Never Writes About:
The We Were Here Series
Gaming showcases are great. I love them. I’m not the type to critique a gaming showcase the same way I would critique a film or television show, or even a game. I don’t care about the “pace” of a gaming showcase. I care about games. Show me games and I am happy. Which is why gaming showcases are great. They show games. And it was at one such showcase that I discovered the We Were Here Franchise.
It was likely at the Future Games Showshow case. Show case. Showcase? At a Future Gameshow Showcase. Fuck. Fuck me. Future. Games. Show case. No jesus! that one was real. The Future Games Show: Spring Showcase 2026. There was a trailer for We Were Here Tomorrow and now that I think of it, I’m not even sure if it was an FGS showcase. Well, the game looked good. I think. I mean it must have because seeing this game is what spurred us (my wife and I) on to try out and then subsequently Platinum each game in the series. We are big co-op game fans and puzzle game fans. We often will play single player puzzle games together. The Witness, Baba Is You, Patrick’s Parabox, and Blue Prince are some of our favourites. We also liked Escape Academy, but had many technical issues. We really enjoy gaming together, so we are always on the lookout for new co-op experiences.
Imagine then what a pleasant surprise it was to discover that there were already 5 games in the series. Then imagine my joy when I saw that each one was relatively short (HA! only if you solve the puzzles quickly) and had Platinums. You might be surprised how many puzzle games do NOT have a Platinum. Like the Pedestrian and Yerba Buena. These five would help greatly in my goal to reach 500 total Platinums by the end of this year. And to top it all off, many of them were on sale at the time of our discovery. With all that considered we decided to buy one and dive in.
We began our We Were Here journey where you begin most journeys: at the beginning, with the beginning game in the series, the aforementioned We Were Here. The persistent gimmick of the series are the walkie-talkies. You are meant to use them to communicate with your partner. I think it is meant to be a little awkward, which adds to the challenge of solving puzzles. In these games, good communication is integral to solving the puzzles. You have to push to talk, and would not be able to talk over each other, which means having patience in hurried situations. Like a timed puzzle that ends with one player consumed by lava. I think that’s the intent of the walkie-talkies. I can only imagine though, because they have never worked for us in any of the games. I don’t know if it is something with the settings on one of our PlayStations, or just a bug for the console versions in general. Thankfully party chat exists so we just used that. We didn’t feel like it impacted our experience negatively by making the puzzles too easy. Far from it, actually.
We really enjoy games like these. Having to describe items or symbols to someone who can not see them, so they can in turn operate a device to proceed always scratches an itch for us. Makes our brains tingle. Working together on seemingly separate tasks in completely separate environments is just good times. The We Were Here games are built specifically for 2 people, making them true co-op experiences. Many games have co-op as an option, but we have found it rare for a game to feel like the other player is necessary, as opposed to just also being there. There a 2 roles We Were Here designates to each player: The Explorer and the Librarian, symbolized with a globe and open book respectively. We Were Here (2017) sees one player trapped in a single room (the library) almost the entire duration of the game. The book player must guide the explorer through a castle filled with dangerous traps and contraptions and wait is trap just short for contraption? In order to achieve the platinum you must experience the game from both perspectives, as the different roles have different trophies awarded to them. This is true for all We Were Here Platinums save for Expeditions: The Friendship, which is short but has some of the best puzzles of the series, in my opinion.
It took us much longer than expected. Some puzzles were tricky! There were also some janky moments but they were not really an issue for us. Our expectations were set when the walkie-talkies failed to function. And in the end we had so much fun we decided to get all the We Were Here games currently available.
The rest of the games function much in the same way. The librarian and explorer roles get expanded in the sequels. The librarian is no longer trapped in a single room. There are more puzzles involving both players in the same space, and often the responsibilities of each role are indistinguishable, as both players will need to provide information as well as complete their own tasks. Those tasks or puzzles still remain unique to each player role, however. It has been great playing through the games in release order; seeing how the games have grown and progressed. The puzzles get more inventive and complex. The narrative has expanded. The controls have evolved. The walkie-talkies still don’t work but we abandoned the concept of using them after the 2nd game, We Were Here Too. Maybe it’s a PlayStation thing. But the party chat works just fine.
The games are a lot of fun when played with someone you know. I’ve never played with a a stranger but I imagine it would be a pain. But I’m not a people person so that tracks for me. Some puzzles can be frustrating. And poor team communication can lead to some heated exchanges. But that should be expected. It is a part of the process, and perhaps part of the fun. trying desperately to understand someone describing an object or sequence in a way that you would never describe yourself. Trying to learn each others gaming language. It should, hopefully, ideally, strengthen your communication skills.
I can’t help but think about how thankful I am for showcases like Future Games Show. I love discovering a game like this oh shit. I think I just remembered it was like an IGN Fanfest thing where I first saw the game. I don’t know why but that makes me feel gross. Anyway, I’m still thankful for Future Games Show, and other smaller shows like Day of the Devs, Galaxies, The Triple i initiative, and the Wholesome Direct. I love watching these shows and finding new and interesting games that are up my alley. In my wheelhouse. My jam. Games I fuck with, if you will. Games that fuck. The bigger events run by Keighley are great but they get so much coverage and the media is so eager to leak everything that they are just less interesting to me. An indie game on one of these larger shows has to be dubbed an indie darling by some prominent outlet to gain enough attention; it is rare if it happens at all that smaller indie titles get the type of focus that I think they need. We Were Here got that time at FGS. Or wherever. It was definitely at an FGS at some point this year. Ya. So I’m thankful for FGS and shows like it. Its important to be aware of what you want or are interested in, and then learn how to seek it out. Because there are so many games out there it probably exists. Don’t just rely on the biggest shows that the biggest media outlets are co-streaming. You will miss out on games that you could love, and you’ll just end up hating on everything popular like a real HARDCORE GAMER!