Big Walk: How to Complete the Black Sphere Puzzles

Once you've completed enough puzzles in Big Walk to fill the control panel in the Black Tower and get the key there, it's time to take on the Sphere. Place the black key from the tower in the slot by the giant door and follow the path to the Black Sphere. It's a big walk (teehee), but use that to plan how you and your party are going to communicate with each other.

How the Black Sphere Works in Big Walk

The Black Sphere in Big Walk relies on your ability to communicate with your party members without speaking. As you get closer to the Sphere, you'll notice that your party's voices get quieter.

The goal is to reach the top of the Sphere, where there is an evil red balloon-like item that you need to deflate (just like the one that you will have watched deflate after inserting the black key in the gate slot).

While inside the sphere, you will lose your customised appearance and gain an ever-changing monotone palette of colour that your avatar cycles through.

You can exit the Black Sphere at any time.

How to Solve all Black Sphere Puzzles in Big Walk

The moment you walk through the turnstile gate, you will drop any items you're carrying, including your Big Walk backpacks, and verbal communication will cease.

You cannot speak aloud to any of your party while inside the Black Sphere. Instead, you'll need to rely on all of the non-verbal communication skills that you've developed with each other during gameplay.

You can take items from the puzzles in the Sphere, and you may find these useful as you climb, but they aren't necessary. To complete the Black Sphere in Big Walk with my co-op partner, we used existing arm signals and nodding/shaking our heads to indicate items or confirm choices with each other.

Finding the Puzzles

Each floor of the Black Sphere has a puzzle and a hidden set of stairs. The stairs will reveal themselves (on the opposite side from the puzzle) once you complete that level's puzzle. The puzzle is displayed through separate doorways or corridors for you and your friend(s) to go through.

When you climb the stairs, you'll find yourself faced with a set of buttons that you and your party need to press at the same time. This happens on every floor above the ground level, revealing the next area. The ground level does not have a switch.

Black Sphere Puzzle #1 (Puzzle Sequence)

The first puzzle is a common nine-piece puzzle that has a display board inside a locked room.

Have the player in the puzzle-piece room lay out the puzzle squares in a 3x3 grid on the floor after removing them from the stand. The player inside the locked room will have a display showing a sequence of images on the puzzle pieces and will need to indicate to the puzzle-piece player which one is next in the sequence.

Have the player inside the locked room raise an arm to indicate the corresponding number of the puzzle piece that needs to be picked up and added to the puzzle-piece-room's display board. One arm raise would be the top-left puzzle piece; two would be the top-middle; three would be the top-right; four would be the middle-left; etc.

When the puzzle-piece-room player has all the squares on their board, have them press the button under the black screen to confirm whether or not the sequence is correct.

Leave the room, cross the floor to the staircase, and press the buttons to reveal the next floor. You can take the puzzle pieces with you from this puzzle if you want to.

Black Sphere Puzzle #2 (Hit the Lights)

Puzzle two in the Big Walk Black Sphere is laughably easy. You and your friend will be on opposite sides of a glass window, with the exact same blue stands mirrored on each side.

One of you will see diamond-shaped lights, while the other will have buttons to press. Every time a light activates, move to that stand, point at it to indicate the stand to your friend, and wait for them to press their stand's button.

Do this a few times to complete the puzzle, leave the room, head up the stairs, and press the next floor's buttons to reveal the new area.

Black Sphere Puzzle #3 (Catch!)

We had a lot of fun with puzzle 3 in the Black Sphere! When you enter the area, you'll see the usual tomato timer on a stand. This one has a longer duration.

Grab it, throw it across the gap to your friend, move up to the next section with them, and have them throw it back to you. There are turnstile gates between each section on either side of the puzzle, so you have to alternate who has the timer to reach the end.

There's a stand at the end where you can drop the timer, and that completes the puzzle. Head up the stairs and press the buttons to move on.

Black Sphere Puzzle #4 (Time to Run!)

