We Were Here Tomorrow Review: Total Mayhem's Boldest Co-op Puzzle Adventure Yet

Few co-op franchises test a friendship quite like We Were Here, and Total Mayhem Games' newest entry raises the stakes in every possible way. This We Were Here Tomorrow review digs into the series' biggest leap yet: a swap from snowy medieval castles to a bright, retro-futuristic research facility packed with shrink rays, gravity-flipping corridors, and a talkative scientist who refuses to stop hogging your radio.

So is the leap into the future a triumph or a stumble? Mostly a triumph. Drawing on a complete two-player playthrough and early community reports, this We Were Here Tomorrow review breaks down the puzzle design, story, presentation, and performance so you can decide whether to grab a partner and dive in.

What Is We Were Here Tomorrow? Story and Setting Explained

For nearly a decade, the We Were Here series has delighted and infuriated pairs of puzzle fans, tasking two separated players with screaming solutions through walkie-talkies. Tomorrow keeps that DNA but changes almost everything around it.

The story follows two explorers from the earlier games who get frozen solid during a polar expedition — think Captain America, but with more frostbite and fewer superpowers. Years later, you wake up inside the Norsac facility, a suspiciously empty science complex where Dr. Jane walks you through a brief onboarding before sending you out to bring the lab back online. Her true goal: harnessing the rift energy humming at the heart of the station.

That's a notable tonal shift. Previous entries were defined by eerie silence and environmental storytelling — audio flashbacks, glimpses of strange events, a heavy sense of isolation. Tomorrow is far more direct. Dr. narrates your progress in real time, cracking jokes while slowly revealing a wonderfully unhinged mad-scientist streak. There's a catch, though, and it's a clever one: she talks to you over the same walkie-talkie frequency you use with your partner. When she pipes up mid-puzzle, your only line of communication goes dead — and if you were relaying a code, tough luck.

Longtime fans will also spot the mysterious tower from previous games making a few appearances. We'll keep this We Were Here Tomorrow review spoiler-free on that front, but rest assured the connective tissue between entries is stronger than ever.

Puzzle Design: Walkie-Talkie Chaos Meets Retro-Futurism

The classic formula splits two players into separate rooms and forces them to talk their way out. Tomorrow shakes that up: you'll spend roughly as much time sharing space with your partner as you spend apart. That opens the door for physical comedy — shooting each other with a goop gun or a sticky tentacle never stops being funny — while the separated stretches still deliver the series' signature asymmetric puzzles.

When you do split up, expect the good stuff: relaying laser paths, routing electric currents, and passing pieces of technology from different time periods back and forth. The puzzles lean hard into the science-facility theme, and the best of them feel like mini experiments gone gloriously wrong. If earlier entries were chamber pieces, Tomorrow is a full stage production — and our playthrough found that change mostly for the better.

One early highlight deserves special mention: one player climbs into a machine and shrinks to roughly the size of a guinea pig. Beyond the perspective shift, the game pitches up your voice chat, so your partner must decode puzzle instructions from a squeaky, chipmunk-voiced companion. It's a legitimate head-scratcher wrapped in one of the funniest gags the series has produced.

Not everything lands perfectly. Based on player experience shared across early reviews, a few puzzles stall people because a key visual clue is too subtle or simply unexplained. Interactable PC screens scattered around the complex hold flavor text — and occasionally vital hints — but not every screen can be used, and the game doesn't signpost which ones. When you finally crack them, the "aha" moment is satisfying and maddening in equal measure.

We Were Here Tomorrow Review: Strengths and Weaknesses

No honest We Were Here Tomorrow review is complete without a blunt scorecard of what works and what doesn't.

That last point deserves honesty. Part of Tomorrow's charm is novelty; part of it is loss. If the gray stone corridors and minimalist dread of the original games were your favorite thing, the bright labs and chattier tone may feel like a different franchise wearing a familiar name. Community reports from series veterans are split — some welcome the evolution, others miss the OG simplicity.

Visuals, Sound, and Performance

Visually, this is the biggest glow-up the series has received. Gone are the gray stone and spooky castle corridors; in their place are brightly colored retro-futuristic labs, bizarre equipment, and common rooms cluttered with loving detail. The slightly cartoony art style meshes perfectly with the quirky science-facility setting.

More detail means more demand, however. Player experience so far suggests the game can struggle to hold 60 FPS in denser rooms on a high graphics preset, with occasional frame drops in the busiest areas. That could easily be ironed out with patches — it's worth checking the official Total Mayhem Games website for optimization updates before you buy.

Sonically, things are in great shape. A fun techno-fantasy soundtrack hums along while you bang your head against a wall, and one electrical-puzzle sting sounds so much like a certain mutant superhero theme that we couldn't stop humming it back — every single time. The voice acting is the true star, with Dr. Jane's performer nailing an increasingly unhinged delivery.

A Warning for Motion-Sensitive Players

A significant chunk of the first third features gravity manipulation, sending you and your partner trudging along walls and ceilings with frequent perspective flips. Neither of us normally gets motion sick in games, and both of us still needed screen breaks afterward. If you're susceptible, plan shorter sessions and consider swapping roles so one person handles the flip-heavy rooms.

How Tomorrow Compares to Previous We Were Here Games

Any fair We Were Here Tomorrow review has to measure it against what came before.

At eight hours in — with a decent chunk still remaining according to the Steam achievement list, per player experience — Tomorrow is comfortably the series' biggest investment. The encouraging news: it also feels like the game the developers have been building toward for a decade. The blend of storytelling and mechanics finally clicks, and just as your steam runs out on a puzzle, the solution lands and fuels the next hour.

Practical Tips Before You Play

One more habit worth building: narrate everything. The single biggest cause of co-op puzzle friction is assuming your partner sees what you see. Describe shapes, colors, and positions before you theorize.

Verdict: Is We Were Here Tomorrow Worth Playing?

Yes — with two small caveats. This We Were Here Tomorrow review comes away genuinely impressed. The puzzles haven't gone stale after nearly ten years, the cross-game story has become something worth following, and the presentation is the best the series has ever managed. Total Mayhem Games has clearly found its niche and hit its stride.

The caveats: motion-sensitive players should approach the gravity sections carefully, and purists craving the old castle minimalism should temper expectations. Everyone else — couples, long-distance friends, escape-room addicts — should queue this up immediately. It needs exactly two players, a decent internet connection, and a willingness to yell "the BLUE wire!" at someone you love.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is We Were Here Tomorrow?

Player experience and the Steam achievement list suggest 8+ hours with a solid chunk of content remaining beyond that mark — noticeably longer than any previous entry in the series.

Do both players need to own the game?

Yes. It's a two-player co-op puzzle adventure built entirely around paired play, so each person needs access. Check the official Total Mayhem Games website for current platform and connectivity details.

Can you play it without playing the earlier games?

You can — the puzzles stand on their own — but the story continues threads from previous entries, and the mysterious tower cameos land much better if you know the series.

Is it worth buying, according to this We Were Here Tomorrow review?

Absolutely. Inventive puzzles, excellent voice acting, and the series' most beautiful world yet earn it a strong recommendation — just go in prepared for occasional performance hiccups and a few genuinely disorienting gravity rooms.