Demo Time: While We Wait Here (VSD)

While We Wait Here

Release Date: TBD

Systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, Steam OS, (64 bit Operating Systems)

Publisher: Bad Vices Games

Developer: Bad Vices Games

Time Spent: 37 Minutes

I had debated if I wanted to mention anything about the apocalypse or the end of the world out of fear of spoiling anything, but it says on the front of the store page "Share thoughts and hot food with your last-ever clients, as you wait for the world to end," so it's right out there, but I won't say exactly how the end of the world factors into the actual story.

I think I had higher hopes going into this game even though what I played was intriguing in the way that had me asking, "I wonder what that was about" after the demo was over.  While We Wait Here is all played in the first-person perspective as you work behind the counter at a truck stop diner.  Most of the time was spent listening to other people's conversations with other characters and periodically doing tasks around them and occasionally for them.  The design and look of the characters were not realistic in the way that characters are in God of War: Ragnarok or even Skyrim, but came across a little cartoony; like something similar to Timesplitters, with some semblance of the character's physical appearance slightly out of proportion and their movements exaggerated in the way only achievable in video games.  While I was initially, not "put off" as I think that's too strong, maybe "disenthused?" by the character design, it did help set the tone for the rest of the demo.

The voice acting, something that I can't really feature in a written article, stood out to me, and not in a great way.  I don't mean that the voice acting was bad, and this is coming from someone who is overly critical about the way that I sound in terms of my own recorded voice, didn't sound overly convincing.  The sheriff (I actually don't know if he's a sheriff, but he came across as sheriff-like)in the scene (as above) Hank, kind of sounded like a caricature of how you would stereotype a midwest rural sheriff who shoots first and files the paperwork the following month.  Later in the demo, there was a woman named Mandy who was what you might conjure when you think of a country girl who returns home after making it in Hollywood, and by making it, I mean filmed a couple of side characters in a few pilots (maybe one of them aired) and a handful of commercials but still sees herself as better than those who didn't make it out, but in a friendly sort of way.

While a lot of these interactions are going on with the characters in the diner, including your coworker Nora, you at first are unable to do anything but look around.  I tried moving to see what was available as far as actions go and what else I could interact with, but your playable character was forced to remain motionless.  Even after you become mobile, it is only for scripted events, like getting a customer a drink or gathering the supplies to make a hamburger.  Once you complete a task, you remain motionless again while the dialogue carries on, mostly around you and with other characters while you just stand there.  In this respect, the demo (and presumably the game too) feels more like a visual novel that you can move around in, which isn't a bad thing as that's one of my biggest hangups with visual novels.

While the game describes itself as a choose-your-own-adventure since you make decisions that supposedly will affect the storyline, the effects of those decisions never felt present in the demo and so what felt like an integral mechanic came across as fruitless. Along with the restaurant management and cooking-sim portion of the game, there were only a handful of decisions and cooking scenarios that occurred, again that felt like they were inserted to give the player something to do while the story unfolded around them.  Maybe to give the player a small taste (sorry) about how the cooking mechanic operates in the full game so you're not overwhelmed while trying to follow the dialogue behind you while not trying to burn a burger (which cooks in literal seconds) and knowing that you still need to use the register to check out customers before they get angrier or possibly dash out before paying their bill.

I like the premise of operating a diner while the apocalypse is happening outside and around you, but how the game's mechanics unfolded in this demo just didn't really do it for me and I was put off a bit more than I thought I would be by the voice acting.  There was one scene at the end of the demo that reminded me a little of the end of the short story, "A City of Churches" where the narrator is told that they have to stay in this city because all of the accommodations have already been made so there's no reason for them to leave.  It wasn't so much what was happening in the game that made me shiver so much as remembering "A City of Churches," which probably isn't the best takeaway.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the final game comes about, likely sometime later this year, because while I really like the premise, I wasn't excited by the execution.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
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