The Past Within is a two-player puzzle game released by Rusty Lake in November 2022, and is the latest installment in the Rusty Lake series. As with Rusty Lake's previous works, the puzzle gameplay is innovative and cleverly incorporates a surrealistic style into the mechanics of the room escape game, with players needing to use various props to drive the game forward and eventually find the memory cube. Although the process is long, but the game is very rich in content, so that players in the process of the game unconsciously deep into it.
The Past Within is a non-online puzzle game that must be played by two players at the same time, each player needs to purchase a new copy of the game to play. Both players need to maintain communication throughout the game to crack all the puzzles, communication can choose to text or voice chat, it is best not to look at each other's screens, which will greatly reduce the game experience.
The game has two chapters, in the game you will play Albert and Ida's daughter Rose, the game is about your father wrote a letter to you, you need to cooperate with the future you, according to the various clues in the game to use his long-researched cube device, your father through some way to resurrect.
When you enter the game together, you will be faced with a choice, one of you needs to choose the past, while the other needs to choose the future, the two choices must not be the same, because this is a game that requires the future and the past to work together in order to proceed. After that is to choose the mode of the game, the game is divided into bee mode and butterfly mode, where you need to choose the same mode to play, the different modes are not very different, when you have experienced the future, you can choose another mode to experience the past.
The future is in the past, and the past is also in the future...

The Past Within's gameplay is very innovative, requiring two players to work together in order to proceed, and the future and past cannot be explored alone. In the course of the game, you need to look closely at the clues that exist in the game and tell the other player what you see, and the other player needs to tell you what he sees. You need to note that you need the other player's clues to play the game, and the other player also needs the clues you provide to play the game, so you can show that the cooperation between the two of you is crucial.
You should always keep in mind that this is a non-online game that must be played by two players simultaneously and cooperatively. So before you start the game, you have to find a partner to play with you, after entering the game you need to make some choices to prepare for the next game, first you will be faced with a choice, one person needs to choose the past, and the other needs to choose the future, in this link must ensure that you two make different choices. Then you need to enter the choice of mode, one is the bee mode, the other is the butterfly mode, in this session must ensure that you two make the same choice. The last thing is to complete some choices and enter the game.
After entering the game, the two of you had better describe their own environment and think about whether there are any relevant points, do not act blindly alone. For example, at the beginning of the game, the past you will receive a letter from your father, the letter wrote a date of January 1926, and the future you have a strange cube device in front of you, when you press the red switch, it also needs to enter a four-digit secret, then it is clear that 1926 is the cube device to start the required password. Each part of the game is intertwined, and the future you and the past you must cooperate to complete the entire game.
In short, The Past Within is not difficult, but you need to always keep in mind the word cooperation, you can never complete the game by yourself!