Metacritic

Big Walk's Metacritic score is in the mid-90s on PC — 93–94 as of mid-August 2026, from roughly 25 critic reviews — making it the highest-rated new release of 2026 so far, with "Must-Play" status and an OpenCritic average of 89. That is the official aggregate on Metacritic, not an estimate. Here is the full reception picture, the notable scores behind the average, and why your friend group still matters more than the number.

The Metacritic Score, Confirmed

With the review pool filled out since the August 4, 2026 launch, the confirmed figures are:

• PC Metascore: 93–94 (roughly 25 critic reviews as of mid-August) — enough to make Big Walk the highest-rated new game of 2026 on the aggregator and earn its "Must-Play" badge.
• PS5 Metascore: in the mid-80s — slightly lower than PC, tracking the early figures reported from the PlayStation page.
• OpenCritic: 89 — the main alternative aggregator, counting an overlapping but not identical review set.

One habit worth keeping: the aggregate is a snapshot. As additional outlets publish in the coming weeks, the number can drift a point either way, so if you cite it, note when you checked.

The Notable Scores Behind The Average

• Eurogamer: 5/5
• Insider Gaming: 10/10
• GameSpot: 9/10

Alongside the aggregates, the individual majors are strongly positive:

• IGN praised Big Walk as a clever co-op puzzle adventure that uses communication like no other game, based on nearly 20 hours of play.
• Kotaku called it one of the best games of 2026, highlighting the joy of its emergent, goofy co-op moments — laughter, off-key walkie-talkie singing, and friends chucking each other off towers.
• GameSpot also placed it among the best games of 2026, framing it as an open-world co-op puzzle-adventure with few rules and no quest markers.
• Polygon focused on its unexpectedly emotional ending, describing the finale as a capstone that elevates a carefree multiplayer adventure into something genuinely affecting.

This pattern — multiple major outlets independently calling a game one of the year's best, with no review flagging serious problems beyond finicky movement on rocky terrain — is exactly what the aggregate now confirms: 93–94 on PC, the year's best so far.

The Substance Behind The Scores

The reviews are not thin numbers — they are deep, played-to-completion write-ups, which makes their agreement more meaningful. IGN's reviewer spent nearly 20 hours with a core group of three and still had puzzles remaining; Kotaku's reviewer logged about 20 hours, beat the campaign, and immediately scheduled a return session for the post-game content; GameSpot's writer published a tips guide after finishing the game.

What they praise is remarkably consistent from outlet to outlet:

• Proximity voice chat as the core mechanic — voices fade with distance, muffle through walls, echo in tunnels, and crackle over walkie-talkies, turning audio itself into a puzzle.
• Emergent, unscripted comedy — reviewers at separate outlets describe laughing as hard as they have all year at moments the game merely facilitated between friends.
• An unexpectedly emotional ending — a finale that strips away communication tools and tests what the group has built, called one of the best parts of the game.
• A hand-crafted, finite campaign — designed to be played start-to-finish with one group of friends, not ground through solo.

Against that, the single recurring negative is narrow: characters snag or wedge on uphill and rocky terrain. When the criticism across four major outlets is this contained, the shape of the reception is clear even before the aggregate lands.

Critic Score Versus Player Score

Keep the two kinds of score separate. The Metacritic number is the critic average — professional reviews written after full playthroughs. Player scores, on Steam reviews and Metacritic's user section, tell a different and noisier story, because Big Walk's enjoyment depends heavily on conditions the critic controlled and a random buyer might not.

A player who bought it without a friend group, or who routed voice through Discord against every reviewer's advice, may bounce off a game that critics adored — and their review will say so. That is not a contradiction; it is the nature of a co-op-only game. Read player reviews for warnings about scheduling and the host-tied save, and read the critic aggregate for the quality of the crafted experience itself.

Why The Score Matters Less Than Usual Here

For most games, the Metacritic score is the headline number. For Big Walk, it matters less, because the experience is inseparable from your specific group of friends. Big Walk is co-op only — there is no way to play it alone — and its magic lives in the shared, communicative chaos of your crew inventing its own language for an unnamed island.

A strong aggregate score will not save a session with a group that cannot commit, and a merely good score will not diminish a great session with the right one. Reviewers at two separate outlets spent roughly 20 hours with the game, and both framed the highlight not as any single puzzle but as what happened between the people playing.

So while the score is a useful data point, the better question is whether you can convene a committed group of friends for a start-to-finish campaign. Scheduling is the real gate: the save lives on the host's side, reviewers suggest roughly one night a week for a month to see it through, and a group that cannot hold together that long will not finish regardless of what any aggregator says.

Where To Check The Confirmed Score

• Metacritic — metacritic.com/game/big-walk — the official aggregated critic score, separated by platform.
• OpenCritic — the main cross-check aggregator (currently 89); a small difference from Metacritic is normal, since the two count overlapping but not identical review sets.
• Steam reviews — player reviews from people who bought the game, separate from the critic score and useful as a second opinion.

Summary

Big Walk's Metacritic score is 93–94 on PC (roughly 25 reviews, mid-August 2026) — the highest-rated new release of 2026 — with the PS5 version in the mid-80s and OpenCritic at 89. Eurogamer (5/5), Insider Gaming (10/10) and GameSpot (9/10) sit behind the average, and the only recurring criticism across the pool is finicky movement on rocky terrain. For a co-op-only game, the aggregate describes the crafted experience; whether it lands for you still depends on your friend group.

Sources

• Metacritic — Big Walk Reviews (aggregate scores, ~25 critic reviews, checked August 18, 2026)
• Polygon — Big Walk review roundup (individual outlet scores)
• OpenCritic — average 89, cross-check of the review pool

RELATED BIG WALK TOPICS

These related pages complete the picture:

OTHER BIG WALK REVIEW TOPICS