The Past Within
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
The past and future cannot be explored alone! Team up with a friend and piece together the mysteries surrounding Albert Vanderboom. Communicate what you see around you to help one another solve various puzzles and explore the worlds from different perspectives!
The Past Within is the first co-op only point-and-click adventure set in the mysterious world of Rusty Lake.
Features
- A co-op experience
Play together with a friend, one in The Past, the other in The Future. Work together to solve the puzzles and help Rose set her father’s plan in motion! - Two worlds - Two perspectives
Both players will experience their environments in two different dimensions: 2D as well as in 3D - a first-time experience in the Rusty Lake universe! - Cross-platform play
As long as you can communicate with each other, you and your partner of choice can each play The Past Within on your preferred platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android and (very soon) Nintendo Switch! - Playtime & Replayability
The game contains 2 chapters and has an average play-time of 2 hours. For the full experience, we recommend replaying the game from the other perspective. Plus you can use our replayability feature for a fresh start with new solutions to all puzzles.
Note: The Past Within is a co-op only game. Both players need to own a copy of the game, as well as a way to communicate with each other. Play together with a friend or find a partner on our official Discord!
Feel free to try out our demo available below. Please keep in mind that the content of the demo is different from the full game.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Also available on
Download demo
Comments
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i couldn't figure out how to play on two devices- i wanted to play on pc and my friend would play on iPad. but there is no download file compatible with the ipad so we had to buy it again in the app store, and then our purchase wouldn't go through. overall pretty frustrating
we enjoyed playing this game and had so much fun
very disappointed, real pity it’s co-op only! i love rusty lake games, i (probably) own and enjoyed all of them. this here looks so interesting, but i hate co-op/multi, or actually playing with anyone at all. while the concept here is an interesting endeavor, it’s totally frustrating i won’t be able to play it. guess making it opt co-op/single player is pretty much impossible technically.. still if it was possible it would be awesome ~
If you haven't found anyone to play with, I'll play with you random stranger on the internet! Co-op games are fun with friends.
Signed,
me
lol, i realize the fun part thing. and actually i think the whole co-op/multiplayer idea of this game or in general is pure awesome. but personally, point is i play with my computer.. to de-stress doing stuff with/for people, hearing people, having to sync my rhythm with people, thinking about people… i love just being with the machine and no human anywhere around… only my felines, me and my laptop. and my plants, but those don’t participate too much XD - thanks for the offer tho, appreciated!
Love the official trailer, very creative! Will def be playing this over xmas
Oh what a sad, sad day it has been.
Played it with my wife last night. SO SO GOOD! Please make more of these.
Thank you both so much for playing!!
Haven't even got the game yet and I'm already loving it. In the past I really loved playing your guys game series, and am excited to be able to experience it with a friend! I hope you guys keep going and continue to make awesome and amazing games! :))
Just finished our first role round. I have no words to describe how emotional it all has been!!! It is a perfect game, so much enjoyable!
Can't wait for our next round exchanging roles...
Thank you all for creating the most exciting game ever!!! <3 <3 <3
Wow, thank you so much for having such a great experience with our new game :)
We have just finished our second round, exchanging roles and calling the butterfly instead of the bee. (We don't have so much time to play, regrettably - or luckily...)
We shall have other two rounds exchanging bee and butterfly as well, but anyway we'll never forget such an amazing experience!
We wish that your games would last for ever... every time the end brings tears in our eyes :)
Thank you , amazing guys!
Awesome to hear!! Thank you both again for your big support!
I'm so excited to play this! My dad and I love playing your games together, and we'll finally get to properly do multiplayer. Thank you for making this! :)
That is awesome to hear!! Please enjoy :)
Nice!
I liked the the fact that the 3D perspective retains the same visual style as the 2D.
I'm looking forward to playing it from the other side!
Awesome to hear, thanks for playing :)
I downloaded the Mac version but it couldn't open, i've no idea why?
Sorry to hear, what happens when you open .app?
It reports the app can't be opened, without further explanation, so I have no idea how to fix it.
Hi, I had the same issue, I put the app in the Application directory then I used a terminal to execute the following command :
sudo chmod -R 755 /Applications/The\ Past\ Within.app
then you enter your password (it's normal not to have any ***, when you type it)
Then you go to the finder and right-click on the app, then you maintain the "option" key of the keyboard when clicking on Open, to authorize an unknown developer.
Thanks for the advice, I've played it with a friend but I'll try it up later.
Didn't work for me (
Still can't run on M1
I user other unzipper than built-in and it works!
The Discord invitation link is out-of-date. Why?
Hi sorry for that! It should be discord.gg/rustylake :)
the game wont open for me? i extracted the files but it didnt open.
Hi sorry to hear, is the demo not booting at all or do you see a black screen? Could you try and download the demo on Steam or iOS/Android?
has your problem solved?
Will this be coming to GOG too? I have majority of my premium RL games there, but I will buy it here if that's the only DRM-free option.
We hope to bring it GOG too yes, not sure if it will be on launch day though!
I guess I'll just see where it's available when the mood strikes me.
I'm planning to play it with my dad, we actually played through the majority of the series over zoom during lockdown (me screen sharing and him watching and solving puzzles collaboratively).
This will be an interesting evolution of that dynamic (no screen sharing obviously, since the whole point is to not see what the other can see).
they will, but it may not be day-and-date with the other releases.
I'm trying to upload a screenshot but Itch is being picky, 1 sec......
1. Ah, they replied
2.
I'm really looking forward to this game and I hope it will be as great as other games from you. I wish you good luck in finalizing the game. (Your fan from Russia)