While Waiting is a game that belongs in a gallery.
It’s installation art, and maybe you know the kind.
It’s WarioWare designed by Beckett.
It’s Super Bartleby Bros.
So it’s about the things you do as waiting is taking place.
And While Waiting - this is a compliment - is exhausting too, in its own way.
It’s knackering to play, particularly when you aren’t really playing it.
Not really, but I very much doubt that’s the point.
Did it reorder the world a little and reveal it back to me in a slightly altered way?
While Waiting presents you with a bunch of scenarios that involve waiting.
You’re queuing for something.
You’re waiting for a bus or for the rain to stop.
You’re waiting for the Wi-Fi to sort itself out.
You’re waiting for your partner to give birth.
To help you with this, there’s a list of optional objectives that come with each scenario.
It’s a hot day.
Any chance of an ice cream?
Movement is slow and floaty, and animations can be unpredictable.
Also, the controls have to rebuild themselves between each scenario, which can’t be easy.
One scenario will be first-person and you’re in bed trying to keep your eyes closed.
In the next, you’re out on a hill in third-person pointing out landmarks.
What While Waiting’s trying to do, then, is tricky.
As the scenarios pile up, it becomes clear that we’re exploring a single life.
What will the world look like next time I deign to notice it?
What begins as a bit of fun starts to turn weird, though.
And waiting for him at home…?
Both are larks, in a way, but difficult, complex, ponderous larks.
You know, if such a thing is possible.
A copy of While Waiting was provided for review by developer Optillusion.
