While Waiting

StrongWhile Waiting header image
75

Top Critic Average

63%

Critics Recommend

Eurogamer
3 / 5
Checkpoint Gaming
8 / 10
GameGrin
8 / 10
Siliconera
7 / 10
MonsterVine
4 / 5
Uagna
7 / 10
Thumb Culture
4 / 5
PCMGAMES
Recommended
Creators: Optillusion
Release Date: Feb 5, 2025 - PC, Nintendo Switch
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While Waiting Trailers

While Waiting - Launch Trailer thumbnail

While Waiting - Launch Trailer

While Waiting - Official Trailer | Day of the Devs 2024 thumbnail

While Waiting - Official Trailer | Day of the Devs 2024


While Waiting Screenshots

Critic Reviews for While Waiting

Both While Waiting and The Swimmer seem deeply interested in life - what it's made of, how it unfolds, and how easy it is to miss important details. Both are larks, in a way, but difficult, complex, ponderous larks. You know, if such a thing is possible.

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While Waiting is a wonderful game about time wasting, and all the fun and creative ways in which you can do that. Sometimes all you can do is sit and wait, and sometimes that gives the most rewarding outcome. Sometimes the most important thing you can do with your time is nothing, as long as it's with people you care about. Living life, being with the people you love and doing the things that make you happy is never a waste of time.

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While Waiting is a lovely puzzler that embraces patience and offers a tonne of fun if you let your curiosity go wild while you wait. Its variety, replayability, and charming style make it easy to recommend.

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Clear the game by doing nothing, but discover the power of acceptance and patience in numerous situations from birth to death. Learn to embrace life as you wait. Switch version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.

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While Waiting is a cute, fun, and simple pick-up and play style game. A perfect title for handheld gaming that offers some replayability. The art style is very cute and the objectives are usually pretty interesting. While Waiting is most assuredly a well-crafted game I think most people would find enjoyable.

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While Waiting is not a boring game, as some might think: waiting for the little and big things along life's journey, one laughs and is even moved, but the important thing is always to be quick in solving puzzles and mini-games, thus obtaining all the achievements required by the 100 levels that make up the title. Too bad about the wooden controls and the general static nature of the whole thing, which make the experience not very dynamic and repetitive at times (it is inevitable to proceed by trial and error). A nice puzzle game without too many pretensions.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Thumb Culture

Unknown Author
Thumb Culture

I had a great time playing While Waiting, which conveys the feelings behind these moments very well while gamifying them. And as someone in their 30s, a lot of the game did hit close to home. Optillusion has delivered a great game taking a relatively simple premise and crafting an engaging, funny and heartfelt story. I do wish there was more time for each scene for puzzles and being on keyboard and mouse it was less finicky but it does give an excuse to replay it. The visual design is fantastic and the audio works well enough with the game. A complete playthrough takes 5-6 hours but with plenty of scenes to unlock, there is plenty more. While Waiting has earned the Thumb Culture Gold Award! I’m looking forward to seeing what Optillusion bring out next.

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While Waiting follows in the wake of games like Unpacking or A Little to the Left and gamifies something as everyday as waiting. It's a game that tests your patience and can be overcome without you doing literally nothing, but it also invites you to experiment and interact with the environment. It's a relaxing and niche game, but I think if you liked those two I mentioned, you'll like this one.

Review in Spanish | Read full review