist dystopia or visitors in ragolls. House House (recognized for 2019’s Untitled Goose Game) started engaged on Big Walk earlier than the friendslop explosion, and you’ll inform.
Instead, Big Walk is a loosely structured open world journey. You wander round with as much as 12 pals (I’ve been taking part in in a bunch of three) fixing puzzles, vibing with nature, and grappling with gaps in communication.
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It’s really good so far—we’re six hours into our playthrough with a lot of island left to explore. It’s a funny game, but not in the TikTok-friendly “oops my friend fell off the mountain” way. It can be spooky, but not because a monster roams the woods. It can be challenging, but not because the game gets unreasonably brutal when it decides you’ve survived for too long.
Big Walk is patient, contemplative, and sometimes dull. Not every puzzle we’ve solved was a winner, and the lack of urgency does mean the occasional lull in stimulation. For those reasons, I wonder if this will land for friend groups who routinely assemble for the latest high-concept, gimmicky job thing. Can Big Walk be a hit without enforced absurdity? Probably not, but thankfully, nobody is insisting it has to be.
I’m glad for that, because Big Walk’s memorable moments are rooted in mundanity, like getting lost in the pitch-black night because nobody packed a flashlight, or accidentally kicking our only binoculars off a cliff, or trying to describe a puzzle-relevant drawing from a room away without admitting it looks like a dick and balls.
(Image credit: Panic)
If Peak is Jenga, fun and repeatable but always the same, Big Walk is a proper campaign—a group project you begin and finish. That once described a lot more co-op games (Portal 2 remains an all-timer), but repeatability has proven far more popular and easy to make. That partially explains why friendslop is already feeling overplayed. As brilliant as those early hits were, Big Walk’s freshness shines a light on the copycats in the room.
Devs are speedrunning how many times they can sell the same three disposable activities before interest fades: What if the store you run has monsters? What in case you break stuff instead of gently moving stuff? What in case you literally just gamble in a casino? Clearly there’s nonetheless fuel on this explicit tank—one of many top-wishlisted video games on Steam proper now’s “What in case you have been flight attendants in a messed up plane?”—but it surely’s additionally telling that the primary breakout indie of 2026, Meccha Chameleon, breaks the friendslop mould with aggressive hide-and-seek.
Big Walk deserves related acclaim. It’s out August 4 for… effectively, I’m unsure what number of {dollars}, however I’d fortunately pay $20 or $25—it is a fairly large sport!
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