If you have found your way to this comparison you already know the premise: both of these are mobile puzzle games that require two people with two devices, because each player sees something the other cannot. There are only a handful of games like this, and these are the two best. Here is how to choose.
The short version
Start with Tick Tock: A Tale for Two. It is shorter, gentler and better at teaching you how this kind of game works. Then play The Past Within, which is harder, longer and stranger, and will land much better once you have the hang of describing your screen out loud.
Tick Tock: A Tale for Two
A clockwork world told in two halves. You each get your own set of mechanisms, symbols and notes, and almost every puzzle is solved by one of you reading something aloud while the other acts on it. It runs around two hours, the difficulty curve is kind, and it ends before anybody gets frustrated.
The thing it does best is make the conversation feel natural. You are not reciting codes at each other so much as working out together what you are both looking at.
The Past Within
From Rusty Lake, and it shows — it is odd, moody and considerably more demanding. One of you plays in the past and one in the future, and the two timelines affect each other. The puzzles assume more patience, and there are moments where you will both stare at your own screen for a while before anybody says anything useful.
It is the better game if you both like puzzles. It is the worse first choice if one of you is being talked into this. More on the studio in Rusty Lake two-player games.
Practical differences
- Length: Tick Tock is roughly one evening. The Past Within is two, or one long one.
- Difficulty: Tick Tock is approachable. The Past Within expects you to take notes.
- Mood: Tick Tock is warm and handmade. The Past Within is unsettling by design.
- Replay: Neither, really. Once you know the solutions, that is that. Both are worth it anyway.
Both are paid rather than free, which is worth knowing before you both tap install — check the current price on your own store, because it differs by region.
Playing them apart
Here is the part people miss: these games lose nothing over a video call. You already cannot see your partner’s screen when you are sitting next to each other, so distance costs you nothing. They are among the best things a long distance couple can do together on a weeknight — see how to run a long distance game night for the setup.
When you have finished both
You will want more and there is not much more, which is the honest answer. The closest things are Spaceteam (same idea, played for laughs and at speed) and Human: Fall Flat for physical co-op rather than information puzzles. The full shortlist is in co-op puzzle games you cannot play alone.
