Two players · Two timelines

The Past Within Walkthrough

One player selects The Past and one selects The Future. Both must choose the same Bee or Butterfly route and describe every symbol exactly.

Bee route

Chapter 1 · Build the connection

The Past: open Albert’s envelope and read January 1926. The Future: power the cube, advance to “year of memory,” enter 1926 and read the button pattern aloud.
The Past: copy that pattern on the small box and take matches; inspect four wall pictures and make the bee leave the rose.
The Future: confirm the box opened, remove the switch from the matchbox, fit it below P-17 and turn it green; set the pictures to House / Bee / Crow / Rose & Albert.
The Past: copy the four symbols shown by Future onto the floor box, take coal and cold soup, fuel/light the stove and heat the soup; report the three stove-gauge positions.
The Future: copy those gauge positions, take and fit the battery, then report 13:15.
The Past: set the clock to 13:15, solve the fallen portrait slider, unlock the bottom drawer, wear the snow mask and report the three eye-ring symbols.
The Future: use the fan key and photo slide; set the eye rings first to arrow 9, circle 6, cross 3. Tell Past which stained-glass pictures light, repeat with the new eye settings until the lens opens.
Both: continue the same relay: Future names illuminated glass; Past presses it and reports the changed rings. After the fourth set, Future looks through the lens and clicks Rose.

Bee route

The Future: read the machine’s bone diagram; The Past: open Albert’s coffin controls and move each handle to the reported position.
The Past: remove Albert’s tooth, ear and blood as each compartment opens; place each sample in the matching machine tray when Future requests it.
The Future: scan the samples one by one, report every symbol sequence, and route the machine pipes to the matching body icon.
The Past: copy the sequences on Albert’s cabinet, collect the three gems and place them only after Future confirms their left-to-right order.
The Future: complete the ventilation and maze panels, then report the four-note keyboard code.
The Past: play F G D C, take the gold gem, rotate the cylinders with the bee and insert white, red, gold from left to right.
The Future: enter the pattern now visible on Past’s gold cube, take the black cube and give it to Albert.
Both: Past holds the gold cube while Future holds the black cube for ten seconds; watch both ending sequences through the credits.

Butterfly route

Both: start a new game and select Butterfly on both devices; roles still remain The Past and The Future.
The Past: read January 1926, copy Future’s opening pattern, take matches and make the butterfly leave the rose.
The Future: fit the P-17 switch, then set pictures to Crow / Butterfly / Tree / Rose & Albert.
The Past: copy Future’s four new symbols, heat the soup and report the gauges exactly as displayed.
The Future: copy the gauges, fit the battery and report 17:15; Past sets the clock and takes the snow mask from the middle drawer.
Both: relay the Butterfly eye-ring and stained-glass sets exactly as shown—do not reuse Bee values—until Future’s lens opens.
Both: complete the changed maze, sample and pipe layouts by describing what is currently on-screen; the object order is the same, but several fixed patterns differ.
The Past: play the note code Future reveals, insert the three gems in the shown order and report the gold-cube pattern.
The Future: enter the pattern, give Albert the black cube; both players hold their cubes for ten seconds and finish the Butterfly ending.

Verification register

Official flow confirmation: Rusty Lake’s official game page confirms the two-player Past/Future design and in-game hint route.

Cross-checked step-by-step source: Walkthrough King’s complete Bee and Butterfly transcript. Fixed Bee values are printed; screen-dependent relays are deliberately described as relays rather than guessed.