Five years after “idle” games reached their peak with titles like Universal Paperclips, Optillusion returns to shake up the concept with a bold proposition that transcends the genre. If you thought “doing nothing” was boring, think again – this indie gem transforms waiting into a profoundly revealing experience.
Available since February 5th on PC and Nintendo Switch, While Waiting holds up a mirror to our hyperactive society, incapable of tolerating emptiness. A title I wasn’t particularly anticipating, but one that, despite some flaws, offered me moments of reflection unparalleled in today’s video game landscape.
While Waiting presents you with a radical challenge: to remain still in a world that never stops – and it’s probably the Final Boss you’ll face this year.
A MINIMALIST YET STRIKING VISUAL EXPERIENCE
I tested While Waiting on Nintendo Switch, diving into its vignettes that trace the entire life of an anonymous character through the lens of waiting. The game oscillates between sobriety and visual brilliance with impressive mastery.
The deliberately minimalist artistic direction hits the mark. The scenery resembles pencil sketches, while important elements are highlighted with color – a striking contrast that subtly guides our attention. It brings to mind Untitled Goose Game or Thank Goodness You’re Here! for its visual clarity, but While Waiting goes further in exploring its own visual language.
Some scenes are strikingly beautiful in their simplicity. When you contemplate the stars with your partner, the night sky dotted with bright celestial bodies contrasts with the sketched silhouettes of the characters. In another level, you can observe the simplicity of lines that transform and animate according to your interaction with the environment.
Where it falls short is in the more “clicker” sequences, which are deliberately monotonous. If the intention is understandable – to make us feel boredom – these moments sometimes lack a certain visual punch. But isn’t that precisely the point? This visual frustration is an integral part of the experience.
Compared to indie titans like Journey or Gris, While Waiting doesn’t play in the same league in terms of visual splendor, but its aesthetic coherence and intelligent use of contrasts make it an undeniable visual success that serves a clear purpose.
A PARADOXICAL GAMEPLAY THAT CATCHES YOU OFF GUARD
It’s in its gameplay that While Waiting reveals all its diabolical subtlety. The game is structured around a delicious paradox: each level offers you both the option to do nothing (wait for the scene to unfold) AND to complete challenges to obtain stickers. This duality creates a constant tension between action and inaction.
Optillusion’s genius lies in transforming this tension into a meta-commentary on our gaming habits. When I caught myself frantically trying to complete all the stickers in a level – completely forgetting the central message of the game about the value of waiting – I experienced an almost spiritual revelation. While Waiting had trapped me, revealing my own inability to embrace contemplation.
The mini-games scattered throughout the experience are amazingly diverse. Some are brilliantly designed, like the one where you must distribute ice cream to your companions under a blazing sun, while using the shadows of clouds to prevent your own ice cream from melting. In another, you become a “ragdoll” in an amusement park queue, creating an unexpected but perfectly adapted game mechanic for the situation.
The controls can sometimes be frustrating, but this inconsistency seems intentional, preventing us from settling into a comfort zone. While Waiting refuses to let you run on autopilot, demanding constant adaptation that reflects the changing nature of waiting in our lives.
The real tour de force is that these ludic mechanics are never gratuitous – they systematically serve the purpose. When you’re waiting for your ex to disappear from your memory, the mini-game becomes a powerful metaphor for the process of forgetting. It’s brilliant, touching, and deeply interactive.
THE AUDACITY NOT TO ENTERTAIN YOU
The strength of While Waiting lies in its audacity to deliberately bore you at times. Take the level where you’re waiting for a download to complete. You can either watch the progress bar slowly advance (the “do nothing” challenge), or launch into an endless clicker mini-game that strangely resembles… waiting for a counter to increase.
This mise en abyme is fascinating: the game offers you an escape from boredom through an activity just as devoid of meaning. It’s a scathing critique of our digital behaviors and our compulsive need for occupation.
The most striking moment comes when you play a “gacha” game on your virtual smartphone. After frantically clicking to get random rewards, the game offers you the possibility to turn off the screen… to see your reflection in the darkness. This moment of confrontation with yourself has a rare emotional power.
Some levels are disarmingly simple, like the one where you simply wait for sleep, lying in your bed. The temptation to move, to do something, is almost unbearable – a perfect illustration of our collective inability to embrace calm.
A PROGRESSION THAT FOLLOWS THE CHARACTER’S LIFE
While Waiting structures its levels around the entire life of a character, from birth to death. This chronological progression gives a subtle narrative framework to the experience.
The waiting situations naturally evolve with the different stages of the protagonist’s life, offering a variety of contexts that maintains our interest. The game skillfully uses temporal markers to indicate the passage of time, creating a natural rhythm to the progression.
This structure offers an experience of about 3 to 6 hours, depending on your approach to the challenges. With about a hundred different scenes, While Waiting offers substantial content that explores many facets of waiting. Although the lifespan seems short, While Waiting offers strong replayability.
A SOUND ATMOSPHERE THAT TRANSCENDS SILENCE
On the audio front, While Waiting strikes hard with a masterful use of classical music. Piano pieces create a contemplative soundscape that elevates the experience beyond a simple video game.
The musical choice is not coincidental – these compositions, with their variable tempos and emotional nuances, perfectly reflect the fluctuations of waiting. Sometimes soothing, sometimes melancholic, the music infuses each scene with an additional dimension.
The sound effects are minimalist but precise, creating a subtle but effective immersion that perfectly accompanies the visual experience.
The game doesn’t hesitate to use silence as a narrative tool. Some moments are deliberately devoid of music, leaving only a few ambient sounds. This sonic minimalism forces concentration and introspection.
CONCLUSION: AN ESSENTIAL WORK DESPITE ITS IMPERFECTIONS
Final score: 9/10 – An essential experience that transforms its own imperfections into strengths, and will remain etched in your mind long after you’ve put down the controller.
While Waiting
While Waiting is a video game UFO, a true philosophical experience. By skillfully merging idle game, puzzle, and social commentary, Optillusion delivers a necessary work in our era of hyperconnection and fragmented attention.
The game is not without flaws. Some technical bugs (occasional crashes, scene overlaps), certain challenges with poorly calibrated difficulty, and sometimes frustrating controls could put off less patient players. But these imperfections almost seem to be part of the message: perfection is an illusion, and imperfection is an integral part of life.
The experience culminates with a secret ending, accessible only to players who have understood the essence of the game: sometimes, the best way to play is not to play at all. This reward for the most patient is an ultimate thumbing of the nose at our obsession with “doing” and immediate rewards.
In a video game landscape saturated with dopamine and instant gratification, While Waiting reminds us of the value of emptiness, creative boredom, and conscious presence. More than just a game, it’s an invitation to relearn the forgotten art of doing nothing.
As Blaise Pascal wrote in his Pensées: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” While Waiting confronts us with this disturbing truth with rare and precious ludic intelligence.