Big Hops Walkthrough: How to beat all levels

Playing through Big Hops’ levels revealed one thing to us: we are woefully out of practice with 3D platformers. Despite there being quite a few recent entries into the genre, some of the platforming on show in this game did stump us. However, something else became apparent early in our playthrough: practice would not have helped.

Big Hops is unlike many platformers with the sheer amount of options available for any given challenge. As such, this should be treated less as a walkthrough and more as an insight into how we completed the game. With that said, let’s get into exactly how we completed Big Hops.

• Level 1 – Little Forest 
• Level 2 – Desert Plains 
• Level 3 – Junktown 
• Level 4 – Shattered Mountain 
• Epilogue 

Big Hops Level 1 – Little Forest

Big Hops opens with a purple screen and some dialogue from a disembodied voice. Immediately after, we see our hero, aptly named “Hop,” sleeping on the ground. After a brief conversation with your younger sister, “Lily”, there is a tutorial for the tongue mechanic and eating. 

After this, Lily goes ahead, and you are expected to follow her; you should take this opportunity to become acquainted with the movement mechanics. Specifically, take note of how Hop moves while sliding, and try to get used to jumping and sliding, as this is the best way we found to gain momentum.

You will immediately see a small flower patch to your left down a short hill. Here you will find a butterfly flying around. When grabbing this with your tongue, you will enter a “mini-game” where you move the analogue stick around until Hop fully identifies whatever bug has just been caught. Going forward, channel your inner frog and consume every bug you run across. They will not only boost your stamina, but also act as one of the game’s collectibles, with rewards available later depending on how many bugs you catch. There are also flowers here, but they’re only for cosmetics later in the game.

After catching said butterfly, continue forward following Lily deeper into the forest. There will be a hatch that, when opened, reveals a mushroom that you can bounce on. After bouncing on the mushroom, you will see a chest down a path to the left as well as another bug. Return to the path, and you will be met with a gap in the floor and a floating ball over the gap.

The floating balls are a mainstay in this game, so get used to swinging on them. Simply press the tongue button when near, and you’ll latch on, then use your momentum to swing across. After landing and pulling a lever to reveal a ladder for Lily, platform across some… platforms, each having a tutorial for one of the movement mechanics. After breezing through these, you will come to another open section with more flowers. 

There will be a cave with a tree root protruding from it. Follow this to the end for another bug. Afterwards, return to the open area and talk to Lily, and she will give you the climbing bracelet and direct you to the entrance way in a large tree.  

This tree acts as the climbing tutorial; however, do not think that you will be climbing great distances. You only have a limited amount of stamina while climbing. If you don’t have any saved stamina bubbles (which you get from eating bugs), then you can only climb for a second or two. This means that climbing should be used only to cover short distances or to correct a miscalculated jump. Continue up the tree until you reach a room with several mushrooms on the floor, pick up a mushroom, throw it on the floor, and use it as a spring to the platform above, where there will be another lever to summon a mushroom tree back on the ground. 

After a brief conversation with Lily, she will direct you to throw a mushroom to scale the wall blocking your path. Throw the mushroom, jump on the mushroom, and climb the last little bit, and you’re over. Up on the elevated space will be another mushroom and another mark on the floor signalling you where to throw it. At this point, you are tasked with finding a way up for Lily, so continue forward using these mushrooms to climb when needed. 

You will come to a section with a shrine and three waterfalls. Place a mushroom on the edge of the platform where the bush is, spring off the mushroom, and dive mid-air to close the gap. After pulling the plug and draining the water, you will be taken to the next section of this level, the forest shrine.

Forest Shrine

After climbing out of the hole you fell into, you will come out to an open area where the next useful platforming tool will be found: acorns. When thrown, acorns will cause vines to sprout up and grow. These can be used for some stamina-free climbing. Use them to climb further up until you eventually reach the shrine. You will see a floating orange orb called a “totem”. 

Upon picking that up, a dialogue with the shrine will begin, where it tasks you with finding the rest of the totems. There are three directions you can go here, each with one totem. We went left first, using a mushroom to bounce and grab the swing point, go forward, and use the launcher to get enough momentum to swing over to the totem. 

Afterwards, bring an acorn from the left platform to the right one, throw it on the floor, and use it to climb out. After another launcher and some swinging, you’ll be above the shrine where another bug can be found on the other side of a divide.

If you fail to grab it, don’t worry, there is another opportunity later. Place the totem in the shrine and choose your next path. We went right, where you’ll use launchers to reach the totem. Simply drag the launchers to the correct positions, and it’s a clear shot at the totem. For the middle totem, place a mushroom behind the shrine, use it to jump up and climb the rest of the distance. If you missed the bug earlier, go left here to pick it up. 

