You surely don't need to be told that 2019's Untitled Goose Game was a surprise hit for its developer, House House. Nor, most likely, do we need to describe how that game managed to perfectly capture the essence of an English village, in its hedgerow-delineated serenity and simmering resentments alike. But did you know that its creators were adapting this place from the far side of the globe, in Melbourne?
House House's followup, Big Walk, brings the developer back home – specifically, to Wilsons Promontory, a national park at the southernmost tip of mainland Australia. "It's a big granite isthmus that sticks out into the ocean, so it's got quite a unique biosphere," says Jake Strasser. His full explanation includes terms such as "Lower Devonian granite", underlining just how seriously House House takes its silliness.
The developer has recreated Wilsons Prom (as the locals call it) at a 1:20 scale using lidar scans of the real place, and populated it with authentic flora based on photographs the team have taken on research trips. Now we find ourselves on a field trip of our own, being guided through this virtual recreation by its four primary architects.
