While Waiting Reviews
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.
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.
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.
Playing While Waiting made me look back at my own life and reminisce about the good, the bad and the things I’ve yet to or maybe will never accomplish. While the game is accessible for ages I feel like it certainly would help if you’ve got some years in to fully appreciate the game’s message.
While Waiting turns the most boring parts of a person’s life into an equally reverent and irreverent look at life itself. The 100 minigames offer plenty of variety – even if some of them add to the boredom rather than disperse it – and the overarching story will tug at your heartstrings and tickle your funny bone.
“While Waiting” offers a unique blend of humor, interactive gameplay, and profound life lessons. It challenges players to reconsider their relationship with waiting and boredom, turning idle moments into opportunities for discovery and reflection. Whether you’re engaging with the mini-games or simply observing the passage of time, “While Waiting” provides a memorable and transformative gaming experience.
While Waiting was fun, it was weird, it was unique, and it was a lot of time waiting around for things to happen. Overall, this strange little game is exactly what it claims to be in the Steam description. I had a lot of fun with my time in the game, and I hope to be able to finish it soon (I’m nearly done). I very rarely go back to a game after I have finished reviewing it, even if I liked it a lot unless there was something really special about it. I think this might be one of the games I make a little time to finish up in the very near future.
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.
While Waiting is a simple idler-puzzle game that is free of all choices. You can wait or choose not to wait to complete a puzzle. There is no commitment. Figuring out things apart from waiting is extremely frustrating at times and makes me want to sleep. But the polish, quality, comedic tales and a fascinating life story do have the hope to keep you hooked.
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.
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
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
While Waiting turns life's mundane moments into a game, sometimes a wait is exactly that, just a wait. While it offers some interesting reflections on patience and funny moments, it can leave you feeling as if there is no real progression or final pay off. If you're after something meditative, you'll enjoy the charming visual art and minimalist features with some casual puzzle fun.
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.
There’s some genuine moments in While Waiting that can pull at your heartstrings, where no words are ever spoken. But emotions are conveyed eloquently with no interpretation. It’s hard to sit back and let things play out, because everyone wants to control the uncontrollable. But that’s life, you don’t get to shape how things go every time. While Waiting is a true exercise of patience, understanding, and acceptance that you should experience for yourself.