During "Tokyo Game Show 2026," I teamed up with Teacher Marvin to try out the co-op puzzle game "We Were Here Tomorrow." As the sixth entry in the "We Were Here" series, this title continues the gameplay style of asymmetric information between teammates, encouraging communication between players, while introducing exclusive abilities and equipment systems. This enriches puzzle variety and makes the solving process more engaging.
In daily communication, I tend to be talkative and neurotic, while Teacher Marvin is more reserved and strict, so our interactions are mostly work-related. However, during the brief 30-minute demo of "We Were Here Tomorrow," the game revealed another side of Teacher Marvin: he is far more reliable than he appears. For instance, there was a puzzle where I constantly questioned his choices and offered suggestions, but Marvin's seemingly stubborn persistence led to better results. After reluctantly following his hints, Everythinggj clicked into place. This gave us a deeper foundation of trust for our subsequent cooperation.
I mean, this process of building rapport through communication is the most delightful part of co-op games. Especially for a classic duo like Teacher Marvin and me—one clueless and the other grumpy—with the perfect setup for banter, playing together becomes even more fun. Correspondingly, different personality combinations among players might spark even more "unique" chemistry, which could be why the "We Were Here" series has attracted over 25 million players and reached its sixth installment—encouraging human interaction has always been the core gameplay mechanic.
However, the game does have some minor issues. For example, a puzzle involving English letters caused some confusion for our two Chinese brains. Luite Douma, the Executive Producer from the Dutch studio Total Mayhem Games, took this seriously and expressed his desire to open Chinese platforms like QQ, Douyin (TikTok), and Xiaohongshu in the future. Since the release of the first game, Total Mayhem Games has maintained communication with players worldwide on Discord to improve the game. However, it seems that domestic players are more accustomed to using Chinese platforms, resulting in relatively less interaction with them. Therefore, they are eager to receive suggestions from domestic players, which is why they added Chinese voiceovers and localization to "We Were Here Tomorrow" and invited Chinese media like us to try out the game.
Here's an easter egg: Luite Douma, the Executive Producer of this title, spent a year as an exchange student at Peking University and can communicate in basic Chinese. So he told us, "I'm really looking forward to returning to China after this trip to Japan to share my team's game."
So, armed with our demo impressions, interest in the game, and feedback from Chinese players, we had a face-to-face conversation with Luite Douma.
Below is the edited version of this interview:
Q: The "We Were Here" series has accumulated approximately 25 million players. In your opinion, what is the core reason for the series' popularity? Also, do you think co-op puzzle games are an underestimated genre in the market?
Luite Douma:I think the most special aspect of the "We Were Here" series is that its core mechanic requires you to communicate with your friend. In the game, you are separated, and one player cannot see what the other sees, so effective communication is essential to solve puzzles. This is interesting because the entire process encourages players to build relationships and create their own unique experiences together—this is the core of the gameplay design that makes the game so special.
As for whether co-op puzzle games are underestimated by the market? Currently, there are already many popular co-op puzzle games or co-op games with puzzle elements, such as "It Takes Two." So, I believe this genre has the potential to become more mainstream. However, designing puzzles for our type of game is more challenging because players are separated without split-screen, requiring more effort in puzzle design.
Q: You mentioned that the core of the "We Were Here" series is language communication. What is the biggest hurdle for the development team when designing such puzzles? For instance, players from different languages and cultural backgrounds may interpret the same puzzle quite differently. During our demo, we encountered a puzzle based on alphabetical ordering, which was more challenging for Chinese players to understand than for those in English-speaking environments.
Luite Douma:Game development goes through different stages. We always start with prototypes, which can be paper prototypes, online prototypes, or quick models built in Unity. Usually, we test internally first, pairing up team members to play. Once a concept is proven to have potential, we build it into the game engine and then bring in external players for testing.
As for localization, we just finished recording the voiceovers for this title, so we will continue testing before release. The issue you raised is very valid—we hadn't previously realized that Chinese players might not fully understand the hints in alphabet-based puzzles. Therefore, we may need to ensure that puzzles are tailored to Chinese logic (such as Pinyin). So, thank you for your valuable feedback—even though we're close to the release date, we will work hard to address localization issues and aim to improve them in subsequent updates.
Q: Actually, aside from the specific example just mentioned, most puzzles in this series are cross-cultural, allowing players from different regions to enjoy them—how is this achieved? Is it because the development team members come from all over the world?
