Why We Were Here Expeditions Is The Co-op Test You'll Probably Fail

You’re standing in a frozen wasteland. Your friend is somewhere else. All you have is a walkie-talkie and a vague sense of dread. This is the core loop of We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip, a bite-sized entry in the long-running puzzle series by Total Mayhem Games. Honestly, most people think they’re great at communicating until they play this. Then the shouting starts.

It’s a standalone experience. You don't need to have played the previous four games to get what's going on here. Total Mayhem Games released this as a "bite-sized" entry, almost like a pilot episode or a stress test for friendships. It’s shorter than We Were Here Forever, but it bites just as hard.

What We Were Here Expeditions Actually Is

It isn't a DLC. It’s a separate game. It was originally released for free as a limited-time celebration of the franchise's anniversary, but its permanent place in the library serves a specific purpose: it’s a litmus test. Most co-op games let one person carry the team. You can't do that here. If your partner can't describe a symbol or a direction, you both lose. Simple as that.

The game drops you at an abandoned amusement park. It’s creepy, but not in a "jump scare" way. It’s more of a "why is this carousel still moving" kind of unsettling. You and your partner are separated immediately. You can't see each other's screens—well, unless you're cheating on a Discord stream, which totally ruins the point. You have to talk. You have to listen.

The Walkie-Talkie Mechanic Is Everything

In most games, voice chat is a luxury. Here, it’s the only mechanic that matters. The "push-to-talk" nature of the walkie-talkies means only one person can speak at a time. If you both panic and scream at once, nobody hears anything. It’s a brilliant, frustrating bottleneck.

I’ve seen people who have been married for a decade crumble in the first ten minutes because one person thinks "the squiggly line" is a helpful description. It isn't. There are five squiggly lines. Be specific.

The Three Core Trials

The game is structured around three main challenges. They aren't just puzzles; they’re measurements of different types of compatibility.

First, there’s the Trial of Communication. This one is pure description. One player sees a set of symbols, the other has to manipulate a machine. It sounds easy. It isn't. You’ll find yourself inventing a new language for shapes in real-time. "It looks like a jellyfish wearing a hat" becomes a legitimate piece of data.

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Then comes the Trial of Trust. This involves movement. One player often controls the path of the other. If you don't trust your partner to pull the lever at the right time, you’re going to end up at the bottom of a pit. It’s basically a digital trust fall, minus the bruised ego—though the ego bruising usually happens in the chat later.

Finally, the Trial of Knowledge. This is the big one. It combines the previous two and adds a layer of logic. You have to synthesize information from both sides to find a solution that neither of you can see alone. Total Mayhem Games really leaned into the "asymmetric" part of asymmetric gaming here.

Why The Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals Matter

Unlike the main entries, We Were Here Expeditions gives you a grade. You get a medal based on how well you performed. This adds a layer of replayability that the other games lacked. Usually, once you know a We Were Here puzzle, the magic is gone. But here, the drive to get Gold forces you to refine your communication. You stop saying "the thingy" and start saying "the third lever from the left."

It turns the game into a bit of a speedrun challenge. Most pairs will walk away with a Bronze or Silver on their first try. Getting Gold requires a level of synchronization that most people just don't have without practice.

Technical Reality Check

Let's talk about the specs. It’s a light game. You don't need a 4090 to run this thing. Total Mayhem Games used the Unity engine, and it’s well-optimized for both PC and consoles. It’s cross-play, too. You can be on a PC and your friend can be on a PlayStation or Xbox, and the walkie-talkies will still work—mostly.

There are occasional bugs. Sometimes the voice chat triggers don't register, or a lever gets stuck. It’s rare, but in a game where timing is everything, it can be annoying. If you run into issues, usually a quick checkpoint reload fixes it. Don't let a glitch ruin the vibe.

The Psychology of the Puzzle

Why do we play these? There’s a specific rush when you finally "click" with another person. It’s a dopamine hit that single-player games can’t replicate. We Were Here Expeditions strips away the complex lore of the Castle Rock series and focuses entirely on that social connection.

Psychologists often talk about "shared mental models." It’s the idea that two people have a similar understanding of a task. This game forces you to build a shared mental model from scratch in about thirty minutes. It’s exhausting. It’s also incredibly rewarding.

Common Misconceptions

People think this is a horror game. It’s not. There are no monsters chasing you through the dark. The "threat" is just your own incompetence.

Others think it’s too short. Sure, you can beat it in an hour. But for the price (often free or just a couple of dollars), the value-to-stress ratio is actually quite high. It’s the perfect "one-night stand" of gaming. You jump in, have a wild time, and move on.

Moving Beyond The FriendShip

If you finish this and you're still speaking to your friend, you should probably check out the rest of the series. The timeline is a bit messy, but generally, it goes:

1. We Were Here (The original, a bit janky but classic)
2. We Were Here Too
3. We Were Here Together
4. We Were Here Forever (The massive, 12-hour epic)

We Were Here Expeditions is the gateway drug. It’s the taster menu. If you enjoyed the frantic energy of the amusement park, Forever will blow your mind with its scale. But be warned: the puzzles in the main series are significantly harder. They involve much more backtracking and "Aha!" moments that can take thirty minutes to realize.

How to Actually Succeed (The Pro Tips)

Stop talking over each other. That's the biggest mistake.

1. Establish a North. Before you start a puzzle, decide what "front," "back," "left," and "right" mean in the context of the room.
2. Describe the "Vibe" first. Instead of jumping into details, say "I have a board with six circles." It gives your partner a frame of reference.
3. Use the "Over" Rule. Just like real pilots. Say "over" when you're done talking. It sounds dorky, but it prevents the walkie-talkie clipping.
4. Draw it out. If you have a notebook next to your keyboard, use it. Drawing the symbols your partner describes is often faster than trying to memorize them.

This game isn't about being smart. It’s about being clear. There are plenty of "smart" people who fail at this game because they can't explain their thoughts to someone else.

What To Do Next

If you’re ready to test your relationship, here is the immediate checklist:

• Check for Cross-play: Ensure both you and your partner have the game installed. It’s available on Steam, Epic, PlayStation, and Xbox.
• Mic Check: Test your microphones in the lobby. The game relies heavily on its internal VoiP system. If that fails, move to Discord, but try to keep the "one person speaks at a time" spirit alive.
• Clear an Hour: Don't play this if you're in a rush. The frustration of a ticking clock outside the game makes the puzzles inside the game feel impossible.
• Pick Your Partner Wisely: Don't play this with someone who gets angry easily. Or do—if you want to see if the friendship can survive a digital shipwreck.

The game is a small slice of a much larger world, but it stands on its own as a masterclass in asymmetric design. It proves that you don't need a hundred-million-dollar budget to create tension. You just need two people, two walkie-talkies, and a complete lack of clear instructions.