- We Were Here Forever on Xbox is a two-player co-op puzzle adventure played entirely through communication.
- Both players need headsets — every puzzle depends on describing what only one partner can see.
- The Royal Cemetery chapter tasks you with matching family trees to grave symbols to find five keys.
- Online co-op only — there is no single-player or local split-screen mode.
- Take notes: family names, dates, and symbols are easy to lose track of in the crypt.
We Were Here Forever on Xbox: The Basics
We Were Here Forever is a co-op-only puzzle adventure in which two players are separated and must escape a mysterious castle by talking each other through asymmetric puzzles. On Xbox, the game supports online two-player co-op, and like other platforms, one player can share a free invite with a partner who does not own the game. The experience is built around voice communication — walkie-talkies and proximity chat replace face-to-face interaction.
Video Highlights:
- Full walkthrough of The Royal Cemetery chapter from both players' perspectives
- Demonstrates family-tree matching and grave-digging puzzle logic
- Shows the pickaxe, coffin keys, and vault with four-plus keyholes
- Includes the gear-hunt and crypt-wheel finale with the Jester encounter
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Genre | Co-op puzzle adventure |
| Players | 2 players, online only |
| Communication | Voice chat / walkie-talkie required |
| Friend Pass | One copy lets a partner join free |
| Session length | Noticeably longer than earlier We Were Here titles |
There is no single-player mode. If your Xbox headset or party chat fails, you cannot progress — every puzzle hides information from one of the two players on purpose.
The Royal Cemetery Walkthrough: Family Trees and Five Keys
The Royal Cemetery drops one player into the morgue area below and leaves the other navigating the graveyard above with maps and clue notes. The goal: recover five keys buried with townsfolk, then unlock a vault door with multiple keyholes to retrieve a weapon piece.
The puzzle works by cross-referencing four family sections in the graveyard, each marked by a symbol, against family trees held by the other player.
| Family Symbol | Identity | Key Clue |
|---|---|---|
| Flask (long-necked) | Glass Blowers | "His xxx-marked grave lies in his father's row" / final descendant |
| Gears / cogwheels | Clockmakers | "The maker of the clock admired the peacock" |
| Hammer | Steen family | "Who sleeps beside her brother" / bird names |
| Pouring vessel | Bronze family | Falcon grave — father named his son after a beloved bird |
The bird-name riddles are the heart of the challenge. Clues like "he chose the bird he loves as his son's name" require matching graves marked with robins, falcons, peacocks, and swans against family-tree descendants — while filtering out decoys like "Engel," which sounds like a bird clue but is simply a name.
Write down every family name, birth year, and clue as you find it. Clue notes become smudged and unreadable after use, and backtracking between graveyard sections wastes time. Having "Rudolf is the father of Reinwei; Reinwei is the final descendant" on paper prevents repeated digging.
Reading the xxx-Marked Graves
The trickiest clue, "his xxx-marked grave lies in his father's row," applies across families. An xxx on a family tree means the name is unknown — you identify the person by elimination (all siblings are named except one) and then confirm their grave sits in the same row as their father's. For the Glass Blowers, combining this with "final descendant of the line" points to Reinwei, born in the latest year on the tree.
Eliminate by Name
- List all children in the row
- Identify the one missing name
- That grave is the xxx candidate
Check the Row
- Confirm grave is in father's row
- Spouses married in do not count as sons
- Row means horizontal, not column
Verify with Dates
- Cross-check birth years
- Final descendant = latest birth year
- Open only confirmed coffins
Opening incorrect graves wastes opportunities and draws a ghost that follows you through the crypt. Only dig once both players agree on the identification.
After the Vault: Gears, Maps, and the Crypt Wheels
Once the five keys open the vault, the chapter continues with exploration-based objectives rather than pure logic puzzles.
Unlock the Vault
Insert all five collected keys into the vault door keyholes and retrieve the weapon piece inside.
Dig for Maps
Use the pickaxe on ground marked with X symbols on found maps. Locations include the area left of the owl gate and plots near the big central tree.
Break the Symbol Graves
In the crypt hallway, graves bear symbols made of circles and lines. A clue like "34" means three circles and four lines — smash only matching graves to find the gear.
Turn the Wheels Together
Both players must operate a wheel mechanism simultaneously in the crypt room, then repair the machine with the collected gears.
Deal with the Jester
The Jester appears after being released by the King. In this chapter he confronts, taunts, and retreats — the church area appears to bar him from entry.
For numeric grave clues, the first digit is circles, the second is lines — "34" means three circles and four lines, not the reverse. Symbols like a large "O" count as one circle each ("four big O's" = clue 40-style symbols).
Co-op Tips for Xbox Players
| Tip | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Use party chat, not game chat alone | Reliable comms prevent repeating puzzle steps |
| Assign roles | One reads clues/trees, the other navigates and digs |
| Describe symbols precisely | "Flask with long neck" vs "drop" avoids confusion |
| Confirm before digging | Wrong graves summon the ghost and waste attempts |
| Take breaks between chapters | Puzzles are dense; fatigue causes communication errors |
We Were Here Forever is significantly longer than earlier entries in the series. Many pairs complete it over multiple sessions rather than one sitting — plan your Xbox party sessions accordingly.
Chapter Checklist
Royal Cemetery Objectives:
- Give the pickaxe to the graveyard player
- Identify all four family symbols and trees
- Solve the bird-name graves (robin, falcon, peacock, swan)
- Find all five coffin keys
- Open the vault and retrieve the weapon piece
- Collect maps and dig at X markers
- Break the correct circle-and-line graves
- Turn both crypt wheels and repair the machine
If you get stuck, watching a both-perspectives playthrough clarifies what your partner is seeing on the other side of the puzzle — often the missing detail is on their screen, not yours.
FAQ
Q: Can I play We Were Here Forever on Xbox solo?
No. The game is designed strictly for two-player online co-op. Every puzzle separates the pair and requires voice communication to solve, so a solo player cannot progress.
Q: Does my friend need to buy the game to play with me on Xbox?
No. Like other We Were Here titles, the game supports a friend-pass style invitation, so one player who owns the game can invite a partner to join the session for free.
Q: How do I know which grave to open in the Royal Cemetery?
Match family-tree clues to grave symbols and names. Clues reference birds (robin, falcon, peacock, swan), sibling positions ('who sleeps beside her brother'), and xxx-marked graves that must sit in the father's row. Confirm with your partner before digging.
Q: What does the '34' clue mean in the crypt hallway?
It describes the symbols on breakable graves: three circles and four lines. Find the grave whose symbol contains exactly that combination of shapes and break it with the pickaxe to retrieve the gear.