In Time Flies, the latest title from developer Playables, players control a common housefly tasked with completing a bucket list before their abbreviated life inevitably ends. The game serves as a frantic, poignant race against the clock that mirrors the brevity of existence, though the experience concludes almost as quickly as the life of its protagonist.
Decoding Life’s Abstract Objectives
The game drops players into familiar environments—ranging from residential houses and sewers to museums—where they must decipher cryptic tasks. Objectives are presented as abstract prompts like “Make Someone Laugh” or “Leave Your Mark,” forcing players to experiment with their surroundings to uncover the solution. For instance, tickling a sleeping human by walking on their feet is the key to fulfilling the “Make Someone Laugh” requirement, rewarding player curiosity with clever environmental interactions.
The Mechanics of a Short Lifespan
The core hook of Time Flies is its unique time system: the game uses World Health Organization data to calculate your fly’s lifespan based on the country you select at the start. Japan, for example, grants you 84.5 seconds of gameplay, while other regions provide shorter windows. To balance the urgency, the game pauses the countdown during puzzle-solving to allow for precise movement. Additionally, players can extend their time by locating clocks and manually rewinding the hands.
Speedrunning the Bucket List
The gameplay loop centers on optimizing your path to tick off every item on your bucket list within a single life. With simple, intuitive controls—limited to navigation and viewing your list—the focus remains entirely on puzzle-solving. Mastering these challenges creates an approachable, speedrunning-lite experience. However, the lack of tutorials can lead to frustration; for instance, the mechanics for navigating between different floors of a house are initially finicky and difficult to master without practice.
A Brief Yet Memorable Journey
Completing all bucket-list items unlocks the next level, but the game is remarkably short. With only four levels, the entire campaign can be finished in roughly 30 runs. While this brevity serves as a meta-commentary on the fleeting nature of life, it leaves the player wanting more just as the mechanics become second nature. Even with optional, cryptic achievements and hidden puzzle pieces to collect, the pull to keep playing wanes once the main checklist is complete.
The final stage and its concluding cutscene offer a sentimental look back at the journey, effectively driving home the game’s core message. While Time Flies successfully captures the feeling that life passes by in the blink of an eye, the experience ends just a bit too abruptly to fully satisfy.
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