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Untitled Goose Game developer House House is once again collaborating with publisher Panic for its next game, the self-styled "cooperative online walker-talker" Big Talk.
Big Talk was announced at The Game Awards 2023, revealing a brief glimpse of the co-op gameplay at its heart. It's a little difficult to explain what's going on here, but it appears you play as creatures whose bodies are comprised of three differently colored spheres. You each have eyes on the sides of your heads and a walky-talky you can use to communicate with each other.
The landscapes are inspired by the southernmost point of Mainland Australia, Wilsons Promontory National Park. Gameplay-wise, your team is tasked with exploring, solving puzzles, and completing challenges designed to test your group communication skills.
"Our favourite part of playing online coop games is when they give you enough direction for the group to keep up a good momentum, but it’s relaxed enough that you’re mostly just able to enjoy spending time with your friends," said House House's Jake Strasser.
"We hope Big Walk gives players that direction, and space, to focus on and enjoy those group dynamics, whether you’re playing with one friend or as a big group. As part of this focus, we’ve developed a rich proximity voice chat system that really grounds players in the environment, and created this big island to get lost in. The island is inspired by the natural landscape of the southernmost point of mainland Australia, Wilsons Promontory National Park. It's a very special place and we hope we've captured some of its beauty in Big Walk."
I think Big Walk's biggest hook for me is that it emphasizes the value in simply spending time with your friends. As a 33 year old with a full-time job, whose friends are generally loosely in the same life stage, most of the time we find ourselves too distracted catching up to actually do what we're supposed to do. Big Walk sounds like the ideal game to remedy that issue.
"Adventuring aside, there’s plenty of time to just hang out," reads part of the synopsis. "Sit and watch the sunset, or steal your friend’s binoculars and kick them into the ocean. Spending time with friends is the best part of a big walk."
Big Walk is due out in 2025 on Steam and the Epic Games Store.
In the meantime, here are the best co-op games to gather up some friends for right now.