Otherwise, go over the wall, use a few acorns on the wall across the gap, and use the launcher to get across. Climb the vines to get the totem, then just jump back across and use more acorns to get back to the shrine. 

The Void – Level 1

After completing the shrine, a portal will open, and you’re taken to the first of many void levels. These get quite complicated later, but the starting one isn’t too bad. First, climb up to the mushrooms, use them on the marked area to bounce up to the acorns, then use the acorns to climb out. Climb up the ladder where you’ll see a frog statue. This frog statue will begin floating and eventually reveal itself as the game’s primary antagonist, “Diss” in disguise. 

Diss will promise adventure, and a tree of void fruit will spawn. Throw the void fruit into the purple light ahead of you, and platforms will begin to appear. The main gimmicks of these sections are these fruits, the spawning platforms, and the shifting gravity, not unlike many levels in Mario: Galaxy. Make your way through, meeting with Diss again. After that, there will be more platforms to summon. Once landed, go right to grab another void fruit, then back across to use the void fruit. More platforming and swinging until you get to a shrine-looking section.

This is where our Super Mario Galaxy comparison comes from, as you now have to explore the entire surface of this rock for void fruit and where to throw it. Simply walk off the side, and you won’t fall; instead, you will start walking on the bottom of this platform. Grab a void fruit and throw it into the light with three grey pillars surrounding it. 

This will summon a tower and a rotating wheel. Use your tongue to drag the wheel all the way left to cause the platforms to protrude, then climb the tower. Follow the path, and you’ll come to another open section. Head left, grab a mushroom, take the mushroom to the right path, use the mushroom to reach the acorns, then use the acorns to climb to the top, ending the level. 

Big Hops Level 2 – Desert Plains

The desert section is the longest portion of the game, and starts with a dialogue with a “masked stranger”. He alludes to helping you and points you toward a backpack. Pick a rock up from the floor and throw it at the big red button. This will cause the ladder to fall, where you can pick up the backpack. The backpack can store any four items that can be picked up, including traversal items like acorns.

This is why we say any obstacle in this game will be approached differently with every player. Depending on what you have in your bag, you may devise a way to complete an obstacle that we had not even considered; as such, this backpack will be your best friend going forward. By this point, you will probably have started picking up some floating purple orbs, called “Dark Bits”. Try to grab as many of these as you can, as they provide upgrades later. 

Put a rock in your backpack and throw it across the gap to the button; it will cause wooden platforms to appear, which you can use to cross. After a few more buttons and the first use of the wall running, you will make it to a workshop where the main objective of the game is revealed. 

To return home, Hop enlists the help of an engineer named “Copper”. Copper has a few theories about the void and why you’re here, but, most importantly, he informs you of an airship he had constructed that needs repairs. For the rest of the game, you will be searching for parts for said repair, specifically a “Cactalyzer, Bubblerator, and a Flux Cap”. He will then send you off, but not before giving you a trusty compass.

After some more dialogue, Diss reveals his purpose for you: to collect “Dark Drips”. These will be the main collectibles throughout the game. Diss immediately directs you to one ahead. The game becomes mostly open world at this point, so feel free to explore; there is quite a lot to do. After collecting your second Dark Drip, Diss will lead you to an area where the ground is purple. Pull on the stump that appears in the centre to be awarded a trinket.  

Trinkets are incredibly helpful, some more so than others. Making builds will mostly be on a player-by-player basis, as with much of Big Hops gameplay. Follow the red exclamation mark on your compass, and you will eventually come to a wall and a bush with some chillis on. Don’t eat the chillis; they deal damage. Throw one at the dry bushes in front to burn them away and progress. Put a chilli in your bag for later. Jump up to a platform on the left, where you’ll then cross a rope, climb up a wall to be above where you were previously. 

Here it’s more burning, there is a pole you have to swing from, but it isn’t momentum-based, so just move in the direction you want to jump. Pull a lever to create a shortcut of bouncy platforms. Use the previously saved chilli to burn the bushes away, following them as they burn. Follow them all the way up, and you will unlock a few slingshots, allowing you to reach the higher level of the desert plains. More free roaming here, but follow the red exclamation mark to find the game’s first town.

Duster Bluffs

Duster Bluffs has a large sinkhole in the middle. Around the town are a few shops, so feel free to explore. There are also side quests available from the denizens, which give various rewards. One of the previously mentioned shops is a caravan on wheels where clothes and dyeing are available. Make sure to come in here and buy the cowboy hat, or you will be significantly less stylish. 

One building in this town has a ladder. Climb the ladder and use the parasols as springs to climb up, use the poles to acrobat your way across the gate you entered through, and you’ll be able to walk to the town hall. At the town hall meeting, Hop will comment on the organisation responsible for providing the town with water, the Gulley Gang. He will be promptly tied up and locked in a room; however, it won’t be hard to escape. 

