Reviews

Spend the Night: Time Flies is a Solid Buzz

Jason Dean

30 Aug 2025 — 4 min read

What is it like to be a fly? To be an insect with a short lifespan, but still have goals you want to accomplish before you die? How does this translate to humans? Why is this suddenly so philosophical?

In Time Flies, you play as a common house fly with a short lifespan. The length of your life depends on what country you choose when you start a game, as lifespans are based on a country’s life expectancy in years as defined by the World Health Organization. So, if you choose the United States, your fly’s life will be 76.4 seconds long based on a life expectancy of 76.4 years.

It’s interesting to learn how life spans by country vary. The longest lifespan in the game is Japan, which gives players 84.5 seconds to complete their quests. The shortest is Lesotho, a small country in South Africa, providing players with 51.5 seconds of life. For most of the game, I chose Italy, which is 82.2 seconds.

You begin your life as a fly by exploring and learning. You can interact with certain objects in the world. When you do, you learn there is a bucket list of goals you need to achieve during your lifespan. Life is short, and you can’t always do all the things you want initially in your run. It takes a few lives before you discover how to cross all the items off your bucket list. Once you complete all the tasks in a single life, you respawn with a new list of goals. There are four areas to explore, each with their own bucket list of items.

Throughout your explorations, you will also find puzzle pieces. These are hidden around the level. The puzzle pieces feel like they are there to add depth to an otherwise short game, or maybe make levels more replayable after you have conquered the main story.

I admit, I originally was not feeling this game. It might be a case of too many puzzle games in a short time. But after taking a break for a few days, I jumped back in and enjoyed Time Flies. Stages are short, but enjoyable. How Long to Beat says it takes roughly two hours to complete the entire game. I played for 70 minutes and completed two of the four levels, all while exploring other aspects of the game. While I have not finished, replayability seems like it is non-existent.

Time Flies is a simplistic-looking game that can be deep with meaning…or it can be simply a game about the short duration of an insect's life. Your views may vary. I gave Time Flies 2 of 5 stars, mostly due to its short duration and perceived lack of replayability. It sells for $15 on PlayStation, Switch and PC. While it is a fun experience that is worth checking out, I would highly recommend waiting for a sale. If you can find it for around half off, it is worth checking out.