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While Waiting is a video game you play by and while waiting. That might sound simple and straightforward, but the charming puzzle game from developer Optillusion is only simple and straightforward on the surface. While you absolutely can just… wait, every scene is actually full of delightful secrets and Easter eggs to uncover, which range from simple and straightforward to wildly complex and shockingly convoluted. I should be clear: I mean that as a compliment.
There's really no easy comparison to better understand the concept of While Waiting, but the closest I've come when talking about it with others is taking the general vibe of Untitled Goose Game and applying it to killing time. You don't really have to do anything, and in fact the game will largely move forward entirely without any input from you at all, and any behavior beyond that is arguably completely unnecessary.
Killing time
Not that I would actually recommend doing nothing at all; it's merely an option the game technically supports. The real goodness, the nougat at the center of While Waiting, is everything that it technically allows you to do, well, while waiting. The game is mechanically a series of vignettes or scenes with timers that range in length (and generally are not known to the player) with the only stated goal being to wait until something happens. Wait until someone texts back, wait to fall asleep, wait for class to end. But just outside the confines of all of these are a wide variety of shenanigans in which to partake.
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Exactly how to accomplish these shenanigans is hinted at in two ways. A little notebook has a brief description of what you could possibly also do in addition to nothing at all, and a series of stickers in the upper right of the screen has some visual clues. If you successfully achieve whatever secondary objective, boom, you get the sticker in your notebook. Each scene ranges in just how many of these extracurricular activities exist as well as how involved they all are, which is honestly part of the appeal.
Highlighting all of the ways that While Waiting can surprise and delight would ruin it somewhat, or at the very least dim the sheen, but it does feel worthwhile just to give some idea of the range. These extra objectives and opportunities can be trying and failing to squeeze between two people on a bench. Simple enough. Or, as just one example, it can be rolling a shishkabob along an unevenly lit grill, trying to get it cooked on both sides, without burning it in a sokoban-like puzzle of back and forth turning and dragging. I literally had nightmares about that one, I kid you not.
Time enough
But even when those little puzzles turn out to be big puzzles and the easy solve becomes much, much more involved, While Waiting doesn't take itself particularly seriously. Yes, these can be significant logic puzzles, but you can also just leave that all behind to slowly (and sometimes very slowly) wait for the next scene to roll around. You only have to engage with what engages you, and if the part where digging in a drawer suddenly becomes a Tetris-like minigame isn't your speed, well, you can just move on instead.
While Waiting might, at first blush, seem like a gimmick. The whole game is about waiting, the worst part of most video games. But the puzzle game does the impossible and actually makes the act of waiting around for something to happen fun. Beyond the puzzles and activities and charmingly minimalist art design, there's really nothing extra to the video game… except a dedicated button for bringing up and playing with a fidget toy of some kind. You know, to help keep you engaged while waiting.
While Waiting is out now on Nintendo Switch and PC. To see what other indie gems we've been enjoying so far, be sure to check out our Indie Spotlight series.