The masked stranger from before has a brief dialogue before you leave the room, and must make your way back to the town. Walk along the pipes until you can jump up to where you were before.

Before continuing, you must get untied. Go to the rabbit character to the right of the fenced-off building. They will untie you, and you are able to continue through the gate your compass leads you to. Some relatively easy platforming comes until you must leave a rock atop a red pressure pad, which will cause a platform to protrude, allowing you to pass through. 

Soon after that, you will come to a bush with some cactus on it. This is one of the most useful plants in the game, as wherever the cactus lands, a rope will shoot out in the opposite direction. Put a few of these in your bag, then grab the bug on the right wall. Then use the rope to cross the gap. Next, you’ll need to form a series of ropes going up, jump across each one, and climb atop the next ledge, where you’ll be met with a locked door. Use the rocks next to the door to climb over it.  

After shooting across another gap and more cactus-throwing, rope-climbing antics, you arrive at an area with a large drop and some green water. Contrary to usual video game hallmarks, the green water doesn’t hurt you, so pick up a few rocks to use as throwables at the buttons. These buttons aren’t on timers, so just activate them all, and you’ll breeze through. 

Walk on the pipes a bit more until you come to the Gulley Gang’s hideout, where the masked stranger will greet you once again. He will ask you to pick a lock to gain entry. There are a few of these lock-picking segments; simply make sure your tongue goes past all the boxes. Afterwards, you will enter the next area.

The Sewers

You can channel your inner Link from The Legend of Zelda in this section and smash any boxes and pots you find to earn money. It was at this point that we unlocked the “Dark Drip Compass” trinket, which, as the name suggests, points out dark drips on your compass. Additionally, make sure to check the storage crates for any hidden bugs. Go back down to the ground and enter through the passageway not blocked by boxes. 

Another new plant becomes available here, with this one launching two orbs that can be grappled to and bounced off of. This will get heavy use in this section, so get used to the timings. Throw them towards both platforms in this room and bounce off both orbs to make it across the gaps. 

After another interaction with the stranger and another room handled much the same as the previous, just with added swinging, you will climb up some ladders and reach the next room. If you walk all the way to the left, you’ll find a red storage container; inside is the first challenge gate we encountered.

Goo Ballin’

Using the new plants’ bouncy balls, clear the first section. If you have the timing down for the balls, this will be easy. Use the diagonal shots to climb into the walled-off area. Walk through and pull the lever to move the platform, altering the balls’ trajectory. Walk to the western end of the section and use the newly moved balls to climb. 

Afterwards, you’ll come to a section where a lot of the bounce balls come in sequence. Use one of your thrown ones to make it a good enough distance, and hop between them until you get to the end. Move the cannon to the upright position, hop between them until you reach the Dark Drip and the end of the challenge room. 

Back to the sewers, jump over to the right-most platform and climb up the red pipes. Follow them all the way to the top, then go through the tunnel where you’ll find another room and a sliding portion of wall with a marker on it. Throw one of the plants on said marked area, then slide it across, and it should be in a position where you can use it to bridge the gap. More chain jumping off approaching objects until you come to a room with another sliding door blocking your progression. 

We threw the bouncy ball spawner to the right of the sliding door, held it open until the ball came close, then jumped. However, it occurs to us that putting the spawner just below the door would likely work better. After this, you will come to a room with a drain plug; when you pull it, the water level in the room will decrease.  Another hatch will become immediately obvious where you’ll drain the water further. After another interaction with the stranger you’re taken to the next area.

Gulley HQ Basement

After some simple wall running and dodging electrified cables, the player will find themselves in a room with a Gulley Gang Guard. If one of these guards spots you, you have a few seconds to leave their line of sight before you get caught. The only punishment for this is that you get sent back a few seconds, so don’t stress about getting caught. 

After a few more easily avoided guards, go right to grab a cactus fruit, climb up to a raised platform, and use the rope to get across.  Down a tunnel with more wires, you’ll come to a room full of shipping containers. Climb up the shipping containers using the fruit provided in the room, then jump to the top platform and pull the lever to unlock the way forward. 

You’ll enter an elevator shaft with an arrow that points up to your objective. This is a great example of how this game can really be approached in a multitude of ways. We opted for this (utterly insane) sequence of ropes combined with a hefty amount of luck with the balls’ bounces. However, it occurred to us after that we probably could’ve just thrown either of the provided plants on the floor and cleared this room much quicker. Immediately after is a room with a door blocked by a camera. We would give you a real strategy for this, but we cheesed it.

Hop on the boxes next to the door and dive through. You should make it before it shuts behind you. Immediately after, the masked stranger will give you a camera and task you with collecting incriminating evidence on the Gulley Gang. This is mostly just a somewhat annoying stealth section, so follow your compass and stay out of the line of sight. 

