Big Walk Turns 12-Player Proximity Chat Into Its Core Puzzle Mechanic

Q: Big Walk forces players to build their own communication methods, but what happens to your expansive world if the host permanently quits?

If the host permanently quits, your shared world is effectively stranded on that host’s save. Big Walk ties all campaign progress to the player who starts and owns the session, and there is no built-in host migration or universal cloud world that the rest of the group can simply resume. In practice, that means guests do not keep a duplicate of the world on their own accounts. When the host ends a session, everyone is disconnected, and to continue that same adventure later, the same host must launch the same save again. If another player hosts instead, the group is starting a different timeline or a fresh run, not taking over the original one. That limitation applies across crossplay as well. A PS5, PC, or Switch 2 guest can join the host’s world, but the save still belongs to the host’s platform account. On consoles, that generally means there is no accessible way for players to transfer the save to someone else. On PC, some players have pointed to manual save-folder copying or third-party sync tools as a workaround, but that is outside the game’s native features and not an official solution. So the practical takeaway is simple: groups should choose a reliable long-term host before committing to a full playthrough. Big Walk does allow multiple saves for different friend groups, but each one remains dependent on its original host.

3 articles · Updated · IGN · Aug 8

Up to 12 players in Big Walk solve an open world by staying close enough to hear each other, with muffled voices through walls and silence when teammates stray too far.
That proximity chat drives the game’s central idea: groups invent their own names, signals and body-language ciphers to handle puzzles, from blindfolded obstacle courses to synchronized button presses.
Red bean collectibles link those challenges into progression, unlocking tools and transport such as a stalled train and an island-spanning chair lift once enough are returned to towers.
One friction point remains: the save file belongs to the original host, so friends who want to continue without that player must start a new run.
The design helps explain why House House’s co-op adventure stood out at launch, arriving on PS5 as a free PS Plus title after earning a 92 Metacritic score.