Walkabout Mini Golf is a mini golf virtual reality game from the developer Mighty Coconut. You’ll be teeing off solo or with up to seven other players online across a wide range of different locales. From a good old-fashioned turf course to wading through the dark depths of the ocean floor, golfing has never been more interesting.
With a total of eight, 18-hole courses on offer in the base game, a harder night mode version of each to unlock, and optional paid DLC courses, there’s plenty of holes to putt your balls into here. Every hole in Walkabout has a very different layout with a wide variety of obstacles to overcome: ramps, pipes, rocks, statues, stairs, and so on. All these obstacles give the holes their complexity, many featuring a level of verticality to them, be it having to hit your ball down a tower or a large ravine.
It’s not all just courses, however, as there are 150-plus custom collecti-balls hidden throughout, each hole having one to find, giving you something to pass the time in between shots. There are also treasure hunts you can partake in to unlock custom clubs; this involves solving a trail of clues to find the hidden club. Lastly, there’s both a driving range and a putting green for you to hone your skills at striking and sinking balls.
The physics are surprisingly accurate and the power you put into each shot is translated perfectly into the game; it feels great to pull off a long putt or a tricky rebound shot as you receive the satisfying rumbles of the PSVR2 Sense Controller’s haptics. The hand tracking is also spot on the majority of the time, as long as you don’t assume the typical hand-over-hand golfing stance and end up accidentally covering the sensors, which did happen to us a couple of times — enough to drive us putty!
Walkabout has a good variety of editable settings to make you comfortable with VR traversal. You’re able to teleport and incrementally rotate your view, or you can move freely with the analogues or just fly around should you be one of these people that isn’t affected by motion sickness. There’s also a button dedicated to positioning you ready for your next shot, which helps eliminating any finicky positioning issues you may encounter.
The soundtrack and soothing, atmospheric ambient noises are outstanding and give you a real sense of immersion. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the visuals: although the minimalistic style is clean, the low texture quality just isn’t up to par.
Walkabout Mini Golf is an enjoyably easy to pickup and play virtual reality golfing experience with superb physics, a wide array of courses, and the delightful inclusion of treasure hunts and collectibles — a whole-in-one experience. We’d highly recommend you round up some friends and join the club.