Start by going right past the stranger and picking the lock, climbing the red rocks on the right side of the room, using the bar to jump across, and pulling the lever to open the door. Climb over the electric cables and take a photo of the evidence room. Leave and go down past the stranger, down the hallway is another locked door.   

In here are three pullable switches, all of which must be activated to disable the electric wire. The switches don’t reset if you get caught, so just zerg rush this room until you’ve flipped all the switches. Go across the wire, flip the lever, go across the other wire, and you’re in the second evidence room. Use the door you just came through to climb up to the bar on the ceiling and use it to leave. Go back to where you originally came down the stairs (passed the guard) for the final locked door.

This room has a set of spinning electric cables, and was actually the first and only place in the game where we died. We again don’t know the intended method of clearing this, as we simply gained enough momentum to make it through the door before the camera placed there could identify us. The evidence room is immediately there. Return to the stranger, and he will cause the elevator to crash down. Use the cable of the elevator to climb up to the penthouse.

Gulley HQ Penthouse

Here, the masked stranger reveals themselves to be Jo Junior, son of Jolene, the leader of the Gulley Gang. You immediately enter a vent and crawl through it to find additional evidence. Crawl all the way to the end of the vents, leave the room, and to the left will be a locked door. This lock-picking is slightly more complicated as the squares must be done in a specific order. Take a photo of the room’s contents, then proceed to follow the compass. Jo Junior will lead you to a vent where you must take a photo of Jolene.

The Sewers – Part 2

After being flushed, you return to the sewers. Use the plants to climb the ladder immediately in front of you, then pull the lever, making sure to grab the bug to the right. Make your way across the rotating platforms, using the available plants to close the gaps. More rotating, ball-hopping platforming in the next room with one central rotating pillar. Similar case in the next room, except this one has platforms, making it arguably easier. Past here, you’ll make your way up a ladder, leaving the sewers.

Gulley Landfill

First, go bug-hunting near the body of water directly in front of you when entering this area. Then use the spring pads to make your way up and follow the path with some fairly easy platforming. Make sure to pull every lever you see. More trampoline and jumping from poles until you eventually find a lever that lowers all the trampolines. Use the now-lowered trampolines to jump across to the landfill exit.

Use this slingshot to hit the trampoline and ricochet across the divide. It was at this point that we picked up the speedometer trinket, simply because we were curious how fast we would go at max speed. There is also another bug once you land. Use the pole and provided trampoline to gain enough momentum to make it to the rail, where you’ll then have to do some high-speed rail grinding until eventually making it back to the Desert Plains. Return to Duster Bluffs and talk to the two rabbits immediately in front of you when you enter; your compass will point to them. 

After an altercation with the Gulley Gang, you and Jo Junior are pushed down the sinkhole in the centre of town. A growable Goo ball bush is present here. Grow it, grab one, go across the wires to the left of where you started, and use it to get across this gap. Grab a chilli and burn the bushes blocking your path. More rails and wall running ahead, with a few bugs along the way. 

After hitting a collection of wooden panels and falling down a hole, it is revealed that Duster Bluffs is unknowingly built on a reservoir. After pulling a lever and latching onto a green button, the game’s first boss will begin.

The Sinkhole Machine

It’s a pretty easy boss. It will shoot easily dodged projectiles at you while platforms appear beneath you. Follow the appearing platforms and dodge the projectiles until you’re able to pull a lever. After the second lever, the boss will shoot ropes instead of creating platforms. Use the boss’s body as a climbable surface to reach the rope above you. The third lever has the boss shoot Goo Balls while the platforms appear in sequence. Again, easily handled, once the boss is defeated, the sinkhole in Duster Bluffs will fill with water, and you’ll be given the cactalyzer. After some wrap-up dialogue, your time in the desert is complete. 

The Void – Level 2

Much the same as void level one, except now there are floating purple cubes which act the same as Goo Balls, except stationary. It’s a fairly uneventful level, one part did have us somewhat confused, though. At the end of a section where you have to shoot ropes and hop between islands you’ll throw a void fruit, and a path will spawn that wraps around. At the very end of the path is a hole that seems to lead nowhere. There will be an island with a pond visible through this hole, which is where you’re supposed to land. Immediately after the level ends. 

Big Hops Level 3 – Junktown

Once arriving here, your compass will point you to an NPC named “Wedge”. Wedge will inform you that he is shipwrecked here. Head around the island to the south, where you will come across a new plant that will turn into a balloon when thrown. Make your way to the boat with one of these plants. Throw the balloon onto the boat and you’ll make it to Junktown proper.