Luite Douma:We rarely design puzzles based on specific cultural elements. Typically, we first establish an overall theme and story framework for the game, and then designers create puzzles within that framework. It's important to emphasize that gameplay always comes first. Designers can freely create puzzle prototypes within the story framework. When different designers propose ideas based on their interests, we conduct concept validation to see if these ideas make the levels interesting. After multiple rounds of testing, we can identify which concepts have potential for further development and which are not suitable for the current title but could be saved for future games. Through this repeated process of creation and accumulation, we can select the most interesting puzzles.
As for the team, our studio has about 40 people, and only three are not from the Netherlands—they come from the United States, Hong Kong, China, and Colombia. So, regarding the game's global appeal and the cross-cultural nature of our puzzles, this is largely thanks to the player community. After creating level prototypes, we invite external players to help test them. When they don't understand something or find it unenjoyable, we know that design needs improvement.
Q: You mentioned that the quality of the "We Were Here" series stems from accumulated creativity. So, what upgrades and evolutions have been made to the puzzle design in "We Were Here Tomorrow" compared to previous entries?
Luite Douma:The most significant upgrade is that players can now use equipment—both characters have their own new abilities and high-tech tools, just as you experienced in the demo.
Additionally, in previous games in the series, the puzzle structure was more linear. You would enter an area, solve a puzzle, then walk down a corridor to the next location and solve another. This time, while we've retained the puzzles that require slowing down, careful thought, and discussion, we've also added puzzles that can be solved while moving. Both players use devices to solve puzzles while walking, creating a faster pace that requires higher levels of tacit understanding and reaction. We believe this enriches the game's rhythm.
Q: There's a question many people are curious about. Games like "It Takes Two" have a Friend's Pass, allowing players who own the game to invite friends to play for free—will you consider adding a similar mechanism?
Luite Douma:We have been considering and evaluating this to see if it's worth doing. However, it won't be included in this title for now, as it requires some backend infrastructure support. Since our team is relatively small, implementing this feature without errors will take some time. It may appear in future entries in the series.
Q: Players of the "We Were Here" series in China have two main pieces of feedback. First, occasional disconnections during online play can cause the game to freeze and become unplayable. Second, some players feel that the built-in walkie-talkie is less stable and convenient than third-party software. Regarding these two issues, what optimizations and new features have you implemented in the new title concerning network connectivity, reconnection after disconnection, and the performance of the built-in walkie-talkie?
Luite Douma:We have implemented new optimizations at the engine level to ensure greater stability than the previous title. However, beyond that, our network performance largely depends on the backend services provided by other companies. While we can optimize our own servers to the best of our ability, improvements reliant on large-scale backend services are somewhat limited. Therefore, I hope to establish more community channels for Chinese players in the future, allowing for more direct feedback. This will enable us to conduct more tests and make targeted adjustments for different players.
Q: I've seen many streamer clips featuring this series, and I've noticed the studio is very active in the player community, interacting with players and answering questions. As an indie game team, how did you formulate the marketing strategy for this series? Compared to big-budget titles, do you have any tips or insights on reaching players who enjoy your games?
Luite Douma:When making trailers, a key point for us is to clearly show that this is a co-op puzzle game. So, we include footage from streamers, showing everyone getting flustered or laughing together, and some clips directly explain how to play. In short, we must highlight the game's features, emphasizing that it encourages fun through communication and cooperation.
Additionally, we have our own Discord server where we communicate with players and post announcements. We also post on our Steam page and interact with everyone on various social media and community platforms. Furthermore, we are considering opening more platforms targeted at the Chinese market, such as Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) or QQ, as we know that some regions prefer not to use Discord.
"We Were Here Tomorrow" is the first time we've added voiceovers in Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Latin American Spanish. We've attended game exhibitions in Latin America and came here to engage with Asian media, all in an effort to build communication with player communities around the world. However, as a small company, establishing communication channels with players worldwide takes considerable time, and everyone is learning how to best utilize those platforms. I believe "We Were Here Tomorrow" has done more than the previous entry, and the next one should do even better.
Q: One last question, is there anything else you'd like to say to Chinese players and the community?
Luite Douma:We really hope more Chinese players can experience our game, which is why we've added Chinese voiceovers for the first time in this title. So, we eagerly look forward to receiving more feedback from Chinese players, telling us where we can improve. We hope that one day we can establish corresponding channels and connect with everyone on the platforms they prefer.
We have made more upgrades to the game—new art styles, new character abilities, and new level designs. These excite the team, and I hope they will satisfy Chinese players as well. I personally lived in China for a year as an exchange student at Peking University, so I know a little Chinese.
If I have the chance to visit China again in the future, I would be extremely happy.