We Were Here Together

The We Were Here series is so great, and this 3rd game in the series is the best yet.

This series is extremely well designed, let me provide a few examples.

For one, it is vital that you use the in-game walkie-talkie voice chat and not an outside voice chat such as Discord. Why? Because the genius of the walkie-talkie system is that only one person can talk at once. This is important because it forces players to actually listen to each other and not talk over each other. This small detail is what promotes good and effective communication, which is required to beat these puzzles. I'd also argue that the walkie-talkies are simply more fun and add a bit to the immersion and ambiance of the game.

Another example of the genius design of this series I will demonstrate by comparing to Portal 2, another highly lauded co-op puzzle game. In Portal 2, the players share the exact same space and the exact same information. Yes, they have to work together with their portals to complete the puzzles, but solving the puzzles themselves can still be done entirely by one person telling the other person where to put their portals.

In the We Were Here series, that is not possible, and this is a GOOD thing because it increases the actual level of cooperation needed to solve the puzzles. Each player in We Were Here has vital information to solving each puzzle, information that only they can see. Each player must effectively communicate this information to their partner. The puzzles cannot be solved by one person alone, and so solving a puzzle feels like a triumph for BOTH players cause both players will know that they had an important role in the puzzle. This is not always the case in Portal 2 or most other co-op games.

Of course the challenge in this series comes from the communication itself. The puzzles themselves are actually fairly simple most of the time. However, the elements of the puzzle are designed to make communication confusing as possible. You will have to give very precise and clear communication with your partner. For example, you will have to do absurd things like figure out how to describe the ticking of a clock or how to pronounce 20 letter words for alien creatures. But you will also have to create specific communication strategies to figure out how to convey complicated ideas and descriptions to your partner by designating who will use the walkie-talkie and when.

While it is a challenging puzzle game, the puzzles never feel unfair. Nearly every time I was stuck on a puzzle, it was because myself or my partner was either not conveying all the information they had, or not conveying it effectively. It always feels like the game is fair about giving you clues to solve the puzzles, the trick is just knowing how to communicate something complex to your partner that they themselves cannot see.

To talk a bit more specifically about this 3rd installment in the series, this game serves as a notable improvement over the two previous games. While the story is not much to write home about, they at least tried to create a story line for this game. The basic gameplay formula is the same, but allowing the characters to start the first few puzzles together and interact a bit was a great touch (the puzzles still always required separating and utilizing the walkie-talkie communication though, as I mentioned above). The change in environment was a nice touch as well, gave some variety after the first two games were almost entirely in dark, stone corridors and dungeons. The puzzles in this game were the most fun and challenging yet, which kept the gameplay fun ever after playing the first two games in the series. A few of the puzzles even added an element of exploration which was another breath of fresh air to this series.

All in all, this is one of the finest co-op games you can play, and one of the few that requires genuinely equal levels of cooperation from both players. In fact, I'd argue that the high level of effective communication required to beat the game could actually help improve your relationship and communication with the other person in real life.

This is an easy game for me to recommend as a must-play.