Condensing a Lifetime into a Brief 80.5 Seconds span
In the intriguing world of Time Flies, players take on the role of a housefly with a mere 60 seconds to live, navigating through a series of 2D black-and-white dioramas that range from art galleries to sewers, all observed from the fly's perspective. The game, available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac, presents a unique blend of puzzle-solving, exploration, and flight simulation, all underpinned by existential themes and subtle humour.
The core gameplay revolves around completing a series of vaguely phrased bucket list objectives. These tasks, such as "Get Rich," "Start a Revolution," or "Learn an Instrument," are open-ended and must be discovered through trial-and-error by interacting with the environment. For instance, to "Learn an Instrument," you might fly around a guitar's strings. The objectives are never explicitly explained, encouraging exploration and experimentation.
Time is a crucial element in Time Flies. With only about 60 seconds per life, players must use strategic thinking to complete tasks and find clocks to rewind time briefly. The game mixes humor, irony, and existential meditation on life's brevity, packaged in a distinctive deadpan comedic tone.
One unique feature of Time Flies is that the average lifespan of the chosen country is converted into seconds for the fly in the game. This means that for Japan, the fly has 84.5 seconds, while for Lesotho, it has 51.5 seconds. The game starts with a minimalistic first level, featuring a black dot representing the fly on a parquet floor.
Time Flies is full of charm despite its minimalistic style, and the graphics resemble drawings made in Microsoft Paint. The tasks on the bucket list include cryptic instructions like "make someone laugh," "learn an instrument," or "go on tour." These tasks are hidden in certain areas within the levels.
The suggested age for Time Flies on the Steam platform is 16 and up. Solving the little tasks in the game is fun, and the game costs around 15 euros. With its thought-provoking themes and engaging gameplay, Time Flies offers insights about what one should have done in life to be happy.
In the process of completing the unique bucket list objectives within Time Flies, you may discover tasks related to 'lifestyle' such as "Get Rich" or tasks related to 'home-and-garden' like "Learn an Instrument" by interacting with various objects. To complement these tasks, you can explore the use of technology and 'gadgets' like gadgets that could help in manipulating objects or uncovering hidden areas in the game's 2D dioramas.
