We Were Here Tomorrow Review

A fresh sci-fi setting brings new gadgets, mind-bending puzzles, and unexpected twists to this cooperative adventure, pushing Total Mayhem Games’ familiar formula in an exciting new direction.

For almost a decade, Total Mayhem Games has built the We Were Here series around a simple idea: two players must work together to solve puzzles, but neither person has all the information needed to succeed. Over the years, each entry has introduced new environments and challenges that make clear communication just as important as observation and logical thinking.

Since the original game introduced players to its mysterious medieval setting, the developers have kept experimenting with new environments, increasingly complex challenges, and situations that test how well friends communicate. Rather than relying on traditional action or combat, the series has made cooperation its central mechanic, turning the ability to explain what you see into one of the most important skills you can develop.

If you’ve played the previous games, you know how quickly a seemingly simple puzzle can turn into a long discussion.

One player might find a sequence of symbols, while the other has a machine that requires those symbols in a specific order. Neither player can solve the problem alone. You need to listen carefully, describe your environment, and make sure your partner understands what you're trying to explain. 

We Were Here Tomorrow takes that approach in a new direction, replacing the familiar castles and gloomy stone corridors with a futuristic scientific facility. The new setting gives Total Mayhem Games more opportunities to experiment with technology, unusual machinery, and puzzles that manipulate perspective, gravity, and scale.

The result is an adventure that differs from its predecessors, without sacrificing the elements that made the franchise appealing. Shared spaces, specialized equipment, and strange scientific experiments keep things engaging, but the communication-based puzzles are really the heart of the experience.

However, not every change is perfect, and some decisions in We Were Here Tomorrow can make cooperation more frustrating than it needs to be. However, when its mechanics come together, We Were Here Tomorrow demonstrates how much potential remains in a formula built around two people solving problems together.

The adventure follows two explorers who become trapped beneath the ice during an expedition. After being frozen for several years, the two characters wake up inside the suspiciously empty Norsek facility with little idea what happened or why they were there.

Director Kathleen Bowe welcomes them, gives them a tour, and assigns them a task: get the lab up and running. It begins as a simple assignment but soon becomes a research project into the scientific complex, its bizarre experiments, and the secrets concealed behind its walls.

The setting gives the story a different feel than the previous games.

Instead of isolated castles and environmental clues from the past, We Were Here Tomorrow introduces an abandoned scientific facility left behind under strange circumstances. Its machinery, laboratories, experimental technology, and mysterious rift energy at the center of Director Kathleen Bowe’s research make it the perfect place to explore. 

Director Kathleen Bowe plays a much more active role in the story than in previous entries. She contacts the players regularly, explains their objectives, and directs them to new areas. Her conversations connect the puzzles to the bigger picture of what’s going on around the facility, helping you understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. 

The problem is that Director Kathleen Bowe interrupts so often that that she competes with the walkie-talkie communication system. When you’re trying to describe a symbol, explain a switch’s position, or coordinate a complicated sequence of actions, another character speaking over you can be annoying.

The story is also more straightforward than in previous games, which often relied on audio flashbacks, environmental storytelling, and scattered clues to create mystery. Here, dialog does much of the work, while references to the mysterious tower from earlier entries help connect the series’ history. 

Unfortunately, the increased emphasis on dialogue does not always help the story. Some conversations seem unrelated to the puzzles you’re solving, making the story and gameplay feel like they are on separate roads. The story works best when it gives you a reason to investigate the facility or explains an unusual discovery. 

Still, the story has enough mystery to keep things moving, despite the flaws. There are reasons to keep going—the weird experiments, the facility's shady history, and the importance of rift energy. The writing could be more focused, but the story supports the cooperative adventure without overshadowing it.

The core gameplay remains familiar to anyone who has played the previous We Were Here games.

You and your partner explore a collection of interconnected areas, gather information, operate machinery, and solve puzzles that require both players to contribute. Communication remains essential because each person often encounters different clues or has access to information the other cannot see. 

The most significant change is that you are in the same spaces more often. Many earlier entries stressed separation, requiring players to talk to each other between rooms while seeing different content. We Were Here Tomorrow still employs this approach, but its shared environments provide more opportunities for cooperation and amusing accidents. 

This change also brings periods of accidental chaos. You can use strange equipment to interfere with your partner's actions, and some situations let you shoot each other with experimental devices. They are amusing precisely because they happen when you are trying to concentrate on a puzzle.

