Last updated on January 14th, 2026 at 11:36 pm
The Past Within – Puzzle Game Review
The Past Within is a Puzzle/Adventure game from Rusty Lake B.V., first launched in 2nd November 2022.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 6,890+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes The Past Within Stand Out
Note: The Past Within is a co-op only game. Both players need to own a copy of the game on their own device (mobile, tablet or computer), as well as a way to communicate with each other. Play together with a friend or find a partner on our official Discord server!
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
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: Mac, PC and 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.
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, The Past Within is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 6th May 2024
Recent improvements include:
The Past Within – Update
To celebrate our 9-year anniversary as Rusty Lake, we’ve added a connection between Underground Blossom and The Past Within in the form of a secret mini-game. Check out our platforms to see how to establish a connection between The Past and The Future and unlock this secret mini-game in The Past Within.
Patch Notes 1.4
- New secret: A secret mini-game that can be accessed through information found in the latest Underground Blossom update!
- Small bug fixes
Thank you for your support!
Download & Availability
The Past Within is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get The Past Within on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
This is a thrilling adventure which introduced our wife to the developer. We did think the game was shorter than the other RL titles and would have loved extended play time. With that, the game was well worth the money and we highly recommend playing with a friend and someone you may have never met (jump over to Discord!). Thanks for an awesome experience.
Our spouse has never played any of these games. However, we just finished the first chapter in about an hour and she had an insane amount of fun as did we! The game mixes both of you figuring out puzzles together with creepy and macabre atmosphere that this series of games is known. For fans of the series, it has a lot of elements progressing Rusty Lake lore, and as a bonus, some of the puzzles are easier if you have played through the other games (especially more than once like us!). We cannot recommend this game enough, even if you havent played the rest of the series, it is incredibly accessible while also presenting a challenge.
We have loved all of the games developed by Rusty Lake, but we were wary of this one because we wasnt terribly interested in a two player game. Finally found someone that was willing to try it with us and we had an absolute blast. Its challenging but never frustrating. Its a truly satisfying puzzle game from beginning to end.
We played this game with our daughter and had a wonderful time. We both love rusty lake games.
This is a great game for you and your friend to work their brains! Love this game and totally worth the money.
We got lost a few times with our friend but we liked it.
Only game we were ever able to finish with our gf without mansplaining.
This game was so good great story.
What a great way to spend an afternoon.
Did this game with our gf during our work breaks and at night to cool down and we loved it. We laughed and were confused and got upset but pushed through and it was definitely worth the $3.
Loved the game, played it with our sister. Super spooky and rare to see a game with such great co-op. Did run into a glitch were we were playing in the future and kept getting the same code for the red white and black hands with the lens and had to look up the rest of the codes to finish the game. Would give 5 stars if glitch was fixed.
First of all, its co op, so you have to have a friend get it as well, or get a random person on their discord server. Second, its only two chapters long. The gameplay and graphics are great, and the puzzles are challenging, just not long enough.
Did this with our girlfriend and it was so much fun and gave us so much joy.
Honestly begged our girlfriend for a few days to try this. We finally had time to, let us tell you it didnt disappoint! Absolutely beautiful well thought out game. Loved every bit . Tricky , brain challenging, overall 10/10 worth the money and surprised it doesnt cost more, because it deserves more and hopefully in the future another game like this. Thank you.
Great game to pass a couple of nights.
We really enjoyed this one but rusty lake always comes thru.
Oh our word, we are by no means a mobile game kind of person but holy smokes this was awesome. We felt challenged and yet we were never bored!! Such a cool idea and beautifully executed.
Answer, yes! We loved this game do much. Us and our little sister played this together and we had so much fun. Not what this game just fun, it was also challenging, suspenseful, and great overall. 99999% recommend.
THIS IS TYE BEST GAME IVE EVER PLAYED.
Because everything about this game is perfect the timeline the game the story especially the end thank you for makeing this game its so beautiful and its best game ever.
Great fun!!! Better with random people! Great jobs dev.
Our boyfriend and we had soooo much fun playing this together. It was creepy and cool.
