In Big Walk, players just walk and talk – and find joy along the way: ‘Some stories we’ve heard are punch-in-the-gut beautiful’

Big Walk, the new game by Australian studio House House, which also had a hit with Untitled Goose Game. ‘A month before the game came out, I had the feeling like “this is our private little space that we’ve built for ourselves”’, says designer Nico Disseldorp. Photograph: House House

When I arrive to meet with the tiny team at Melbourne game developer House House, they’re sitting in a circle under a eucalyptus tree. After introductions, the five of us set off into the scrub. Over the course of our hike we take a train to the beach, huddle on deck chairs in the sand dunes and climb a mountain as the sun rises. All without ever leaving our desks.

Welcome to the world of Big Walk: House House’s new game after the runaway global success Untitled Goose Game, which saw millions fall in love with being a naughty goose rampaging through a bucolic village. After Untitled Goose Game’s overwhelming success, House House wanted their next game to be very different and “unusual”. Despite this, Big Walk has been an immediate success, with more than 1m downloads in the first week of release.