The Basics
We Were Here Together is a puzzle co-op game where two players are separated and must communicate through a walkie-talkie to solve increasingly complex puzzles across magical towers. It is free on Steam, so there is no financial barrier to figuring it out. The game is structured around pairs. One player enters the tower, solves puzzles inside, and relays information to their partner who is outside. This communication loop is the core mechanic, and it is also where most people run into trouble.
We Were Here Together Walkthrough
I went through the first tower, the Tower of Time, last year with someone who was completely new to co-op puzzle games. We ended up spending about 45 minutes just because they kept describing symbols backwards when they were mirrored in the environment. The game does not flag that sort of thing. You just have to figure out that rotating or viewing from the opposite angle sometimes flips what you think you are seeing. You get a radio channel. One person is inside the puzzle room, the other is in the lobby area with access to different tools or clues. The person inside sees the puzzle. The person outside sees reference material, often in a different language or format. They trade information until the puzzle resolves. Some puzzles require one player to hold a button while the other manipulates an object. These only work if both people understand their role before engaging. If you start fumbling with controls without talking it through first, you waste cycles. The game gives you retries, but they add up.
Tower 1: The Tower of Time
This one introduces the core mechanics. You will encounter symbol-matching puzzles, number sequences, and a pressure-plate section where timing matters. The key realization nobody warns you about early on is that some puzzles have visual cues that are intentionally subtle. In one section, the color order on a panel changes based on which directional arrow you look at first. If you do not notice the arrows have a priority system, you will cycle through combinations unnecessarily. For the calendar puzzle specifically, aligning the dates requires cross-referencing a text clue with a grid. The text clue uses Roman numerals in some versions and Arabic numerals in others. If you are playing a localized build, this can cause confusion. I had one attempt where my partner and I argued for ten minutes over whether a numeral was X or VIII because our clients displayed slightly different font weights. Just zoom in or screenshot it.
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Tower 2: The Tower of Elements
This tower shifts the focus to elemental interactions. You combine colors, manipulate temperature, and work with a fluid dynamics section that trips people up. The fluid puzzle requires precise layer ordering. If you pour in the wrong sequence, the layers mix and you reset. The trick here is that the game provides a reference chart outside the puzzle room. Most players ignore it until after they have failed three times. Read the chart first. It tells you the hierarchy. Elements on top of the list displace elements below them. Knowing this before you touch any controls saves roughly ten minutes per attempt.
Tower 3: The Tower of Knowledge
This one introduces multi-step logic puzzles. You are dealing with a combination lock system that requires information gathered from previous puzzles across different rooms. The design here assumes you are keeping notes. Writing things down actually matters. I used a simple text file and kept a running log of every symbol and number I encountered. Without that, you will forget which combination unlocked which door, especially when the towers start overlapping puzzle elements. One edge case worth noting: if you restart a puzzle after leaving the room, some games reload the same seed, but others randomize it. I ran into this in a community run where we had to redo a lock puzzle and got a completely different sequence. There is no in-game way to know which behavior your build uses. My workaround was to screenshot every puzzle solution immediately after solving it. Takes five seconds and prevents panic later.
Tower 4 and Beyond
The later towers introduce time manipulation, mirror logic, and collaborative puzzles where both players must act in sync. The sync puzzles are the hardest part of the game. They require precise timing and clear communication. Mumbling instructions like "push it now" rarely works. Specificity helps: "wait for the bar to hit the green zone, then press X." That kind of direction cuts fail rates significantly. There is also a boss-style puzzle sequence near the end that combines mechanics from every tower. If you have good notes and clear communication habits from the earlier sections, this one is manageable. If you winged it earlier, it becomes a wall.
Common Pitfalls
Not all puzzles scale well with poor teamwork. Some require one player to read text in a language the other player does not speak. This happens more often than the game advertises. If your partner does not know the language, use an external translation tool or ask someone online. The game does not include a built-in translation feature. Audio lag is another issue. If you are playing over Discord with latency above 100 milliseconds, sync puzzles become nearly impossible. I tested this by playing with a simulated delay, and the failure rate tripled. Use voice chat with low latency or play in the same room if possible.
Where the Game Falls Short
Not everything about this game works smoothly. The hint system is minimal and does not guide you through multi-step puzzles. If you get stuck on a section with four interconnected steps, the game will not tell you which step to prioritize. You are mostly on your own. Community wikis and Discord servers fill this gap, but you need to know where to look. Some puzzles also have soft locks where a wrong choice forces a full room restart rather than a local reset. This is frustrating but unavoidable. The game does not warn you before these sections, so treat every choice as permanent until you see confirmation.
Download and Setup
The game is free on Steam. Both players need it installed. You host a lobby from the main menu, share the code, and your partner joins. From there, you choose which tower to enter. The game queues towers in a set order, but you can replay completed towers in any sequence. I recommend finishing each tower before moving to the next one, since later towers reference earlier puzzle types. Once you are in, talk constantly. Pause the game if you need to think. It is always available, and using it does not penalize you. The game rewards patience, not speed.
