We Were Here Too

We Were Here Too is a cooperative puzzle adventure game and the second installment in the series. Two players must work together remotely, communicating via walkie-talkie to solve a series of environmental puzzles within the mysterious, frozen halls of Castle Rock. Each player experiences a different perspective and has access to unique information, making clear communication and teamwork absolutely essential to progress and escape the ominous setting.

We Were Here Too: A Masterclass in Asymmetric Cooperative Puzzling

In the vast landscape of cooperative gaming, few titles dare to strip away the comfort of shared screens and synchronous action, instead forcing players into a crucible of pure communication. We Were Here Too, the 2018 standalone sequel from Dutch student-developers Total Mayhem Games, is one such title. It is a game that is less played and more experienced—a tense, atmospheric, and brilliantly designed puzzle-box that demands not just teamwork, but a symphony of precise verbal collaboration. It is an escape room carved into digital form, and a testament to the power of a simple, perfectly executed concept.

Development History & Context

Total Mayhem Games emerged not from a traditional studio, but from the halls of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. We Were Here Too was the commercial follow-up to their 2017 student project, We Were Here, which itself had garnered significant acclaim, winning the Best Indie Game award at the Indigo showcase and achieving over a million free downloads on Steam. The team, consisting of leads like Benjamin Van Hemert (Game Design), Sam Meyer (Programming), and Lucia de Visser (Conceptual Design), operated under immense pressure and constraint. Their vision was to refine and expand upon the novel asymmetric co-op premise of the first game.

The technological backbone was the Unity engine, paired critically with Photon Unity Networking (PUN) and Photon Voice. In a developer blog post, lead programmer Sam Meyer highlighted the choice of Photon was strategic: its ease of integration and lack of server costs for up to 20 concurrent users allowed their small, student team to focus entirely on gameplay and puzzle design rather than backend infrastructure. This decision proved prescient; upon launch, the game’s popularity soared beyond their wildest expectations, and Photon’s cloud servers scaled seamlessly to meet the demand—a crucial factor in maintaining momentum.

Released on February 2, 2018, for PC, Mac, and Linux (with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports following later), We Were Here Too entered a gaming landscape hungry for innovative co-op experiences. It stood in stark contrast to the action-heavy co-op titles of the era, offering a cerebral, intimate alternative. Its price point—$9.99, a shift from the free-to-play original—was a gamble that paid off, proving there was a market willing to pay for a refined, expanded dose of this unique communicative challenge.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The narrative of We Were Here Too is a masterclass in environmental and fragmentary storytelling. Players are not the protagonists from the first game; instead, they are the other two members of the four-person Antarctic expedition mentioned in the original’s intro. Separated from their companions by a lethal blizzard, they stumble upon the same gargantuan, gothic structure: Castle Rock.

Upon entering, they are immediately separated and thrust into asymmetrical roles: one becomes the Peasant, trapped in the dank, death-ridden catacombs and ossuaries; the other becomes the Lord, navigating the opulent but decaying royal chambers above. Their only tether to each other is the static-crackled voice channel of a walkie-talkie.

The plot is not delivered through cutscenes or exposition, but through the chilling atmosphere and lore scattered via ancient, often barely legible, books and documents. As pieced together from these fragments, the story reveals a tragic tale of King Bartholomeus of Amber-Adelaide, his Queen Leonora, and their children. The kingdom was cursed after the king, driven mad by grief over the loss of his sons (one to a trap set by the treacherous jailer Brutus, another to a disease called ‘Devil’s Fire’), was tricked by a court jester into performing a dark ritual for eternal life.

The themes are stark and haunting: grief, betrayal, sacrifice, and the corrosive nature of absolute power. The castle itself is a character—a monument to a family’s and a kingdom’s ruin. The players are interlopers in this tomb, and the puzzles they solve are often macabre mechanisms left behind by its tragic inhabitants. The ending reinforces these themes brutally: to open the final gate, one player must manually operate a crank to lower an elevator for the other, seemingly necessitating a sacrifice. However, a hidden “true” ending exists—discovered by finding and pulling 12 secret levers throughout the castle—that allows both to escape, though the game’s haunting final shot still implies a voluntary turn back into the darkness, a nod to the unresolved fate of the first game’s protagonists.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

The core gameplay loop of We Were Here Too is deceptively simple: observe, describe, and collaborate. This is executed through a series of self-contained puzzle rooms, each more complex and demanding than the last.

• Asymmetric Roles: The Peasant is almost always the “actor,” physically interacting with levers, tiles, and objects. The Lord is the “observer,” deciphering codes, maps, and patterns from their environment. One cannot progress without the other. This creates a perfect imbalance of information, forcing absolute reliance on verbal communication.

