We Were Here Tomorrow voice chat and the walkie-talkie
Voice runs through the in-game walkie-talkie and a microphone is a system requirement. Set the Windows input device before launching, keep puzzle talk on the in-game channel, and update to 1.1.2 for the Vivox reconnect fix.
We Were Here Tomorrow does not treat voice as a convenience — the microphone is a system requirement, and the in-game channel runs through the walkie-talkie your Explorer carries. If the audio breaks, the game does not get harder; parts of it stop being solvable. This page is the setup checklist, what actually causes a dead mic, and the fixes that are known to work.
Pairs with: Co-op setup · Crossplay between PC and console · Patch 1.1.2 notes
Why the in-game channel matters more here than in other co-op games
In a normal co-op game you can run Discord and lose nothing. Here the walkie-talkie is part of the fiction and part of the puzzle design: players are separated, one sees what the other cannot, and the solution is a description rather than a shared screen. Two consequences:
- The in-game channel behaves like a radio, which is what several puzzles are built to test. A clean Discord call can actually make a puzzle easier than intended, and it also removes the audio cues the game uses to tell you the device is working.
- Party chat is fine as a backup for logistics — "I'm back, ready" — but keep puzzle talk on the walkie-talkie.
Setup, before the first session
- Set your default input device in Windows before launching. The game takes the system default; changing it mid-session is where most "my partner can't hear me" reports come from.
- Check your level in the game's audio settings, not just in Discord. A mic that clips on plosives will eat a spoken symbol.
- Turn off voice activation conflicts. If a third-party app is holding push-to-talk on the same key, the in-game channel can look muted.
- Test in the lobby, not in Sector 1. Say a sentence with a few numbers and letters in it — that is the payload the puzzles actually need.
When voice dies mid-session
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Voice stops after a reconnect | The Vivox voice backend did not re-attach | Update to patch 1.1.2, which fixed voice chat not working or reconnecting when the Vivox servers went offline |
| Walkie-talkie disappears from your hands | Old build bug | Patch 1.1.2 fixes the walkie-talkie taking a break and vanishing |
| One player hears, the other does not | Wrong input device on one side, or the app grabbed the mic first | Quit both clients, set the default device, relaunch |
| Doubled audio / echo | In-game channel and party chat both open on the same machine | Use one channel per player, or mute the other app |
| Audio drops when the action starts | Network jitter; sessions are peer-to-peer-ish | Same region, wired connection, hotspot test if it persists |
If voice is dead and you have already updated, the cheapest reset is a full restart of both game clients — not the machines. Session and voice state live in the client, and the game does not always re-negotiate the voice channel after a lobby drop.
The other fixes in 1.1.2 that touch this
Patch 1.1.2 is the voice patch as much as anything else. Alongside the Vivox reconnect fix and the walkie-talkie bug, it addressed a black-screen softlock while loading checkpoints, inventory items that could block forever after an emote or interaction, and parts of the world failing to load. Those matter here because they all present the same way — "the game froze and now nobody can hear me".
FAQ
Is a microphone mandatory? Yes. The store lists a PC-compatible microphone in the requirements, and the puzzles assume two players describing what they see.
Can I use Discord instead of the in-game voice? For logistics, yes; for puzzle talk, no. The walkie-talkie carries the in-fiction audio cues, and a Discord call bypasses them.
Does voice chat work across PC and console? Yes — crossplay covers the session and the in-game voice channel. The crossplay page covers the invite side.
Can I play with voice off? Only in the sense that you can type or use a second device. There is no text chat substitute inside the game for the puzzle descriptions.
My partner's voice is fine but the walkie-talkie is silent — why? Check the game's audio output device separately from your headset's default. A headset that is the Windows default can still be a different device than the one the game picked.
