Walkabout Mini Golf has taken players on chill golf adventures through some truly spectacular courses. While some DLC courses are rooted in ancient mythologies, like the Gardens of Babylon or Shangri-La, The Mighty Coconut’s started making courses with their origins in contemporary pop culture. That’s including the likes of Myst, as well as Walkabout’s latest outing: the world of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.
Very few sports lend themselves as well to the medium of video games as golf does. Yes, there are a number of spectacular soccer, basketball, and baseball games, but golf, at its core, is all about hitting a ball into a hole. Anything can happen between the tee and the hole. Heck, you don’t even need a club for some golf games, let alone a ball (looking at you, What the Golf?).
Walkabout doesn’t go quite so far off the rails that it ditches the ball or the club, or even the green (usually), but it does go just off the walls enough to deliver something that’s equal parts approachable and creative. Walkabout’s latest DLC, based on the 1986 cult classic, will remind you just how good The Mighty Coconut is at designing mini golf courses.
Starting the Labyrinth-inspired DLC, it’s hard not to be at least a little unsettled by the thoroughly surrealist atmosphere on display. Where other courses in Walkabout can still feel a bit strange given their sort of empty, lo-fi aesthetic, their music and generally bright color palette lend a sense of safety and familiarity. The Labyrinth DLC leans into the source material’s vaguely unsettling, bizarre vibe in the best ways possible.
Each hole draws from elements of the movie. Even if you’ve only seen trailers for the film, (perhaps in the previews of a well-worn VHS), or last saw it in a theater 36 years ago, you’re certain to see something you recognize.
Creative translations of Labyrinth’s surrealist sets lend to the DLC’s ethereal feel.
As you putt and wander through the courses, which are laid out to mirror the events of the movie, you’ll encounter characters and places that have been recreated as set dressing. This change has a way of taking away from some of the magic of Labyrinth’s characters. You won’t see any expertly-puppeteered worms or strange beasts, at least not in the same way that they’re represented in the film.
What you will see, however, are some really creative remixes of places as they’re represented in the film. In many ways, this course would be right at home in an amusement park dedicated to Henson’s fantasy epic. Creative translations of Labyrinth’s surrealist sets lend to the DLC’s ethereal feel.
Even mini golf classics, like the windmill, are cleverly remixed into something that fans of the film will recognize. That said, the holes crafted by the Mighty Coconut Team are anything but run-of-the-mill.
Some holes are appropriately labyrinthine, while others play into puzzles that Jennifer Connelly’s character had to solve on her journey. Nearly all of them balance challenge, creativity, and translation of the source material. It took me a few runs through the normal course before I could hit par to unlock the second set of challenge holes, and even then, I can certainly see myself coming back for more.
A particular standout is the 17th hole, which puts you on the top of a stairwell inside of an environment that’s similar to M. C. Escher’s iconic painting depicting dozens of stairways leading in different directions. It captures the same, gravity-defying sense of confusion and tension that moments from the movie do.
One of the best parts of Walkabout Golf is its open structure. Instead of being shuttled from hole to hole, you’re allowed to explore the course at your own pace and teleport back to your ball at any time. This means that you can walk down the endless corridor, or stand on some sideways Escheresque stairs.
As someone who’s only seen trailers and clips from Labyrinth, this DLC made me want to go watch it so I could come back to appreciate each and every Easter egg. Naturally, it also made me want to revisit it with friends as I sink my score even further below par.
Walkabout Mini Golf’s Labyrinth DLC is available now for Quest 2 and Steam VR.
