This game is not about waiting. It's about killing time in the most hilarious ways conceivable.

While Waiting is packed with content, with 100 unique situations that each have multiple solutions, ways to pass the time through a variety of one-off minigames and interactions. In one situation you might use a dog as an umbrella, or sneak past a teacher in a stealth minigame, or float through the air while dodging sea gulls that are trying to eat your hot dog hat. The game’s sense of humor kept me smiling, and the variety kept me entertained.

But with this much variety, it’s inevitable that some scenarios aren’t as good as the rest. Some of them are a bit boring, and I was pretty confused about what to do sometimes. Each scenario can be passed by doing nothing, and I got several of those “wins” because I couldn’t figure out what to do before the unseen timer ran out. Worse were the scenarios where I accidentally extended that timer; some of them ran quite long.

There’s still more to brag on about this game, like the beautiful art direction, the calming (classical) music, or the references to certain video games (scenario 24 in particular). If you’re a fan of comedy games or puzzle games, While Waiting is an easy recommendation.

To watch my playthrough of the first quarter of the game, check out: https://youtu.be/FUFkBzUV9I4

A first look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKoZ6PjP-J4

Embrace the art of waiting in this game that you can conquer by doing absolutely nothing. Can… but I haven’t, at least not yet, as the Lord knows I possess the patience level of a Karen, or perhaps even less, according to some of my friends. So, I mostly just fiddled around, impatiently.

While following the story of a random individual from birth to death across 100 levels with little to no words, the visuals and environments in the scenes effectively convey a great deal. This is complemented by soft classical music in the background. Perhaps this is for the best, as I think any upbeat music alongside my patience level in this game would not end well.

Fortunately, there are minigames in the form of a small task list to alleviate the boredom that waiting can sometimes bring. It’s somewhat disguised as a task list for you to decipher what they mean and how to accomplish them, and when you solve them, you earn a well-deserved neat sticker in your little notebook. So far, I haven’t figured out much yet, but I have managed to collect a few. And when all else fails, or if you can’t find a solution and feel bored, you can fiddle with a little fidget toy on the left as vigorously as you like.
I also suspect that not all tasks can be completed in one playthrough of a level, but thankfully, a level-select option is available, making it easy to jump back into any one of them.

I do hope that, over time, the interface with the controller becomes a bit more user-friendly, as I genuinely feel I’ve missed out on at least one sticker due to its somewhat flimsy nature at times. Primarily being a too-slow movement. I haven’t tried with keyboard/mouse yet, so I can’t vouch for those. I must also admit that I struggle with some tasks that feel a bit too hard. At this point, I’m unsure if it’s my lack of skills or… but I digress.

Overall, I don’t believe it’s a bad game or not enough to give it a thumbs down. Especially from an artistic and innovative standpoint, it’s different, and sometimes different is good as it is refreshing. And it did give me a laugh occasionally due to the quirky silliness, like with the ball scene and the block is a block sticker. Yet, at the same time, it’s also not a game I would personally binge-play the living frekklesticks out of unless I really feel like it for some random reason. Like right after posting this review, for a few levels, till I get too impatient again. Lol.


One of the scenes VS the task list with one of the stickers I’ve earned:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421620567
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421620958

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I would be super grateful if you could consider giving a follow-over at the following places for more first looks, reviews, recommendations, etc:

• | My first looks| ~My YouTube channel.
  
• | Tchii made ya look| ~My curator
  
• | IndieGems| ~Wonderful Indie curator
  
• |Calm| ~Curator for the Dutch-speaking folks out here.
  
• |Calm's first looksl| ~Calm's YouTube channel.

Thank you!

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Interesting concept poorly executed. A more interesting soundtrack would have made this more bearable but the inability to use a mouse and the slow speed of everything you try to do makes the game feel like a chore, probably by design.