House House’s “Big Walk” Turns Virtual Strolls into a Shared Experience

House House released *Big Walk* after the breakout success of *Untitled Goose Game*. Within the first week, the studio reported over 1 million downloads, and player feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive.” The game’s core mechanic is a proximity voice chat that lets nearby players hear each other clearly while silencing distant voices, encouraging real-time cooperation as players traverse a stylised Australian bushland.

The Guardian

The concept originated during COVID-19 lockdowns when the team began exploring virtual walks with international friends. Early testing focused on simply moving from one side of the map to the other, a practice that highlighted the need for attentive, collaborative play. Designers aimed to create puzzles that sometimes removed the voice chat, forcing players to devise alternative communication methods. The developers also sought a setting that felt both isolated and richly natural; they settled on Wilsons Promontary, a coastal reserve south of Melbourne, after field trips that included cabin stays at Tidal River, reference photography, and on-site sound recordings.

The Guardian

• Nico Disseldorp – “capital G game design” lead, instrumental in shaping the walk-first prototype.

The Guardian

• Jake Strasser – landscape designer who championed Wilsons Promontary’s geography for the game’s level design.

The Guardian

• Kalonica Quigley – co-designer responsible for integrating environmental detail and puzzle flow.

The Guardian

• Em Halberstadt – sound designer who advocated bringing audio programmer Nicholas Zhang onto the project.

The Guardian

House House described *Big Walk* as a deliberately “unusual” follow-up to their previous title, emphasizing the desire to build a private, shared space that players could inhabit together. The team expressed nervous anticipation before launch, viewing the game as a six-year-long personal project now opened to a broader audience. They noted that the puzzles and voice mechanics were intended to foster a unique lexicon among players, reinforcing the sense of communal discovery.

The Guardian

• “One of the first things we did was just go on a walk, from one side of this map to the other,” — Nico Disseldorp

The Guardian

• “Because of its geography, it has that kind of isolated video game level feeling that we needed,” — Jake Strasser

The Guardian

• “A month before the game came out, I had the feeling like ‘this is our private little space that we’ve built for ourselves’, and we’ve been playing in it for six years,” — Nico Disseldorp

The Guardian

• “Some of the stories we’ve heard are punch-in-the-gut beautiful,” — Jake Strasser

The Guardian

• “We felt like we owed you an ending that didn’t really exist,” — Nico Disseldorp

The Guardian