Big Walk's Hardest Puzzle Is Scheduling

August 7, 2026 - 04:39

There is a moment in every cooperative game where the group chat goes quiet. Someone suggests a time, another person says they are free, and then the conversation stalls for three hours. Big Walk, the upcoming co-op adventure from the developers behind Untitled Goose Game, looks like a charming romp through a surreal landscape. But anyone who has actually tried to organize a session knows the true boss fight is the calendar.

The game is built around exploration with friends, solving puzzles that require two or more players to be in the same virtual space at the same moment. That sounds simple enough, until you factor in work schedules, dinner times, and the one friend who always says "I can hop on in twenty" and then disappears for an hour. The hardest puzzle in the game is not a lever or a locked door. It is the simple act of getting four adults to agree on a 7 PM start time.

I am not proud of it, but I suck at making plans with other people. I have canceled sessions because I was too tired. I have rescheduled because someone had to take their dog to the vet. And I have sat alone in a beautiful, empty world wondering if the other players were ever going to log in. Big Walk is a game about togetherness, but it also reminds you how fragile that togetherness is when real life keeps pulling you away. The best puzzle design in the world cannot fix a friend who forgot to set an alarm.