Really entertaining and we really enjoyed it.
This game was so much fun! Our best friend and we got this game on our birthday and we decided to pay for the second chapter and it was soooo worth it! It was difficult at times but we found our way through it, without cheating . Definitely recommend.
Rusty lake is one of our favorite go tos. You all never disappoint. Only wish the last within was longer with more chapters.
You always surprised us with a wonderful games. Thank you so much.
Us and our friend just got done playing this game and we loved it so much, it was so fun to play and very challenging.
What an amazing experience great game.
Esta sper duro, deberan abrir mas captulos.
Our wife isn't normally into games, but this was really fun to play together.
We normally dont leave reviews but this game was seriously amazing we feel like we have to. The game was very complex but at the same time not hard enough to make you quit. The story to the game was very interesting but also had the right amount of scare factor. Each puzzle was very well thought out and something we had never seen before. We were entranced the entire time which is surprising considering we normally cant focus on one thing for a long period of time, yet we managed to play this game for around 3 hours.
We never leaver leave reviews because we dont care enough to but this game deserves one! This kept us occupied for a good three hours and we get bored easily. We would definitely say this is worth the $3 and the time. Get this game.
This game was so freaking awesome, it was definitely worth the 3 bucks ! We wish it wouldve been longer but overall it was amazing!!!! Very fun and mysterious and spookyyyyy we love spookyyyyyyyyy.
What a delightful and enjoyable escape room to play with someone, whether theyre in the room or 1000s of miles away. Everything is delightful (if not at times creepy). The clever co-play is neither too hard nor easy. Ive recommended it to anyone that will listen whos looking to break the cycle of social media scrolling and mindless streaming tv shows for some fun interaction.
They even have a discord if you dont have someone to play with.
Love how there is puzzles and stuff that you have to figure out and very interesting we would love to see more chapters of this.
Im surprised this game is only $3. Its fairly short but has two modes and is very detailed. We played with our sister whos in another state and it was so fun. We only needed to get a hint for one puzzle. Were excited to play again in the different mode! We played on our iPad and it was perfect. Kind of creepy but not scary and no jump scares. 10/10 game just wish it was a wee bit longer.
Totally worth the price. Best if both parties are NOT in the same room. Best for long distance couples as this team work will help with communication etc.
Really good job our dudes! Super fun.
We highly recommend this game! Definitely worth the $2.99.
Us and our sister just tried this game and it was fun we think the 2.99 was worth it honestly we tried the lite version first then bought this we hope they come out with more games like this.
Us and our sister were playing it and we really enjoyed it. We really hope you make another game like this it would be so fun.
Had so much fun playing this with a friend.
Our fianc and we loved this game. Great to work on communication skills! Loved it.
Oh our god. Like our title said, it is a MASTERPIECE. The detail, the thought, the design and emotion is the best. The co-op idea is so fun! Us and our mom were doing it together and had the best time. We would really hope soon you guys would make more co-op games because we will 1000% be playing them. Great job.
We have never experienced anything like The Past Within! Truly engaging and magical. We loved every minute of it.
This was absolutely amazing us and our brother played the lite version first and we decided we needed to keep playing 10/10 would recommend to any and everyone our only wish is that there is another game like it.
We were really impressed with this game, we can honestly say that we have never played a co-op like this. Working through puzzles together with our wife made for a great weekend date night.
Our sister and we really enjoyed playing this game! The fact that we did not need to connect in anyway really helped us continue to stay engaged without technical issues. We had to communicate and describe our situations, and it made for some really fun moments! Im so happy with the game, and we will likely share it with friends of ours.
Really enjoyable. We love the co-op feature! Another great game from Rusty Lake.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.4
- Size: 378.99 MB
- iOS: 13.1 or later
- Languages: CS, DA, NL, EN, FI, FR, DE, IT, JA, KO, PL, PT, RO, RU, ZH, ES, SV, ZH, TR, UK, VI
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Rusty Lake B.V.
Last updated: 6th May 2024 | Genre: Puzzle, Adventure | Developer: Rusty Lake B.V.