• The Walkie-Talkie: This is the game’s most crucial mechanic. Voice chat is not a convenience; it is the primary interface. It operates on a push-to-talk, half-duplex system, meaning only one person can speak at a time. This intentionally mirrors real radio communication, adding a layer of tension and requiring disciplined, clear dialogue. Descriptions like “the symbol that looks like a wonky trident” or “the knight facing left with a round shield” become life-or-death information.

• Puzzle Design: The puzzles are the star. They are brilliantly varied, ensuring the gameplay never becomes stale:

  • The Ossuary: The Lord must describe coffin placements so the Peasant can align symbols on a central altar.
  • The Ceremonial Room: The Lord reads a book with a numbered candle sequence that the Peasant must light in order, followed by matching glowing patterns on walls.
  • The Dark Stairwell: A timed, panicked ascent where the Lord must insert dice described by the Peasant to stop rising barbed wire.
  • The King’s Promenade: The Peasant must slow advancing spiked walls while the Lord describes heraldic symbols for the Peasant to match on statues.
  • The Battlefield & Arena: A multi-stage climax involving assembling stained glass puzzles from the Lord’s description, then a cooperative chess match where the Lord moves pieces on a board only the Peasant can see, culminating in a maze run where the Lord guides a blindly sprinting Peasant from a top-down view.

The difficulty curve is expertly crafted, starting with simple symbol matching and escalating into truly brain-bending challenges that require notetaking, spatial reasoning, and immense patience. The randomization of certain puzzle solutions ensures that even upon replay (switching roles), the experience remains fresh. The most common criticism—its short 2-3 hour runtime and limited replayability—is valid, but it speaks to a game designed as a dense, intense burst of perfect co-op rather than a prolonged campaign.

World-Building, Art & Sound

We Were Here Too is a masterclass in atmospheric construction. The setting of Castle Rock is a character in itself, a frozen monument to gothic decay.

• Visual Design: The art direction, led by Victor van den Beld and Jessica de Troije, is consistently superb. The stark contrast between the Peasant’s claustrophobic, bone-filled catacombs and the Lord’s vast, tapestry-adorned halls creates a powerful sense of disparity. The architecture is imposing, the lighting is moody and dramatic, and the use of color—often limited to gloomy grays, cold blues, and ominous reds—pervades every scene with dread. The only notable flaw is the often frustratingly illegible cursive font used in in-game books, which can obscure vital lore.

• Sound Design: Leon van der Stel’s sound work is impeccable. The ambient soundscape is a symphony of creaking stones, howling wind, distant whispers, and scurrying unseen things. It is relentlessly oppressive and utterly immersive. The original soundtrack is used sparingly but effectively, swelling during moments of tension or discovery to heighten the emotional impact.

• The Narrator: A booming, distorted voice occasionally interjects, recounting fragments of the castle’s tragic history. While its suddenness and audio quality can be jarring, it successfully adds a layer of supernatural unease, reminding players they are not alone in these haunted halls.

Together, these elements forge an experience that is less about “playing a game” and more about being submerged in a chilling, collaborative nightmare.

Reception & Legacy

Upon release, We Were Here Too was met with positive-to-mixed critical acclaim, holding a 72% aggregate critic score on MobyGames and a 69 Metascore. Reviews universally praised its core concept, puzzle design, and immersive atmosphere. TechRaptor (90%) called it a “well-crafted puzzle-adventure,” while 3rd Strike (87%) noted it “feels like a true co-op game.” Common criticisms focused on its short length and lack of replay value, with The Indie Game Website (60%) stating it made them “wary about suggesting it to others.”

However, its legacy is far greater than its initial review scores. We Were Here Too cemented the viability of Total Mayhem Games’ formula. It proved the commercial success of the asymmetric communication genre, paving the way for the subsequent—and even more ambitious—entries in the series: We Were Here Together (2019) and We Were Here Forever (2022).

Its influence can be felt in the broader indie scene, inspiring a wave of communication-focused co-op games. It stands as a direct precursor to titles like Operation: Tango, and its DNA is visible in the panic and precision of games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It demonstrated that profound tension and satisfaction could be generated not from guns and spells, but from the simple, vulnerable act of talking to another person under pressure.

Conclusion

We Were Here Too is not a game of limitless content or endless mechanics. It is a finely tuned instrument designed to produce one specific, exquisite experience: the thrill of solving impossible problems with a partner using only your wits and your voice. It is a game that will test friendships, forge inside jokes, and create moments of shared triumph that are rare in the medium.

While its short runtime and niche appeal prevent it from being considered a universal masterpiece, it is undoubtedly a masterpiece of its genre. It is a near-flawless execution of a brilliant premise, crafted with palpable passion and attention to detail. For anyone with a trusted partner and a working microphone, it remains an essential, unforgettable journey into the dark, collaborative heart of Castle Rock. It is a bold, confident step forward from a student project into a full-fledged franchise, and it solidifies its place in history as a pillar of innovative cooperative design.