The Past Within similar games & best alternatives

The Past Within - Trailer
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The Past Within

Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch • 2022

Should you play it?

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 works

  • Unique cooperative gameplay
  • Engaging communication-based puzzles
  • Immersive eerie atmosphere
  • Cross-platform play without internet connection
  • Replayability with different perspectives

Things to keep in mind

  • Short game length
  • Puzzles considered too easy by some
  • Lack of single-player mode
  • Limited puzzle variety
  • Some minor bugs reported

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Tick Tock: A Tale for Two

  • Unsolved Case

  • Last Will

  • The Timeless Child - Prologue

  • In Sink: A Co-Op Escape Prologue

  • Lost in Play

Less social

Games that feels like The Past Within but with less teamwork and cooperation

  • Cube Escape: Paradox

  • Cube Escape Collection

  • Samsara Room

  • Underground Blossom

  • Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery

  • Heal

Choose your own criteria ->

From the same developer

From the same developer, ranked by motivational fit.

  • Cube Escape: Paradox

  • Cube Escape Collection

  • Underground Blossom

  • Samsara Room

  • Rusty Lake: Roots

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with The Past Within. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with The Past Within. These titles are not in What to play next.

The Past Within: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Cooperation, Fellowship, Intimacy.

Last update: 21/08/2026