Upon arrival, a drilling plant owned by the local oil company “DrillCO” will be ablaze. Your first objective is to put out the fire. To do this, Hop must pull several plugs from three different pipes, all marked on the compass and easy to reach. After this, you meet “Benni” and are informed that the only people who would know of the location of the next airship part are “the Buckos”, of whom Benni is a member. After agreeing to be bagged, they take you to their hideout, where you’ll meet “Wett”, leader of the buckos and the man responsible for the fire. After this dialogue, a plant that expands when in contact with water is introduced, but mostly unused as the platforming is simple. A little way down this path, and on the left, is your next challenge gate.

Sponge Fruit

This challenge gate is very easy, but the water here is deadly, unlike most other bodies of water in the game. Simply follow the path around, using sponge fruit when necessary. The challenge gate ends with some simple platforming and a litany of sponge fruit falling through a pachinko-esque system of pipes, creating a pathway to the Dark Drip.

More simple platforming ahead, the goo balls make a reappearance, but by now you should be used to them, climb up and keep following the compass. Pressing a button on the floor will reveal a set of platforms; use them to go forward. Immediately after this section, use a spring pad to head up, and you’ll see a building shaped like a boat with a balloon on top. Remember how we kept mentioning bugs? Well, here is where it all pays off, as this is Bugsy’s Conservatory. 

Here you will be rewarded for finding unique bug types. Depending on how many you had found up to this point, you will unlock certain rewards. A lot of them are fairly useless; however, we managed to pick up an extra heart and a very suave bug-catching hat. After leaving here, head straight for the objective marker and talk to Wett. He will give you a ring that allows you to swim in bodies of water. Going forward you’re in for the classic platformer mainstay, a slow-paced water level! 

DrillCo Hydro Plant    

Immediately jump into the water and swim down, use the large amount of bubbles for air, pull the lever, and gain access to the building proper. You’ll immediately see a bubble fruit, which will be used throughout this stage. First, you have to start up all three “bubble collectors,” one of which is in the room with Wett. Throw a bubble fruit onto the tree and dive into one of the bubbles; the momentum should carry you most of the way to the other side. Pick the lock, and the vent lever will be on the right. Go out through the nearby hatch.  

Towards the south-western objective, enter through the hatch and ascend. The strategy for clearing is the same as the previous room: bubbles and momentum. After finishing here, head to the northern objective. This one will be an empty room with the objective being above you. We opted for the “Fill the room with bubbles” strategy, making climbing up fairly easy. After completing these, follow the objective marker to the bubblerator. Wett, however, will steal it from you just as you reach it, causing you to have to pursue him. Diss will mock you for trusting him in the first place, but will reveal the location of a Dark Drip, atop an easily climbed tower looking over the map. 

DrillCO’s Main Rig

Here, you are tasked with reaching the top of the rig, which requires the main drill to be lowered. You must first restore power to both Rig Alpha and Bravo (reachable through hatches). We started with Bravo, where the objective is to repair pipes. The pipes themselves are easily handled. Follow the objective markers and drag the pipes to the end of their respective rails, dodging projectiles along the way. After fixing all three, you can restart Rig B and are awarded a Dark Drip for doing so. 

Rig A is slightly more complicated, requiring the use of small black globules of oil which can be thrown onto walls and bounced off of. You must first use these to reach the rig itself, since you start slightly off to the side. Throw one onto the left wall, jump off it, and chain into the other two that were already placed. 

From here, it’s up to you how to approach the vats, but all of them have a climbable/hoppable surface somewhere, so just follow the objective markers. For vat 3, we used the rotating crane to bring the swinging point closer, but, as with every challenge in this game, we encourage you to find your own way to beat this section. After unblocking all the vats, you can restart this plant as well. Another Dark Drip is given for this.  

After pulling the central lever, the drill will descend. A fun thing we noticed is that if you are going to get hit by the electrical obstacles, try and get hit up, ideally into the platforms with the mesh floors, as (at the time of writing) this causes you to phase through these specific platforms. Once you reach the top, you’ll have a dialogue with a character named Axton. 

This interaction will be interrupted by Wett in a flying battleship that we’re convinced is a reference to the B.F.B from the Bloons series. After taking fire and escaping up a chute, this section’s boss battle will start.

The Helipad

Here, you will use four cannons to shoot at Wett. He will launch projectiles back, but they’re very slow, so they’re not a threat. While you can try to be cool and shoot him while he’s moving, he does make sure to stop now and then, so capitalize when you can. After shooting him enough times, he will start shouting back at you. After the second time he does this, he will start a new maneuver: he will fly above you and shoot down. 

Still easily avoided, however, the bright red projectiles that track Hop are less easily dodged, so make sure to be mindful of them. Additionally, we had some trouble with hitboxes, so try to aim for its back propeller as that was the most reliable spot for us. Upon defeating this boss, you are given the bubblerator, and after a brief interaction with a regretful Wett, you meet with Diss and are taken away.  

