I'm sorry, I have to get this off my chest. About a week ago, We Were Here released for free on PlayStation 4. It's a puzzle adventure game in which you and a buddy navigate two separate paths through a mysterious castle, with only a set of one-channel walkie talkies to communicate. Hearing this game was being made available for no cost — at least until the 23rd, when its sequels will arrive and a price tag put on all three titles — I thought it would be a great idea to play it through with a friend and deliver some sort of write-up. It is, after all, my job to talk about games, and surely people would want to know whether this free experience is worth downloading. Perfect.
After reporting on the We Were Here news, I shared it with my Push Square pals, and asked who would play it with me. Some quiet minutes later, one of them wryly suggested my girlfriend would. Very funny, but the game — which is free — is online co-op only. If it featured local split-screen play, there'd be no issue, but the whole point is that you can't see what the other player is seeing. Your only method of communication is those walkie talkies.
I pressed my colleague for a straight answer, and essentially got a flat "No". He asked what the Trophy list is like. Incredulous that it was taking this much effort to get someone to play a free game, I looked it up, and it happens to have a pretty easy set of trinkets. If Trophies are what it takes to push it over the edge, fine. But not even that sold my colleague on the idea.
Okay, no worries. Perhaps one of my other cohorts would spend an evening playing We Were Here with me. Surely it'd be no real trouble; aside from the fact that it costs absolutely nothing, I understood the game to have a pretty short runtime.
A second colleague piped up and said he didn't want to play the game, but that it sounded pretty good, and he liked the premise. I had to read that a few times, and I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it. The game sounds good and has an interesting premise — but no thanks. Alright then. What about colleague number three? Well, colleague number three has yet to get back to me about this at all. I'll let you wonder who's who in this trio of betrayals.
To summarise: none of my workmates — who I consider to be good friends — were willing to play a free, two-hour game with me. This was supposed to be for this very website's benefit! I was going to chronicle our adventure, either in a review or a feature like this. Instead, I'm resorting to a rant about trying and failing to play a complimentary title with the people most likely to engage with me. It's hard to get people on my PlayStation friends list to play anything, let alone something relatively obscure. I suppose I'll have to play with some random stranger.
I started up the game. It has a lobby system, with a list of people looking for someone to play with. To my surprise there were a good number of prospective partners. Unfortunately, because each room is for only two people, they were nearly always full when I clicked on them. Sometimes I'd get into a room, but then the other player would quit out. Eventually, I got into a game with somebody, but either they didn't have their microphone on or they'd left, because I was getting no response at all. Wonderful.
It's not all doom and gloom; after several attempts I did finally start playing with a willing participant. I was able to play with a very friendly chap for about an hour or so. The game's concept of helping each other progress purely with clues provided by your partner is kind of genius, but of course, in practice, how successful you are depends on your companion. Fortunately we made it a good way into proceedings before a Chess-based puzzle resulted in a death. It was definitely my fault.
At that point, he decided to call it quits, but said he'd send over a friend request so we could finish playing another time. Great, I thought. I've finally got someone on my side, someone willing to tackle We Were Here.
The guy has yet to contact me, and I don't remember his username. It seems not even he, the one beacon of light in this tale of despair, will go the distance.
All this to say, I think the game is very much worth your time, provided you can find someone to stick with it. The puzzles seem pretty unique, and the idea that you have to guide each other with your own words is great. I should probably also say that this should all be taken with a wink and a nod; there are no hard feelings between me and the rest of the Push Square team. It's just that now I know not even a complete freebie is enough to incentivise them.
Comments 37
They should all be ashamed!
I won't be commenting on rumours or speculation from unverified sources at this time.
Me and my nephew played this last Thursday and got the platinum. Was a lot of fun, can't wait for the next two.
@quintumply Could you play via backwards compatibility on PS5 while your girlfriend plays in another room on your old PS4? Or have you already flogged the PS4? I'm in the same situation by the way and was hoping that could be my solution!
Hello darkness my old friend...
@VonPit A hassle but certainly a solution if needs be!
You should try getting friends to play Vigor too.
What Stephen wrote:
"It's just that now I know not even a complete freebie is enough to incentivise them."
What Stephen means
"It's just that now I know that they're quite lazy."
@VonPit I imagine will need ps plus on each account
@Robinsad I was thinking same account for both. Might work - I'll give it a whirl when I have a house to try it in.
Played a game or 2 with my brother. The voice chat didn't work so we had to go to party chat.
Also I died at the chess too, froze to death. Stupid puzzle
@Quintumply
I bet @LiamCroft asked about the trophy list. @get2sammyb probably said he liked the premise but wouldn’t play it.
@ShogunRok is probably yet to reply.