The next floor has a divided "race track" puzzle. Run to the end with your friend, and both of you need to hit the button there to complete the puzzle.

That's it, that's the puzzle. Head upstairs when you're done.

Black Sphere Puzzle #5 (Kettle Toss)

Puzzle five takes longer to solve purely because it's difficult to correctly perceive which switch to press due to the dimensions of the room.

In this puzzle, a large room is divided into two by a huge wall with a small gap between the top of the wall and the ceiling.

On the right, there are diamond-shaped lights and a red kettle.

On the left side, the player will see buttons to press. The player on the right side needs to throw the kettle into the air to indicate which panel the light has activated on. The player on the left needs to watch for the kettle and press the button on the panel they see the kettle flying above.

It's best to have the kettle-throwing player continuously throw the kettle above the same panel until the black "loading bar" on their side increases. This is the only surefire way to know that the player pressing the buttons has had time to double-check where the kettle is coming from, given the spatial and camera constraints in this room.

Black Sphere Puzzle #6 (X-Ray Room)

Puzzle six has another locked room, but this one is equipped with an X-ray viewer. All the puzzle-piece squares will appear blank if they aren't viewed through it.

Once a player is inside the locked room that shows the sequence board and has the viewer, hold up each "blank" square for them to examine by standing on the raised platform and holding the piece above your head.

After they look at it, wait for them to come to the viewing window and signal which placement that puzzle square belongs in on your display board. They can tell you that it's not on the board by shaking their head "no". They should raise their arm an equal number of times to the piece's placement on the display board (one to five) so you know where to put it.

Confirm the puzzle's completion when you have all five pieces, leave, and head up the stairs to unlock the last puzzle.

Black Sphere Puzzle #7 (Shape Room)

Puzzle seven is the most difficult puzzle in the Black Sphere, and you'll absolutely need to trust that you know how to communicate with each other to complete it. There are two identical rooms full of coloured 3D shapes, but one room has lights under them while the other has buttons.

The player in the room to the left has the shapes with the lights. It's their job to try to explain where the light is so that the player in the right-hand room knows what button to press. You'll be divided by a glass viewing window, and you can only communicate using your avatar's arm signals and movements to solve the puzzle.

There are two ways to do this, and we chose the harder option by not numbering each structure before we separated. Instead, I controlled my avatar to "act out" the shape of the structures, occasionally using the red light above the door as a colour or placement indicator. I'm lucky that my co-op partner and I have excellent communication.

What I'd recommend for others is to be in the same room before activating the puzzle, and to spend a moment numbering each puzzle by pointing to it and raising your arm x number of times. This way, when you're divided by the glass window, you just need to raise your arm for your friend to understand which button to press.

Fill the "loading bar" by guessing correctly, then head upstairs to complete the Black Sphere in Big Walk.

How to Complete Big Walk & Get the "Big Goodbye" Achievement

In this final area at the top of the Sphere, there will be a large ball with a switch on either side of it. You and your companion need to press the switches simultaneously and wait for the ball to deflate.

Colour will return to your surroundings (and restore your Big Shiny or regular appearance, whatever paint you had on before you entered the sphere). Sound also returns, so you'll be able to verbally celebrate with your friend(s)!

You'll be able to exit from the top of the Sphere, and then you need to follow the winding path down to an outdoor cinema area where the game's credits will roll.

Watch the credits and continue to the exit.

You'll be prompted to wave "goodbye" to each other and head through a gateway. You will get the "Big Goodbye" achievement at this point, having finished the main game.

Your progress will be saved, and you'll be able to load the same run back up to continue with the extended content.

How to Get the Big Game Achievement in Big Walk

The extended content is linked to the green ring building by the Map Room. The control panel in that building can only be accessed after you complete the Black Tower, and requires 15 gourds to complete.

Finishing these 15 challenges will reveal the key needed to get the second ending of Big Walk, which will give you the final hidden achievement: "Big Game".