The Void – Level 3

Arguably one of the trickier void levels, start by using the oil balls to jump across the floating rocks. The gravity of the platform above should kick in. After that, follow the path and jump into the water that isn’t water. You’ll have to climb the rock to get out and use the bright pink platforms to build stamina. After climbing up, jump from the rock towards the northern parasole, and you should land on some more pink platforms. Use these to climb the rest of the way. After talking with Diss, he opens a portal to the next section.

Pick up a void fruit and go to this rift at the northeast end of the island. Follow the path until you reach a section where you have to use the oil plants to jump across some distances. Just follow the path, and you’ll make it to the end of the section, where there will be a hatch. Go through the hatch, talk to Diss, and discover that Dark Drips are evidence that reality itself is in jeopardy. After this, another portal opens to another area with more winding pathways and bouncing between fruit until you eventually come to a flat section with some void fruit. Pick up a fruit and head past the bush to the next rift.

Opening this rift will reveal a rotating crank used to align a bridge. After crossing the bridge, you will find a diving board and a body of water. Enter the water and swim down, continue down the platforms, and you’ll come across a lever that will open up another stretch of land. After one final conversation with Diss, you leave the void and enter the next area. 

Big Hops Level 4 – Shattered Mountain

Immediately continue forward and climb up. There will be a mushroom bush where we suggest you take a few. On a table near this mushroom bus is a green fruit. These green fruits are incredibly useful, as they let you stick to walls, giving you a rare opportunity to assess the route before taking it. Going forward, you’ll have to use some mushrooms to traverse higher.

Specifically, use a mushroom here to latch onto these hanging leaf bundles. If you see bundles of leaves in this level, use them to climb, as they actually don’t drain your stamina to use. Follow the path up until you reach a divide you cannot cross. You’ll have to go to the top of the platform you’re on and move a crane, dragging one of these bundles of leaves over. Afterwards, continue to the objective marker, and you will enter the mineshaft that leads to the town.

Here you will see 3 people arguing over some graffiti. After the perpetrator escapes with some assistance, you can either progress forward or follow them to the right. We don’t know what happens if you go forward, because we went the wrong way. We can only assume nothing, as the right path appeared to be the correct one. Continuing down the right path eventually leads you to a dead end and a character named Henly.

Henly will tell you to prove yourself by drawing some graffiti of your own. You can draw whatever you want (we tried to write AG for adventure gamers); however, you’re actually supposed to follow the green circles that start in the bottom right. After hitting all the green circles, the path opens. Eventually, you’ll meet up with several rebellious band members, who you’ll be helping in this section. They lead you to a character called “Remy” and an area referred to as “The Boneyard.”

The Boneyard 

To start, several vertical surfaces with leaves attached have to be jumped across. No stamina consumption here, but they do move, so take your time. You’ll eventually make it to an open area with a large skull. Below the skull is a bushel of those wall-sticking fruit; fill up on those. Also floating here in a blue bubble is Remy. After talking with her, she will task you with finding the skull’s 3 teeth. 

To start, walk past Remy to the right and swing across the gap. First, go left to the cannon and get launched. After wall running and a series of wall sticks, you’ll have to use some balloons and enter a cannon, swing across, and you’ll make it atop a mountain where you’ll find tooth #3. Go back to the area where you started, and you will see a series of cannons in the air.

Use these cannons to make it atop the skeleton, go down the spine, and get to the skull. On top of the skull is tooth #1. Back again to the first area, where you now go right and enter a graveyard. You can talk to a bat here for a sidequest that involves finding his assistant’s grave (it’s pretty easy). Scattered around this area are bombs on the ends of springs. Using these, you can break a collection of different colored rocks.

Break these with the bomb and then follow the obstacles down here. They’re mostly timing-based, so not much strategy we can impart; just be smart, and you should make it through. At the end of a series of swinging pillars, you will find tooth #2. After heading back up, go to the southeast end of the island you’re on and pull the grave out; a challenge gate will be below it.  

Minecart Barrels

Let this room serve as an omen of what’s to come, as these minecarts will be used heavily later. Drag the first minecart into alignment with the hole in the wall, then shoot yourself through. Do the same with the next cannon, but be ready to react to another cannon mid-air. Spawn the cannon with the button, begin dragging it, and immediately get in, shoot through when you’re lined up. Hop across the platforms and cannons and summon the next minecart. Build up as much speed as you can and dismount at the height of its jump and spam the tongue button. The room’s Dark Drip is immediately after this cannon. You can now jump straight down and leave.

The Mines

Now that you have all the teeth, you can go back to Remy and open the skull door. Here, you will be tasked with restarting three generators in three separate mineshafts. There is also a shop at the bottom of the main room where you can buy many helpful upgrades. Starting with Mineshaft A, spawn the cart and drag it all the way right, go back up, and press the other red button, and it will jump up a level. Open the door and swing across the gap. Use the explosives to clear all the rocks. There will be another cart spawner; drag the cart along, clearing obstacles as you go. 

