How Progress Works in Big Walk
Big Walk's main path is made up of a number of larger areas, each filled with puzzles for you and your friends to solve. Solving puzzles rewards you with items you can place to free a key, which then allows you to make progress. Freeing keys is how you move forward, both in the starting area and in later areas.
The game is a cooperative online walker-talker, so everything is designed around your group working together. There's no single scripted path — you and your friends solve puzzles and make your own way across the island.
The Starting Area
When you first start, you begin in a starting area where you get to grips with the controls and the various ways you can interact with the game. It serves as a tutorial for movement, communication, and puzzle interactions.
Once you're comfortable, you walk out into the world, where you're free to explore, solve puzzles, and generally have a great time. Soon you'll discover a terminal with buttons and a key — freeing keys like this is how you progress.
Key Puzzles and Areas
The pages and guides for Big Walk all relate to separate key puzzles. Each larger area has its own puzzle set that rewards you with items to free a key. Some of the notable progression milestones include:
- How to Start the Train — a dedicated train puzzle guide. Once you get the train moving, it never stops unless someone is on it holding the brake, so learning its schedule (checkable at any train station) helps you plan your journey.
- First Key Walkthrough — the journey begins with freeing your first key.
Major Rewards Along the Way
As you solve puzzles, major new rewards become available. You'll unlock the train that moves around the island and a giant map room to help plot your travels. You may also come across totally missable shortcuts, reinforcing that your triumphs are yours to celebrate — not based on any HUD arrow you followed.
Helpful handheld items like walkie-talkies, flashlights, and megaphones make certain puzzles easier. Such items tend to help, but they're rarely required — it becomes a question of whether to leave a puzzle to go find a walkie-talkie or solve it without.
Practical Walkthrough Tips
- Focus on one tower at a time. There are red, blue, green, and yellow mountaintop towers; filling each console with MacGuffins (the "eggy things") unlocks its reward. Starting with the red tower makes the rest of the game easier.
- Use the blue buildings for backpacks or belts — each holds an item, raising your carry capacity.
- Don't spoil the discovery. Big Walk is light on traditional story, and describing many puzzles feels like a spoiler. The magic is in the ritual of discovery, cooperative experimentation, and shared elation.
Big Walk has a defined ending and isn't meant to be played forever, but the journey of solving puzzles and inventing a shared vocabulary with your group is what makes it unforgettable.