The futuristic setting gives the developers more freedom to create puzzles around machinery, electrical systems, and experimental devices. Instead of relying exclusively on keys, levers, and familiar environmental obstacles, We Were Here Tomorrow asks you to interact with technology that changes how you understand a room. Some mechanisms will require close attention, and others will demand you use your equipment in ways that aren't obvious at first. 

One of the most memorable mechanics is a machine that shrinks one player to about the size of a guinea pig. The smaller character explores the laboratory and activates mechanisms that cannot be activated otherwise. Meanwhile, the other player remains life-size and guides them from outside the machine. 

The sequence works because the shift in scale changes how you understand the environment.

An object trivial to the larger character might be a major hurdle for the smaller one, and a mechanism straightforward to access from the outside might require careful navigation from within the machine. You need to explain your observations and show how the two perspectives relate. The smaller character’s squeakier voice especially adds humor, as it sounds like something from a cartoon. 

Specialized equipment provides an important layer to the gameplay. One character gets a hook-like device that can pull objects or activate distant switches, while the other character gets a gun that can create solid blocks of material. These tools give you different ways to interact with the environment, letting you reach unreachable objects, create platforms, and manipulate mechanisms from afar. 

The hook-like device helps when an item or switch is out of normal reach, and the block-creating gun lets you alter a room's layout. A well-placed block can serve as a platform or a way to reach another mechanism or part of a larger solution. These tools are more interesting than mere keys because their usefulness is based on how you read the environment. 

Electrical currents and lasers add challenges, and some technology can transfer between players across different time periods. These mechanics fit well with the science setting and encourage you to think about how different systems interact. You might have to coordinate several actions or move objects in a specific order or understand how a mechanism responds to some occurrence somewhere else. 

This variety helps the pacing. Some puzzles are quite simple, giving you a chance to learn a new mechanic before We Were Here Tomorrow ramps up the difficulty. Others need several attempts and a closer look before the solution becomes obvious. As the challenges change throughout the adventure, you are less likely to find yourself doing the same task over and over. 

The game, however, doesn't always make its intentions clear. Some clues are subtle and easy to miss, and some interactive objects don't immediately indicate their importance. Computer screens, whiteboards, and posters can contain useful information, but not every screen or object is interactive. 

These problems can ruin the flow of an otherwise effective puzzle.

The struggle can feel worth it when you finally understand the mechanism. But when a game asks players to find an obscure detail that isn't clearly separated from the background, it becomes less a test of logic and more a guessing game. The new equipment and mechanics offer plenty of creative possibilities, but clearer visual communication would make them more fun.

We Were Here Tomorrow’s biggest strength still lies in its puzzle design, especially when it makes you rethink the way you view your environment. The futuristic facility is not just a string of rooms with switches and locked doors. Its strange architecture, experimental machinery, and perspective-shifting mechanics constantly change how you approach problems.

Another major addition is the ability to manipulate gravity. In some sections, you can walk through walls and ceilings, turning familiar rooms into disorienting puzzle spaces. These sequences reflect the developers’ intent to move the series in new directions, away from the traditional method of splitting up players and sharing information between them.

But the mechanic has problems. Constantly switching perspective can be confusing, especially when you have to walk through narrow corridors or notice small details in the environment. Some sections may make you uncomfortable, even if you don’t normally get motion sickness, because the visual orientation changes so often.

In almost every difficult encounter, communication decides the outcome. You must accurately describe the positions of objects, identify symbols, and describe movements well enough for your partner to reproduce them. Sometimes missing one detail can throw the entire sequence off, forcing both players to back up and figure out where the miscommunication happened. 

Sometimes describing what you see isn't enough; you need to see it from your partner’s perspective. Two players may look at the same problem from completely different perspectives and struggle to understand why the answer is obvious to one and baffling to the other. That contrast makes for funny conversations, especially when both players are sure they've explained everything correctly. 

The biggest downside is that you can't go at the puzzles solo, and there's no matchmaking to find a partner.

You need a willing partner who can communicate, experiment, and work through the more challenging stuff together. This requirement will probably appeal to friends who enjoy solving problems as a team, but players who struggle to explain their observations or get frustrated easily may find it tiring. 

Some challenges will also seem familiar if you’ve played several previous entries. The series has already covered many ways to distribute information between two players, so some repetition is expected. But thanks to specialized tools, gravity manipulation, and changes in scale, the adventure never feels like just a collection of recycled ideas. 

