The release of The Past Within has just dropped, an indie game that’s been expanding its story and franchise since 2013. The game developers Rusty Lake have made their unusual story-rich puzzle game into a co-op player experience where you will need a partner in order to solve the mysteries and challenges that lie in this game.
Though if you start with this game right off the bat, you’re sure to be thrown for a loop. While the game has made one-offs that can stand alone, each game does play an important part in the narrative of the overall story. If you’re looking to get into the mysterious world of Rusty Lake then look no farther than this guide on what is the best order to play the games so you can piece together the story bit by bit and prepare yourself for what may come in the Past Within.
Samsara Room
Originally created back in 2013, Samsara Room is the first of the games in the Rusty Lake franchise and the best introduction to the game. While having no real attachments to the lore that will occur later, it does lay the foundation of what players can expect from the puzzles and the themes that will follow the games from the many branches that have sprouted.
In 2020, it was remastered to support iOS, Android, and Desktop so that it was more widely available from its first game being only available through Rusty Lake’s original site. Complete with new puzzles and a fresh soundtrack, we recommend to play both games to not only appreciate the devs hard work, but see how far they’ve come along in their development.
Escape Game
The next batch of games that Rusty Lake released were the Escape Games batch, originally all playable for free on their website, they are now supported on Steam as well to help support the devs for future projects and keep up to date with any new releases. The first six games that were the main collection were made within the year of 2015. Since then, Rusty Lake has four more that interweave with the later games with Cube Escape serving as small lore drops in an already complex storyline.
Rusty Lake
The Rusty Lake games were perhaps the ones that received the most notice thanks to many Let’s Players and YouTubers coming across the ever-popular first game Rusty Lake Hotel. A stand-alone game where you serve a group of party guests delicious meals while tending to their requests. What starts out as what looks like a normal job becomes suspicious once the main dishes start resembling the characters that disappeared the night prior.
A year later, Rusty Lake: Roots would come out and another two years, Rusty Lake Paradise would release in 2018. These games follow families and their stories, each devolving into a story of rituals and a strange past of how the families got tied into these mysterious circumstances. You may see hints and even references to previous games as the Rusty Lake games finally bring faces to the names and characters we have seen previously in the Escape Games.
White Room
The White Room once again twists the game on its head by focusing on a different character in the franchise, working like the Cube Escape games by hinting at the original story and family through the eyes of a separate story of a man in a mental hospital. It came as a bit of surprise, dropping out of seemingly nowhere on the Steam platform, but in 2020 published and was the first game to be worked with in tandem with the indie game publisher Second Maze.
The Past Within
And finally, the recent release in the franchise, taking a different take in puzzles and story by once more connecting past, present and future with 3D elements added in. Best played with another person, you must solve the puzzles between two different places in order to uncover more of the story and progress the game.
List in order
- Samsara Room
- Cube Escape: Seasons
- Cube Escape: Lake
- Cube Escape: Arles
- Cube Escape: Harvey’s Box
- Cube Escape: Case 23
- Cube Escape: Mill
- Rusty Lake: Hotel
- Cube Escape: Birthday
- Cube Escape: Theatre
- Rusty Lake: Roots
- Cube Escape: Cave
- Rusty Lake: Paradise
- Cube Escape: Paradox
- The White Door
- The Past Within
Jordan is a student studying Digital and Print Journalism at the University of North Texas. After discovering how much fun gaming journalism can be, she hopes to make a career in it once she graduates. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys playing games such as Genshin Impact, Ace Attorney, and Fire Emblem or watching Murder, She Wrote late at night on weekdays.
