We Were Here Tomorrow Beginner Tips for First Session

Your first We Were Here Tomorrow session will test your partnership more than your gaming skill. These tips distill what the series has taught millions of pairs since 2017: communicate like professionals, set up like engineers, and treat stuck as the game rather than the obstacle. Read them together with your partner before October 20.

Communication Tips

1. Narrate everything, immediately. From the first second, both players describe their surroundings out loud — rooms, objects, text, sounds. The pair that surveys first solves first. Silent exploring is the slowest possible start.

2. Spell things phonetically. Symbols, codes, and labels go over voice as "A as in Alpha, 4, 7." Accents, bad microphones, and similar-sounding letters ("B" versus "D") corrupt more solutions than difficult puzzles do.

3. Read numbers digit by digit. "Four … seven … two" survives voice compression; "four hundred seventy-two" does not. Same information, radically different error rates.

4. Use the read-back rule. Before acting on an instruction, the acting player repeats it back: "Setting dials to circle, triangle, square — confirm?" Your partner confirms or corrects. This single habit eliminates most misexecutions.

5. One leader per puzzle. Decide who directs each puzzle and let the other execute. Two directors produce cross-talk; zero directors produce drift. Rotate leadership so both players stay engaged.

Session Setup Tips

6. Test voice before the first puzzle. Join up, confirm two-way audio, and agree on callsigns while nothing is at stake. Mid-puzzle audio debugging is the most common ruined opening in the series. The checklist is voice chat setup.

7. Both on headsets, no exceptions. Speaker echo corrupts the voice channel both players depend on. This is hardware, not preference — see the requirements in how to play co-op.

8. Keep a guide tab open, not a guide addiction. Have what to do when stuck ready in a second tab and consult it by steps — re-survey first, answers last. Reaching for full solutions early trains helplessness into the pair.

9. Schedule breaks every 90 minutes. These sessions run long — the series' biggest entry takes 10+ hours — and fatigue kills precisely the skills puzzles need. Plan the break before you need it.

Mindset Tips

10. Never look at your partner's screen. No streams, no shoulder-surfing, no screenshots. The information gap is the entire game; bypassing it deletes the experience you bought. Describe everything, show nothing.

11. Replay from the other side. After finishing, swap perspectives and play again. The developers build for this — the second run is a different game, and it is the fastest way to appreciate what your partner carried. Series veterans call the opposite-side run the real ending.

Official source: Series FAQ on replaying perspectives

FAQ

What should we do first as beginners?

Play the free first series entry together, test voice until it is boring, and read this page's communication tips aloud to each other. Warm-up detail in series play order.

How do we avoid arguing?

Adopt the read-back rule and one-leader-per-puzzle before starting. Most pair arguments are procedure failures, not intelligence failures.

Should beginners use a walkthrough?

Use the stuck protocol first — hints before answers, one reader guiding the other. Full walkthrough answers are the last resort, not the first tool.

How long should our first session be?

Two to three hours with a break in the middle. Long enough to learn the loop, short enough to stay sharp.

Related Guides

• How to play co-op with a friend — full session setup.
• Voice chat and microphone setup — the mandatory channel.
• What to do when stuck — the no-spoiler rescue order.
• Walkthrough hub — verified answers after launch.