How much of your life is spent waiting? Think about it. Waiting at the DMV, waiting for a train, waiting for an important phone call, waiting for your perpetually late friend to show up, waiting to grow up. Life is a long endurance test of patience.
That’s the simple thesis of While Waiting, a new puzzle game that’s deceptively emotional. On paper, it sounds like a one-note gag. It features 100 bite-sized levels, each tossing players into a familiar life experience that requires some form of waiting. It’s like the anti-WarioWare, swapping five second microgames for drawn out ones that require virtually no reaction time. Don’t let that light premise take your guard down, though: While Waiting is an ingenious bit of video game storytelling that’ll stick with you so long as you’ve got the patience to see it through.
While Waiting is unassuming at first. I’m quickly tossed into levels with mundane objectives. One requires me to wait for the bus, milling around for a few minutes until it arrives. Another has me waiting for commercials to pass on TV. Each level can be completed by doing absolutely nothing. It’s a high-concept idea that might leave you wondering just how much a studio can do with that premise.
A lot, it turns out. For one, each level has a couple of objectives players can complete while waiting. In one puzzle, I’m a kid waiting for Santa Claus to deliver presents on Christmas. I can just lay in bed and pretend to sleep for a few minutes if I want, earning me a badge for simply waiting. I can also get out of bed and mess with the big guy by turning on my fireplace or switching out my stocking. Others are more imaginative. When I’m waiting for a rainstorm to pass, I can dip into a cafe and look out the window, which becomes a screen on which I can play an arcade game with the falling raindrops. Each level is a clever surprise that gives me a reason to replay them and find each hidden objective.
That’s not what makes While Waiting special, though. The deeper it goes, the more its narrative ambitions come into view. I soon realize that I’m not just playing through random scenarios; I’m following a character through his entire life. I start out as a kid, goofing around at home with my parents and sitting through school days. I can’t wait to grow up, and I do after about 30 levels. Then, I’m a college student waiting for my independence. Soon, I’m the same age that my parents were when I started. What begins as a gimmick quickly evolves into a full life portrait told through small moments.
I’m sure you can guess what it all builds to.
While Waiting’s strength lies in how well it balances absurdity, beauty, and tragedy throughout its 100 levels. It has the comedic bent of Thank Goodness You’re Here, but the grounded emotions of Florence. Those two ideas are symbiotic. Early on, I’m laughing at what a devilish piece of game design it is. Each level is a torture trap that plays with my impatience. I can’t wait to blow through them and see what’s next. But at some point, I become aware of the passage of time. My character is getting older. His life is more complicated. People in his life are dying. His kid is growing up too fast. As the levels progress, I start praying that they’ll move slower. Why did I spend so much of my time here waiting for my sweet childhood moments to end?
That’s the heart of While Waiting: It’s a story about not taking life for granted. It sees no difference between the big moments and the small ones. Everything, from waiting for your wife to give birth to waiting for an elevator, is precious. They’re fleeting seconds that we’ll never get back. It’s not nihilistic about that. Rather, it cherishes every moment it can, no matter how insignificant it may seem. While Waiting requires a lot of patience to get there, but that’s the point. The wait is the journey.
While Waiting is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC.
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