There’s no conventional combat system or experience-point progression here, as the core challenge is puzzle-solving rather than defeating enemies or grinding for upgrades. Instead, your progress comes from understanding the mechanics, recognizing useful clues, and learning how to communicate more effectively. 

The shift from medieval castles to a futuristic scientific facility gives We Were Here Tomorrow a distinct visual identity. The familiar gray stone corridors and gloomy interiors give way to colorful laboratories, unusual machinery, and retrofuturistic environments filled with experimental technology. 

The environments are filled with tiny details, equipment, workspaces, common rooms, and objects that suggest researchers once lived and worked there. These elements make the location feel more believable, even as the technology becomes stranger. The somewhat cartoony art style suits the experience. 

The visual design works best when the environment itself becomes part of the puzzle. Moving gravity, odd room arrangements, and shifts in scale turn the familiar into puzzles that demand a closer look. The rooms aren't ornamental settings; they shape how you respond to every situation and make you notice details you might otherwise overlook. 

Train rides from one place to another are a welcome break from the more complicated parts.

Compared to the facility's colorful laboratories and experimental machines, traveling in the snow-covered mountains is a quieter experience. These moments make you feel like you are passing through a bigger world and give you a chance to unwind before you face another challenge. 

The technical presentation, however, can be inconsistent. On some PCs, a lot of objects and environmental detail in an area can cause noticeable frame-rate drops. With these higher graphical settings, We Were Here Tomorrow can struggle to maintain 60 frames per second in some areas, breaking up the otherwise smooth presentation. 

The sound design fits the futuristic setting, with electronic effects, atmospheric sounds, and playful musical cues. The background music blends tech and fantasy to create a mood that fits a facility full of strange experiments. The soundtrack rarely demands your attention, which is good because it lets you focus on exploring the environment and talking to your partner.

Some musical cues become familiar when they are repeated. In the middle of an electrical puzzle, for example, a repeated phrase sounds an awful lot like the theme from X-Men. When you are trying to figure out a complex mechanism and keep repeating the same sequence, it can turn an otherwise frustrating situation into an entertaining bonding experience. 

The voice acting is another plus, especially Director Kathleen Bowe as an increasingly eccentric scientist. Her delivery gives the character personality and makes the facility's research seem even more mysterious. She interrupts often and sometimes gets in the way of communication, but the performance itself helps to distinguish the supporting character and gives the narrative a recognizable voice.

Overall, the sound design and voice work help sell the game’s identity.

The electronic atmosphere adds to the retro-futuristic setting. Occasional musical jokes and funny voice effects keep the adventure from becoming too serious. The visual and audio presentation generally complements the creative puzzle design, though the technical performance and dialogue interruptions remain glaring weaknesses.

We Were Here Tomorrow is a significant departure for Total Mayhem Games’ cooperative puzzle series. The switch to a sci-fi science station gives developers room to play with strange machines, custom gear, and puzzles that mess with gravity, size, and perspective. 

The new mechanics work best when they make both players approach the same problem differently. The game offers memorable cooperative moments through scaling down characters, building solid blocks, flipping distant switches, and changing gravity. You’re not just regurgitating standard puzzle fixes; you’re figuring out how to apply new tools and how to marry what you see with what your partner learns. 

The experience still has a few frustrating moments. Some visual clues are too subtle, some interactive objects blend into the background, and the gravity-based sections can be uncomfortable when the perspectives change too often. Director Kathleen Bowe's interjections sometimes disrupt the communication system, and dips in performance in more demanding areas can affect the otherwise colorful presentation. 

The lack of a matchmaking and hint system also makes choosing the right partner all the more important.

You want someone willing to talk clearly, try different solutions, and be patient when a puzzle gets tough. This is part of the series’ identity, but the occasional lack of clarity can make cooperation unnecessarily demanding. Better visual cues and fewer interruptions would help We Were Here Tomorrow maintain the flow without losing the challenge.

However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The futuristic setting gives the series a new direction, the equipment adds meaningful variety, and the most inventive puzzles will satisfy players who pay attention to their surroundings and communicate clearly. Some familiar ideas return, but the new mechanics are varied enough to keep the adventure engaging.

Ultimately, We Were Here Tomorrow is an enjoyable addition to the franchise. It understands that the best cooperative puzzles aren't just about finding the right answer; they're about reaching it together. Technical problems, confusing clues, and a few frustrating design decisions hold it back, but the creative mechanics and satisfying teamwork make it worth experiencing with a friend.