As for me...I’m waiting to be asked
I'm available if you're interested ahah
Fun article to read, though!
personally I avoid games with puzzles, I just loathe them, they're nearly always either too easy or too obtuse
@Quintumply I don't know about the PS5 but I know there is a way to look up who you joined with on the PS4. I met someone a few years ago on Overwatch and wanted to send them a friend request couldn't remember their name but saw it was on a list of people I recently partied with so I was able to send them a friend request that way.
If I wanted to "Play" with a friend it would be footy pool or some other physical event.....online gaming is full of cheats or they feel they need to use the special cue sword mallet or what ever the publishers are selling for that ultimate experience ....at a cost of course.......My mates do not have Playstations most have xbox or P.C.and as for plus nah.
Single playing Gaming is alive and kicking.
@Tasuki
Was going to say the same thing.
@LiamCroft That statement makes me feel Simon_Fitzgerald is spot on.....nothing to be ashamed of ...my excuse is I do not have the time.
This sounds really cool. I had never heard of it so I’ll be checking this out. Thanks!
@Quintumply I would play it with you if you allow me to run a PushSquare Dreams jam for a theme tune!
And you haven't got back to me about that either!
This article was quite a funny read 😄
Incidentally I tried this game out just the other day with a friend, we didn't get through it all but it was quite fun.
I guess playing with a friend definitely improves the experience though.
Good luck with your search Stephen!
I absolutely hate relying on other people to play through games, which is why I rarely bother with multiplayer stuff.
Years ago, a good friend of mine constantly insisted that I play Portal. I did - completed it, loved it. Then he moved on to saying that I should totally play Portal 2 as well and that we could then play the MP campaign mode together.
Sure enough, after I burned through the single player content and it was time to actually make good on his suggestion, that forceful enthusiasm was gone. We did end up playing for like an hour or two after days of ME insisting on it, a session after which there was never another.
The real kicker? What we did play was a hell of a lot of fun for both of us - he even recorded the gameplay along with our audio chat and uploaded chunks of it to YouTube. And despite that it was absolutely impossible to get him to play again and actually finish what we started. Much like the author of the article here, I just can't wrap my head around this kind of thing.
A year or so later I ended up playing through the multiplayer with some amicable guy from an online forum - which was fun enough in its own right, but obviously nothing compared to the banter and shenanigans with a buddy you know well.
Suffice to say, this experience soured me even more on the intrinsic dependence of co-op/competitive gaming. Hell is other people, even when it's good pals.
@Number09 What is footy pool? Sounds like something I'd only want to play with my woman..
@VonPit I can’t even play different PS4 games with the same account at the same time so doubt could play the same one unfortunately
I like a lot puzzle games even if you need someone to play. I lime COOP games! But like friend here say is dificult find a good frined to play with. My psn id vladspartan
Feel free to send me a friend request. Im from brazil but i play serious.and love make new and good friends. Nice article.
This is why I like Couch-co-op games. It's more fun playing with a friend in the same room, rather than trying to find someone online. I remember Smash Bros on either Wii or Wii U. I'd be playing online, and someone would drop out, and it stopped the fighting. After that, I try to avoid online play...I enjoy playing games with my kids, but I hate not finding many fun party-type games to do so.
Same here, I join another players lobby and I get kicked out
If someone’s first question is about the trophy list they aren’t worth playing with.
Just played through this with a friend tonight, made a nice change to our usual go-to games and will definitely run through it again for the platinum. Not quite sure I’m sold enough to pay for the next instalment though
@Gaia093 I can really identify with this. I have had fun in local coop but that is more of a special occasion and being with someone (pre-covid obvs).
I have tried playing online coop and it is fun but it doesn't seem to sustain itself. A close friend who I do a podcast tried playing games like A Way Out and they just fizzled out. We are trying Borderlands 2 with another friend, as well as Star Wars Squadrons and they are fun but for me, I think what I enjoy from gaming I get more from solo play.
This is a brilliant little column and applies to all my Xbox online sessions.
Online coop somehow works better with multiple players than with just one in my experience.
I'll play with anyone here who needs a partner.
Since I was the only person on my list who quit Destiny I've been playing purely solo of late!
Will see if my buddy is interested in this... we had fun with A Way Out.
You didn't even ask me.
Hope I have better luck finding someone on my friends list to play with.
Loved this game. Played this with my son at weekend in same house but on different PlayStation’s - I don’t have ps plus (he does) but still worked.
Used iPads to chat (walkie talkies didn’t work) and was all great fun - so nice to play something with him that involved a bit of thinking!
We only got halfway but he was on it the next day with his cousin. The cheers when they finally solved a problem beat any recent fortnite match!
This sounds really cool! I downloaded it when browsing the store but since then has sat in my list where I look at it and wonder what the heck it is lol.
I would absolutely be down to play! (AND have a mic)
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