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We Were Here Forever Review: A Head Scratcher

May 11, 2022

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The newest horror film from Jordan Peele, the director of Get Out and Us comes to theaters this weekend. In We Were Here Forever a young woman emerges into an alternate dimension in which all life has been wiped out.

The “we were here too” is a review of the new movie that was released in theaters on March 4th, 2019. The movie has been called a head scratcher.

We Were Here Forever understands all too well how communication can make or break a team working through a co-op puzzle game. While the basic premise centres around two players interacting using a pair of walkie-talkies, the remainder of the game is a bit of a mixed bag.

We Were Here Forever has a lot going for it, from its fantastic atmosphere to the series’ signature walkie-talkie system to the fact that it’s an entirely cooperative experience, which appears to be a dying breed in today’s gaming world. However, its components seldom come together to make a genuinely exceptional puzzle game.

To be fair, We Were Here Forever has some very brilliant moments, but the experience is hindered by far too many one-sided puzzles and a slew of game-breaking bugs that result in softlocks, crashes, and early save file corruption.

Review of We Were Here Forever: A Brain Teaser

When evaluating a game before its official release, you’re certain to run upon a problem or two that will be fixed before the final edition. If you trust a studio to solve these flaws in the end result, it’s often best not to remark on them. Even in completed builds, a problem or two is to be anticipated. Unfortunately, my time with We Were Here Forever was littered with enough serious problems to make Cyberpunk 2077’s 1.0 version blush.

My boyfriend and I were most concerned about softlocks. With each loading zone, we held our breath in anticipation of limitless loading screens or the inability to interact with doors and other methods of advancement. When one participant is affected by a problem, the whole session is terminated. To restore a connection, both players must traverse the options.

When this occurs many times in a row, We Were Here Forever’s actual difficulty shifts from brain-teasing riddles to a patience test.

Other flaws abound, ranging from minor aesthetic glitches to major obstructions such as save file corruption, which prohibits you from hosting gaming sessions. While I anticipate some of these blatant faults to be addressed in future releases, it’s worth noting that Total Mayhem Games has its job cut out for it.

It’s too bad, since apart from the technological flaws, We Were Here Forever is a fun puzzle game, even if many of its concepts are undercooked.

We Were Here Forever is a first-person puzzle game that is jam-packed with co-op puzzles that need two players in two distinct regions to interact in order to solve each side of their challenge.

The problem with the fundamental component is that the puzzle quality is inconsistent. Naturally, balancing a co-op puzzle game requires some effort. We Were Here Forever frequently seems severely skewed to one side for many of its rooms, implying that the game expects both players to discern answers on their own while working on the greater picture.

All too frequently, puzzles appear unbalanced: one person solves multiple elements while the other just moves pieces from one location to another. They aren’t paying attention to the brain teaser in any manner.

That isn’t to argue that every puzzle is horrible. Some of them are particularly good, with the gravedigging key search and the whodunnit-style church pew seat chart trolley issue sticking out. The issue is that they’re hard to come by.

We Were Here Forever’s walkie-talkie concept distinguishes it from other puzzler-em-ups while also providing a pleasant, although basic, means of communication. Each participant has a radio that they can use to chat to their partner by pushing a button, and you can’t talk over each other as you can with actual walkie-talkies. If you need to have a long discussion about the riddles, learn to say “over” when you’re through speaking or come up with another vocal signal.

Playing with walkie-talkies reminds me of how entertaining they can be. I was transported back to my childhood days of hiding in the backyard and chatting with my brothers over the radio, enthralled by the sheer fact that they could hear me. We Were Here Forever offers a lot of the same early appeal, but as you play more, the novelty wears off and your attention shifts to the riddles.

Previous We Were Here titles have varied in length, but they have tended to become longer as the series went, and We Were Here Forever seems to be the longest of the group. It may take anywhere from 10 to 15 hours depending on how many softlocks you encounter and how quick-witted you and your companion are.

It’s 10 to 15 hours of hanging out, engaging your intellect, and overall having a wonderful time if you’re playing with a good buddy. There is a tale going on — something about a medieval jester (?) — but neither my companion nor I were interested in it. It provides a wonderful background for the scene and tone, but it wasn’t really fascinating to me.

Review of We Were Here Forever – The Bottom Line

Pros

Some well-thought-out puzzles based on the walkie-talkie communication system.
Variety in the neighborhood.
Excellent ambiance.
A good length for a co-op game.

Cons

Continuous technological difficulties.
Unbalanced problems are common.
Narrative is uninteresting.

We Were Here Forever gets a recommendation based on what you want to gain out of the experience: a few evenings of brain teasers and puzzle solving with a close friend? Absolutely. A puzzle that isn’t kept together by scotch tape and prayers? Perhaps not.

We Were Here Forever is a terrific co-op puzzle game for those who have exhausted the supply of amazing co-op puzzle games like Portal 2, It Takes Two, or Operation: Tango. Otherwise, you may want to attempt some other well-known co-op puzzlers before returning to this one.

[The copy of We Were Here Forever used for this review was supplied by TMG Studios B.V.]

We Were Here Forever Review: A Head Scratcher. “We Were Here Forever” is a game that’s been around since the early 2000s, but it has recently received a major overhaul and released on Steam. The changes make the game much more accessible for newcomers, so if you’re looking for a new game to try out, this might be worth your time. Reference: we were here forever steam.