You’ll eventually find some rocks with no explosives nearby. There will be a button below to summon an explosive cart; use that to clear the way. Next, you’ll open a door and enter a room where you’ll use the wall stick plant and throw the plants so they land where the Dark Bits are for the best pathing. 

When you climb up there will be a railway sign pointing to the right and a barricade blocking your path. Use your tongue on the sign to move the barricade. After dragging the cart along, destroying all the rocks, one of which blocks a rotating crank that spins the middle platform. Ensure the cart is on the platform before spinning, and rotate until it is lined up. Drag the cart all the way to the end, and Mineshaft A is complete.   

Mineshaft B and C are both across platforms above the main room entrance. Use whatever plants you can find to get up. After jumping across, go up for C and down for B. We started with Mineshaft C. Head straight forward, spawn a cart, and get in. Stay in the cart and follow the arrows on the walls until you get to a dead end. To the west is a room where you will have to do a series of swings and jumps until you reach another wall that must be climbed with the sticky fruit.

After climbing this ladder onto a swing point, don’t swing off; stay on until you can jump to safety, being mindful of projectiles. After a bit more walking, you drop down on the other side of the door that blocked your path. Use the minecart to reach another section with a central rotating platform. Rotate it so you can get across and continue until you’re on top of the central platform. Use the lever to rotate it again and use the minecart to follow the northern rail. At the end, there will be a lever that lowers a bridge; simply realign the centre platform, cross the bridge, follow the rail to the end, and that’s Mineshaft C complete. 

Mineshaft B uses automatically moving carts. When the cart reaches the first dead end, dive into the blue below. Use it to swim across, heading north. Leave the blue (flux) and climb the platforms until you find a plant you can pull. Use the sticky fruit to climb to the winding path directly above. There will be a pullable switch; grab it and follow the winding path to raise the flux. Go back to your cart, and it will now go over the gap once the door is opened. Follow the rails (don’t worry about the cart) until you get to another room with, you guessed it, a central rotating platform.

A lever on the upper level will move this cube of flux horizontally. Preemptively drag the lever all the way left and place a mushroom here so you can quickly get back up. This room is all about timing. Wait for the platform to turn towards you, then immediately open the doors; this will ensure the cart takes the right path. In the time this takes, you have to get to the other side of the room and latch onto the lever. Once the cart enters the flux, drag the lever all the way right. The cart does another loop and goes back down the middle, so drag the lever to the centre. The cart will then go on to open the door, and you can continue following the rails.

When you arrive in the next room, ignore everything and head immediately up. Go into the flux and head to the centre, where a switch can be pulled to lower it down, making the puzzle complete. Don’t waste your time trying to do this without first lowering the flux; be smarter than us. Wait for the cart to reach the bridge, then flip the lever to send it down the alternate path. Flip it back into position, wait for the cart to be on the bridge, and flip it when the cart is near the bridge’s end. The cart should flip up and land on the rail on the opposite side. After that, open a couple of doors, and Mineshaft B is complete.

After completing this, you are locked in prison and tasked with escaping. Luckily, a hatch under your bed will allow you to crawl over to a lever that unlocks Remy’s cell. You can then escape via a vent on her cell’s ceiling. Pick up the outfits and head back to the mines. It will be through the northernmost gate and into a door with a blue light above it. After a brief dialogue, you and Remy take the elevator back down.

This section centers on Flux Fruit, throwable zero-gravity spheres. After your first use of this, you’ll be taken into a big room with several levels and rails, and immediately walk past all of this to the entrance on the other side. Use the flux fruit to climb across the gap, keeping a few in your bag. You’ll get to a platform that has a sandwich in a fridge, and use your saved fruit to climb the wall. From up here, use another fruit to swim through a hole in the wall. In this room, there will be a cannon on a cart and another one of those railway direction signs that must be flipped to allow the cart through.

Drag the cart back into the main room, line it up so it’s aimed at the 3 piles of rocks, and use it to blow them up. This will allow you to drag the cart past where the rocks were onto the… central rotating platform, and change the direction the cannon is facing. Drag it back onto another platform that raises the cannon, go up with it, line it up with the rocks, and fire. This will open a path to the next room. Use the void fruit to swim over to the platform with the ladder, turn around, open the hatch, and there will be another challenge room behind it.

Flux Refinery

Pull the lever immediately in front of you to create a flux bubble. Enter the cannon and swim through, grab some flux fruit from the bush, and use it to climb up the rock in front. Use more flux fruit to jump across the platforms, and more fruit to scale the vertical surface at the end. Climb up as high as you can and use the rotating crank to turn the vertical surface towards you. Use the flux fruit to climb the walls all the way to the top, where a ladder leads to a lever. Flip the lever and swim up the created flux, where you’ll find the room’s Dark Drip. To leave, return to the first flux cube you created, and a cannon next to it will take you back to the door. 

