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The Past Within
The Past Within is the new co-op experience from Rusty Lake! Play together with someone you deem trustworthy: one in The Past, the other in The Future. Observe and communicate what you see around you. Solve the puzzles and uncover Albert Vanderboom’s plan.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
47 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“One of the best co-op puzzle games!”
“Amazing balance of price vs fun. Such a novel idea for a co-op game, where both players don't need to have their games connected at all. Wife and I had a lot of fun figuring this one out.”
“Fun time with the hubby, so cool that it is not actually connected and you get to replay with the other time version and different solutions to the puzzles. Worth the money!”
35 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“One of the best co-op puzzle games!”
“I hate puzzle games, this one was pretty good. I would recommend if you like puzzle games. It wasn't boring or anyhting i just hate puzzle games.”
“I just finished The Past Within by Rusty Lake, and honestly, this is one of the most unique co-op experiences I’ve ever had. The concept alone deserves praise: two players, two different timelines — one in the past, one…”
20 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“A short co-op puzzle game. Its not too easy to be boring, but also not too challenging to get stuck on one puzzle for too long. If you choose one path in the beginning and you want to play the other after, the puzzles…”
“A Co-op game that doesnt require a connection with a partner is not something i can say i ever thought of, it's an interesting concept for sure. This game shows it can be done. It was fun, not too difficult (save for…”
“Very smart and clever design for co-op games, really intrigued since the start and played through the whole thing very excited to see what's next. We got stuck for a bit on one part, but you can figure it out eventually…”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Fun co op puzzle game with an interesting way of involving both players without actually playing online. Very short but in a way that doesn't overstay its welcome, would pick it up when its on sale”
“Fun game. Nice and short and sweet. It's a neat little escape room puzzle. Spooky but not scary.”
“Such a fun and actually not too creepy experience. I´m exited to try the other perspective the next time. We had such a blast with the different roles and it took us around 1 1/2 h to play the game. The puzzles were not…”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“for £2 i was expecting poop from a butt but this is gem from awesome town play this with your partner!!! its fun and really atmospheric!!!”
“Fun game. Nice and short and sweet. It's a neat little escape room puzzle. Spooky but not scary.”
“very nice graphics and vibe. puzzles are good.”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“Not bad, but there's too little content, and the puzzle-solving parts are too simple. Anyway it's pretty good as a two-player game, which makes it more fun.”
“Just finished our first through of this game the other night. The puzzles were clear, entertaining, not terribly difficult to get through. It provided a fun task of playing co-op with another player. Rusty Lake takes a…”
“别的都好就是游戏时间太短了,不管是脑子还是交流都不够用哈哈哈,感觉过了这么多年又能玩一遍”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Not bad, but there's too little content, and the puzzle-solving parts are too simple. Anyway it's pretty good as a two-player game, which makes it more fun.”
“别的都好就是游戏时间太短了,不管是脑子还是交流都不够用哈哈哈,感觉过了这么多年又能玩一遍”
“way too easy”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“For a puzzle game, there wasn't really anything to solve or figure out.”
“别的都好就是游戏时间太短了,不管是脑子还是交流都不够用哈哈哈,感觉过了这么多年又能玩一遍”
“7/10 Cool game with an interesting story. The puzzles were not too hard, more point and click adventure than puzzles. Quite short”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 94.8% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“A fun puzzle game I enjoyed playing with my partner. Not too long and the puzzles are challenging enough to make it feel rewarding when you solve them. Would recommend!”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs played“it is good a good game. You need to use your brain sometimes is it difficult but fun.”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs played“To me it was just ok. Kinda lacking in a more interesting plot. It's basically just relaying patterns back and forth to each other without any actual "puzzle" element. I want to recommend it because the art is decent but I can't. If you are any good at escape rooms or other…”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 13:42 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
The Past Within is 44% OFF in the Rusty Lake Summer Sale!
The Rusty Lake Summer Sale begins with a hot wave of discounts at The Lake! ☀️🚣Spend the Summer together with friends, family or a new friend you made on our Discord server playing together The Past W
The Past Within is part of The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase 🧩
Join us in celebrating awesome puzzle games in The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase! 🥳Grab for yourself or a friend The Past Within, or Cube Escape Collection (or both) for 50% OFF! ✨And feel free to try our
The Past Within is 66% OFF in our Rusty Lake Anniversary Steam Sale 🎊
Happy 11 years of Rusty Lake! 🥳 And what better way to celebrate than with 66% OFF on all our premium titles, and some updates on our upcoming title, Servant of the Lake!Of course, the sale includes T
The Past Within is ⬛ 40% OFF 🟨 in the Steam Spring Sale! 🌸
The Steam Spring Sale is here, which means all our premium Rusty Lake games are now 40% OFF 🙌So celebrate Spring by gifting yourself and someone you hold dear a copy of The Past Within for a 40% disco
44% OFF - Let's Keep the Discounts Rolling with the Rusty Lake Winter Sale! 🎄
Let's keep the festive discounts going! 🎊This winter holiday, we invite you to the surreal universe of Rusty Lake, filled with festive discounts of up to 44% OFF on all our premium games, including ou
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Co-op · Puzzle · Online Co-Op · Multiplayer · Escape Room · Horror · Mystery · Point & Click · Adventure · Indie · Psychological Horror · Local Co-Op (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Multi-player · Co-op · Online Co-op · Cross-Platform Multiplayer · Steam Achievements · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese, Portuguese - Port… |
| Achievements | 24 |
| Estimated owners | 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | http://www.rustylake.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 8+ Processor: 2.4GHz Dual Core Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 1 GB available space