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Today marks the highly anticipated release of Big Walk, the ambitious 12-player cooperative adventure from developer House House and publisher Panic. Across PC and PlayStation 5, the game is receiving universal critical acclaim, boasting Metacritic scores in the high 80s and 90s, and delighting players with its innovative take on multiplayer exploration. However, for those planning to pick up the game on Nintendo’s latest hardware, there might be a significant roadblock ahead. Early reports and reviews indicate that the Nintendo Switch 2 port is facing noticeable performance issues at launch.
If you are a dedicated Nintendo fan wanting to join your friends via the game’s robust crossplay network, this news is undoubtedly frustrating. Let us break down exactly what the critics are saying about the Switch 2 version, why a seemingly cozy, stylized game might be taxing the new hardware, and what this means for your massive 12-player expeditions.
The Nintendo Life Report
The most prominent warning regarding the Switch 2 version comes directly from a dedicated Nintendo outlet. In their official review, Nintendo Life titled their launch day coverage: “A Co-Op Adventure Like Nothing Else That Somehow Struggles On Switch 2.”
While the full, granular extent of the technical shortcomings—such as exact framerate drops or dynamic resolution scaling metrics—is still being actively analyzed by the technical community, the phrasing “somehow struggles” is incredibly telling. It suggests that on the surface, the game’s minimalist, colorful art style—highly reminiscent of the studio’s previous runaway hit, Untitled Goose Game—does not look like something that should push a modern console to its absolute limits. Yet, beneath that clean, flat-shaded aesthetic lies a remarkably complex web of backend systems.
Although House House has not yet detailed specific technical targets for the Switch 2, the game is reportedly suffering from frame pacing issues and potential visual stuttering when the action gets hectic. Given that this is a game built fundamentally around smooth, uninterrupted exploration and hanging out with friends, constant stuttering can severely break the carefully cultivated immersion.
Why is Big Walk Demanding on Hardware?
To understand why the Switch 2 might be struggling, we have to look closely at what the game is actually doing under the hood. This is not a simple linear platformer where assets can be easily culled from memory; it is a sprawling, open-world Australian bushland environment. But rendering trees, rocks, and grassy hills is not the hardest part—it is the relentless audio and physics calculations.
Big Walk is built entirely around proximity voice chat. As detailed in our Proximity Voice Chat Overview, player voices are calculated in real-time based on distance, direction, and physical environmental obstacles. If a player walks into a deep cave, the audio engine must instantly apply realistic reverb and echoes to their voice. If they walk behind a thick concrete wall, the sound frequencies have to be muffled dynamically based on the material thickness. Now, imagine the CPU overhead required to calculate real-time spatial audio for 12 different players running around in completely different directions, constantly talking over each other.
Furthermore, the game heavily features physics-based tools like walkie-talkies, whiteboards, and flares. When you combine dynamic global illumination, large multiplayer lobbies, and intensely complex spatial audio processing, it becomes clear that this title is heavily CPU-bound. The Nintendo Switch 2, while a massive and welcome leap over its predecessor in terms of GPU power, reportedly struggles to keep up with these intense, simultaneous audio-physics calculations when lobbies fill up to the maximum 12-player cap.
The Impact on Crossplay Lobbies
One of the game’s biggest selling points is its seamless multiplayer connectivity. As we covered extensively in our Crossplay and Cross-Progression Guide, you can easily host and join sessions across PC, PS5, and Switch 2 without any artificial platform restrictions.
The immediate community concern is whether a struggling Switch 2 client will drag down the performance of the entire lobby. Thankfully, because Big Walk is expected to utilize dedicated server infrastructure rather than relying heavily on peer-to-peer client hosting for heavy physics calculations, PC and PS5 players should not experience network lag or framerate drops just because a Switch 2 player is in their group.
However, the Switch 2 player themselves might face a distinct disadvantage in gameplay. If the framerate drops during a delicate jumping puzzle, or if the audio engine stutters, they might miss crucial communication from their team. In a game where hearing someone shout a frantic warning through a walkie-talkie is the difference between success and failure, technical hiccups directly impact your ability to be a helpful teammate.
Should You Buy the Switch 2 Version Today?
If you are currently deciding where to purchase and play Big Walk, the PC and PlayStation 5 versions are currently the definitive ways to experience the game. The PC version boasts a phenomenal Metacritic score of 93, indicating exceptional optimization and smooth performance. Additionally, PlayStation 5 owners with an active subscription can claim the game today for free, as outlined in our PS Plus Launch Coverage.
If the Switch 2 is your only option, it might be incredibly wise to wait for community consensus to solidify over the next few days. It is highly expected that publisher Panic and developer House House are already hard at work on post-launch stability patches. Modern game development often means that Day 1 performance is the worst a game will ever run, and optimization updates could significantly smooth out the spatial audio CPU bottlenecks in the coming weeks.
If you plan on mostly playing in smaller, intimate groups—say, 2 to 4 players—the Switch 2 version will likely handle the load much better than a chaotic 12-person server. The fewer voice streams the console has to process in real-time, the smoother the framerate is expected to be.
It is undoubtedly a shame that the Switch 2 version is facing these early technical hurdles, because the underlying game is nothing short of brilliant. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and update our readers when House House addresses these performance reports. In the meantime, if you decide to brave the Australian bushland on Nintendo’s hardware anyway, make sure to read our How to Host and Join Guide to ensure your crossplay connections are as stable as possible.