The Deep Mines

Now that you’re back, use more flux fruit to climb up the structure. There are plenty of fruit bushes, so use as many as it takes. Once at the top, use a final few flux fruit to make it across the gap and enter the minecart on the other side. Use the cart to follow the rails until you get to a section that loops around. The game doesn’t mention that these specific carts can jump, so go around the loop until you’re parallel with a track that has several yellow exclamation mark signs and jump across.

Follow it around until you can jump across to the rail on the right. Follow this one around until you can jump to another right-hand side rail, and then again to the right (just after the speed boost). Immediately jump left onto a rail that leads to a passageway, and you’ll enter a room with a cannon on a cart. Drag the cannon to destroy the rocks blocking your path and return to the other platform and your cart. The cart will enter a flux bubble and cross a gap to a wall blocked by rocks. Use the explosives to the right of the rocks to clear them. Here you’ll reunite with Remy and traverse deeper into the mines. 

In this room will be a large contraption, and nearby to the south will be a passageway through the wall and a pit. Inside the pit is a character named “Bunk”, a miner who has been stuck down here for years, surviving on nothing but bugs. Use the lever near the ladder to lower it, freeing him. He will then repair the “Sonar Drill” and task you with activating it by using one lever, three buttons on top, and a pulley at the back. The drill will open a path out and then break, dropping your final airship part, the flux cap, in the process. After a brief conversation with Remy, she, no word of a lie, discovers her own father’s corpse down here (a shockingly dark moment for this game), and you enter another cart section.

This is the final section of this world, as you are tasked with escaping the mine. However, it mostly just requires some quick reaction times. Follow the rail around, dismounting the cart when you see swinging points, specifically aiming for the ones lower down the rail. Progress forward until you get to another section where you have to hop between rails using the cart. You’ll then come to a section where you have to jump over approaching explosives, jump across, and swim through more flux. You will then enter a new room where armoured carts are introduced, making avoiding explosives all the easier. Another central rotating platform will take you forward, where you must use a combination of jumps and hiding to make it past.

Then comes a section where your cart will stack on top of some scaffolding. Press the buttons to make your cart jump off the scaffolding, but stay in your cart; if you leave it, you’ll be left behind. You’ll run into Remy and Bunk in a precarious situation, and after a final volley of projectiles, you make it out of the mines. After a conversation with Diss in a prison cell and Remy in the town centre, you are tasked with returning to the start of Shattered Mountain, where Diss will take you back to Copper for the airship.

Here, you can decide whether or not you wish to revisit any of the levels or continue with the story and head home. However, the trip home is not that simple, as you are transported into the void before you can return.

The Void – Level 4

You have made it to the final level of the game and the victory lap of sorts. Follow the obvious path forward until you come to a temple-esque area with a collection of floating rocks. Use these floating rocks to climb up until you reach some purple anti-gravity paths. Use these to reach a platform where more floating rocks lead you up. We used one of the statues with dark bits to climb up the last portion.

Atop this mountain, there is a final conversation with Diss, in which he reveals his true purpose. This entire time, we have been working towards his demise, as once all the Dark Drips have been returned, his purpose will be fulfilled, and he will cease to exist. After Hop antagonises Diss, he lays the final task on you. After interacting with the central shrine, your character model will change, and your new objective is given: collect the Light Drips.  

Something the game fails to mention, however, is how to actually achieve this. Turns out, every one of the spikey floating objects you collect while in this form is an additional jump. With this knowledge, collecting the first 3 was easy. After collecting these, you are sent to altered versions of all of the main hubs in each of the three worlds to collect all the Light Drips. Again, multiple jumps make this a nice final section, as the previously established platforming mechanics are thrown out. Our advice for clearing this portion of the level is just have fun jumping around, all the objectives are marked on your compass, so you’ll have no issues finding them.  

Epilogue

After finding all the Light Drips and a final heartfelt goodbye from Diss, Big Hops’ story ends with you returning home to your Mother and Lily. After a brief dialogue, the credits roll on this amazingly fun game. It even has an interactable credit sequence where points are scored depending on how many names you hit with your tongue.

Phew… what a game. When we set out to write this walkthrough, we did not anticipate having as much fun playing Big Hops as we did. It truly is a fantastic platformer with nigh-endless possibilities for completion. We remind you that while this is how we played it, you are heavily encouraged to discover your own path in this game, an ongoing theme in both the gameplay and narrative. We hope this helped if you were stuck at any point, and we suggest wholeheartedly that you play this game. We know we’ll be returning for the 100% completion.