Developer: Total Mayhem Games
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Action, Adventure
Publisher: Total Mayhem Games
Developed and published by Total Mayhem Games, We Were Here Tomorrow is the latest instalment in the We Were Here series. Available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, this co-op puzzle adventure takes you and a friend on another mysterious journey where communication and teamwork are essential. I played on PC with a friend, and we were excited to see what this latest addition had to offer.
The story begins with you and your friend venturing into Antarctica, where you come across a frozen individual. However, things take an unexpected turn when a strange force pulls you in, leaving you unconscious in the freezing water. You eventually wake up inside what appears to be a cryogenic chamber, where a rather peculiar doctor begins guiding you through a series of puzzle-like tasks. It turns out that you’ve been frozen for almost five years, and the first thing you’re expected to do upon waking up is complete a bunch of strange assignments for this mysterious doctor. And so begins your journey through the facility.
First and foremost, We Were Here is a series where you absolutely need another person to play with. Both players need to own a copy of the game, and thankfully, cross-platform play is supported. My friend and I played on PC, with one of us based in Asia and the other in Europe. Despite the geographical distance, we didn’t really encounter any connection or latency issues, and everything worked pretty seamlessly. When it comes to connectivity and accessibility in co-op, the game does a great job.
One thing I absolutely loved about this instalment was the visuals and graphics. The game captures that laboratory aesthetic incredibly well, with all sorts of machinery, units and little details scattered throughout what feels like an enormous research facility. Everything looks rather clustered and packed with things to discover, and the further you venture into the facility, the more interesting the environments become. I particularly enjoyed how the game incorporates its retro-futuristic setting, making everything feel like an imagined version of the 80s.
I also really enjoyed some of the new mechanics introduced throughout the game, particularly the sections where the room tilts around or where your friend’s perspective is completely inverted compared to yours. These futuristic elements were a pleasant surprise and made certain puzzles feel quite unique. However, I do think that sometimes these mechanics could become a little overwhelming, especially when several things were happening at once.
My thoughts on the gameplay are quite mixed. There were certain sections that I absolutely loved, while others left me wishing there was either a little more or, in some cases, a little less. The voice chat and walkie-talkie system are incredibly handy, as communication is essentially the backbone of the entire experience. However, compared to the previous games, I felt that the level of cooperation required for some of the puzzles wasn’t quite as strong as I had hoped.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a good variety of puzzles, and each section introduces something a little different. For instance, the first portion, which I would describe as Gulliver’s World, was done so well that I genuinely wished there was more of it. I really liked the mechanic and would have loved to see it explored in different areas rather than being limited to that particular section. It was one of those moments where I thought the developers had introduced something with so much potential, only for it to be over before I knew it.
Another major component of the gameplay is the use of the grapple and goop guns. Personally, I found these quite fun to use initially, and I liked having different tools that each player could utilise. However, as the game progressed, I felt that their usefulness became a little less meaningful. This was particularly noticeable during the section where you and your partner are essentially walking across blue and red pathways, flipping buttons and levers along the way. While the mechanics were interesting at first, I found that they became a little repetitive after a while.
As you progress, the game gradually introduces more difficult puzzles, although these are occasionally mixed in with much simpler ones, such as pressing symbols in the correct order. Mind you, my friend and I have played almost all the games in the series, and we have always enjoyed the puzzle-solving experience. The puzzles are usually challenging enough to make you think without having you completely wreck your brain for hours.
However, this was probably the first time we encountered a few puzzles where we genuinely felt like we needed to step away for a bit. One example was the puzzle involving connecting cables to a generator. It seemed relatively straightforward at first, but we ended up overcomplicating things so much that we practically worked ourselves into a contradiction. Sometimes you really do end up being your own worst enemy when solving these puzzles!
Despite that, I still really enjoyed the overall narrative. This instalment seems to be the longest in the series, and I quite like the direction the developers have taken with the story. The lore surrounding ‘Rift Zero’ and the strange occurrences happening throughout the facility are intriguing, and I always enjoy how these games slowly reveal their mysteries as you progress. There is something particularly satisfying about piecing together the story through little discoveries, whether that is exploring fax sheets, reading leftover emails on computers or simply observing the environment around you.
I also have to give a mention to the audio. The voice acting, sound effects and music are absolutely fantastic and work incredibly well with the atmosphere. The soundtrack complements the retro-futuristic setting, while the voice acting helps bring the strange world and its characters to life. Combined with the visuals, it makes exploring the facility that much more enjoyable.
Of course, the experience wasn’t entirely flawless. We did encounter a few hiccups along the way, including a bug involving an elevator platform that was moving for one player but seemingly not moving for the other. These moments were a little frustrating, particularly when you’re relying on your partner to progress, but they didn’t completely take away from our overall experience.
The other player, Vroggo, had the following to say: “We Were Here Tomorrow is visually amazing, no doubt there. Loving the new sci-fi theme going on; it’s different from past games in the series where they were more medieval and whimsical. I noticed that, unlike past games, there were more instances where both players could see each other more but still keep to their unique perspectives while solving puzzles or getting to them, which I thought was nice but may explain the design choices for the puzzles in the game.
Regarding the puzzles themselves, the game was more fun in its early stages, and then it started to become frustrating at some point. I’d like to think my friend and I were pretty good at solving co-op puzzles together, but we had to really dig deep to solve some of these puzzles. I feel as though there was less communication embedded in solving these puzzles.
Previous games had both players exchange clues and information to solve puzzles, and there were some instances of that throughout the game, but maybe not enough. Instead, it felt like a back-and-forth process between you and your partner trying to make sense of and solve your own piece of the puzzle before they could do theirs, which was frustrating on both our ends. It didn’t help that certain puzzles that involved walking from point A to point B was a new experience entirely and gave me motion sickness. Although super cool, a warning ahead of time would have been nice.
Overall, I would rate my experience a 6/10. The game is worth a try if you’ve already played previous games in the series; just expect some difficult/mind-boggling puzzles ahead. Otherwise, I recommend playing the past games first.”​
All in all, I would definitely recommend We Were Here Tomorrow if you’re looking for something to play with a friend. If you’ve played the previous instalments, this is still a pretty good addition to the series, even if there are a few areas that could have been explored a little further. I absolutely love puzzle games, and this game does a great job of introducing some unique mechanics and puzzles that make solving them feel genuinely rewarding. While I have a few mixed feelings about certain sections, I’m still excited to see where the series goes next. Grab a friend, get your walkie-talkies ready and prepare to question whether you’re both actually looking at the same thing!
Overall: 7/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
