Review: While Waiting Can Be Brilliant and Baffling

I love the concept behind While Waiting and the message the game conveys, but boy does it frustrate me sometimes. Like games such as Unpacking, it is something of a series of puzzles that happen as you get to see someone’s life go by. It’s a fascinating window into everyday experiences and how we time can pass and potentially meaningful things happen while you’re anticipating something else. But boy, is it a pain in some cases. Our While Waiting hero doesn’t have a name, so let’s go ahead and call the game’s lead character joe. Things begin with his soul waiting in line to descend to Earth. From there, we watch as he waits for things like fireworks to go off, traffic to move, graded papers to be handed out, a flight to finish, a bathroom stall to open, commercials to finish, and other daily mundane and notable activities to happen. In the meantime, you can engage with various fidget toys with the tap of one button, interact with some elements of the environment to experience additional scenes or play minigames, and… wait. Each of the 100 levels takes a few minutes, so it’s never too pressing. And in the majority of the cases with very few exceptions, you have no control over whether or not a level ends. Eventually, it will. as time goes by. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK7tQA_pAlI&ab_channel=Optillusion Like Unpacking, this means witnessing what happens in Joe’s life as you do. He spends time as a kid. His BFF is a stuffed bear. He finds his first love. He befriends his college roommate and gets into shenanigans with him. He deals with adult problems like car trouble and employment issues. While none of your actions influence the story and basically just determine if you unlock certain challenges to earn Stickers showing you did a thing, I also liked how we could sort of determine what “kind” of person Joe is as we play. Does he think of others and bring ice cream to overheated individuals? Does he keep getting in between two kids on a “date” trying to enjoy a fireworks show like a jerk? It’s a novelty. And since there are so many challenges and in some cases getting one locks you out of another, it adds lots of replay value. I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of minigames that Optillusion packed into While Waiting that reference other games. For example, you can play single-player Tetris. There’s a take on Desert Bus. A Flappy Bird clone is here. Likewise, there are some levels with genuinely challenging puzzles or adventure game mechanics. It’s more creative than I expected it to be. I don’t want to spoil it, but one incident on the Switch left me taking notes because of what happened, only for me to abandon them when I returned to the game to see what the developer did there. Image via Optillusion Games However, as clever as While Waiting can be, the game also drove me nuts sometimes. Most levels had at least one objective, if not more, that are incredibly obtuse and difficult to trigger. Sometimes, this involved finicky situations that didn’t allow me the precision needed to get through on the Switch. Other times, it seemed like it was just designed poorly. (I still haven’t figured out how to scan the pizza box at the grocery store!) There is one puzzles where, because of the hitbox detection not being completely clear, I found it easy to unintentionally mess up and fail. In one puzzle in a bathroom, it’s pretty much impossible to get a certain task done because time isn’t on your side. I needed to keep restarting after working out important parts to do it. There are also times when it isn’t clear what you can and can’t interact with as well. I appreciate the concept of While Waiting, as the game pairs short activities, amusements, and minigames while telling someone’s life story. The design choices lend a lot of replayability, as well as freedom when responding to situations. However, there are some thing feel a bit too finicky due to controls or execution. So for every really fun three levels, you’ll probably be faced with a situation in which certain objectives seem totally befuddling or even impossible. While Waiting is on the Nintendo Switch, and you can also find the game on Steam for PCs. The post Review: While Waiting Can Be Brilliant and Baffling appeared first on Siliconera.

Feb 11, 2025 - 15:43

Review: While Waiting Can Be Brilliant and Baffling

I love the concept behind While Waiting and the message the game conveys, but boy does it frustrate me sometimes. Like games such as Unpacking, it is something of a series of puzzles that happen as you get to see someone’s life go by. It’s a fascinating window into everyday experiences and how we time can pass and potentially meaningful things happen while you’re anticipating something else. But boy, is it a pain in some cases.

Our While Waiting hero doesn’t have a name, so let’s go ahead and call the game’s lead character joe. Things begin with his soul waiting in line to descend to Earth. From there, we watch as he waits for things like fireworks to go off, traffic to move, graded papers to be handed out, a flight to finish, a bathroom stall to open, commercials to finish, and other daily mundane and notable activities to happen. In the meantime, you can engage with various fidget toys with the tap of one button, interact with some elements of the environment to experience additional scenes or play minigames, and… wait. Each of the 100 levels takes a few minutes, so it’s never too pressing. And in the majority of the cases with very few exceptions, you have no control over whether or not a level ends. Eventually, it will. as time goes by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK7tQA_pAlI&ab_channel=Optillusion

Like Unpacking, this means witnessing what happens in Joe’s life as you do. He spends time as a kid. His BFF is a stuffed bear. He finds his first love. He befriends his college roommate and gets into shenanigans with him. He deals with adult problems like car trouble and employment issues. While none of your actions influence the story and basically just determine if you unlock certain challenges to earn Stickers showing you did a thing, I also liked how we could sort of determine what “kind” of person Joe is as we play. Does he think of others and bring ice cream to overheated individuals? Does he keep getting in between two kids on a “date” trying to enjoy a fireworks show like a jerk? It’s a novelty. And since there are so many challenges and in some cases getting one locks you out of another, it adds lots of replay value.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of minigames that Optillusion packed into While Waiting that reference other games. For example, you can play single-player Tetris. There’s a take on Desert Bus. A Flappy Bird clone is here. Likewise, there are some levels with genuinely challenging puzzles or adventure game mechanics. It’s more creative than I expected it to be. I don’t want to spoil it, but one incident on the Switch left me taking notes because of what happened, only for me to abandon them when I returned to the game to see what the developer did there.

Review: While Waiting Can Be Brilliant and Baffling game — Image via Optillusion Games

However, as clever as While Waiting can be, the game also drove me nuts sometimes. Most levels had at least one objective, if not more, that are incredibly obtuse and difficult to trigger. Sometimes, this involved finicky situations that didn’t allow me the precision needed to get through on the Switch. Other times, it seemed like it was just designed poorly. (I still haven’t figured out how to scan the pizza box at the grocery store!) There is one puzzles where, because of the hitbox detection not being completely clear, I found it easy to unintentionally mess up and fail. In one puzzle in a bathroom, it’s pretty much impossible to get a certain task done because time isn’t on your side. I needed to keep restarting after working out important parts to do it. There are also times when it isn’t clear what you can and can’t interact with as well.

I appreciate the concept of While Waiting, as the game pairs short activities, amusements, and minigames while telling someone’s life story. The design choices lend a lot of replayability, as well as freedom when responding to situations. However, there are some thing feel a bit too finicky due to controls or execution. So for every really fun three levels, you’ll probably be faced with a situation in which certain objectives seem totally befuddling or even impossible.

While Waiting is on the Nintendo Switch, and you can also find the game on Steam for PCs.

The post Review: While Waiting Can Be Brilliant and Baffling appeared first on Siliconera.