Skip to main content

Time Flies

Time Flies Like an Arrow, But This Fly Has No Time For That
Time Flies Game Cover
86%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:humor, gameplay
Most mentioned negative aspects:replayability, grinding
95% User Score Based on 242 reviews
Critic Score 76%Based on 13 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchPCPlaystation 5Mac OSSteam DeckWindowsPlayStation
Buy Nowfrom $14.99
Buy NowGet on Steam $14.99
Time Flies Game Cover

About Time Flies

Time Flies is a single player open world simulation game with romance and comedy themes. It was developed by Playables and was released on July 31, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

This whimsical game is part open world and part flight simulator – and you play it as a fly! You are provided with a bucket list that you can complete before you die. But the life of a fly is short – and the list is long! Go ahead and learn an instrument, become rich, read a book, go on tour, find yourself, get drunk, make someone laugh or enter the art world! And if you don’t feel like pursuing y…

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Time Flies screenshot
Skip Games Like Time Flies

Games Like Time Flies

Looking for games like Time Flies? Here are top open world simulation recommendations with a romance and comedy focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Minit, Toem or The Sexy Brutale.

Minit Image
84%963reviews

Minit

2018Casual Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchAndroidPlaystation 5+17
Games like Minit
Toem Image
96%3.7kreviews

Toem

2021Casual Puzzle
Nintendo SwitchAndroidPlaystation 5+17
Games like Toem
The Sexy Brutale Image
91%3.6kreviews

The Sexy Brutale

2017Action Adventure
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+7
Games like The Sexy Brutale
Pilgrims Image
93%1.5kreviews

Pilgrims

2019Casual Puzzle
Nintendo SwitchEpic GamesAndroid+12
Games like Pilgrims
Botanicula Image
91%3.1kreviews

Botanicula

2012Casual Puzzle
LinuxPCEpic Games+8
Games like Botanicula
ANIMAL WELL Image
96%17.5kreviews

ANIMAL WELL

2024Platformer
Nintendo SwitchLinuxXbox Series X|S+8
Games like ANIMAL WELL
Dreaming Sarah ImageDreaming Sarah ImageDreaming Sarah Image
83%1kreviews

Dreaming Sarah

2015Casual Platformer
Nintendo SwitchLinuxPC+7
Games like Dreaming Sarah
Yuppie Psycho Image
88%2.7kreviews

Yuppie Psycho

2019Survival Puzzle
Nintendo SwitchLinuxXbox Series X|S+8
Games like Yuppie Psycho
The Escape Artist ImageThe Escape Artist ImageThe Escape Artist Image
94%11.3kreviews

The Escape Artist

2022Puzzle
Windows
Games like The Escape Artist
Creaks Image
90%2.2kreviews

Creaks

2020Casual Platformer
Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 4Xbox+11
Games like Creaks
More games like Time Flies
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

95%Audience ScoreBased on 242 reviews
humor40 positive mentions
replayability1 negative mentions
  • Charming and unique hand-drawn art style with engaging environments full of personality and detail.
  • Clever and amusing puzzles combined with playful humor and a poignant existential message about life's brevity.
  • Highly replayable short experience with satisfying controls and creative exploration driven by a limited lifespan mechanic.
  • The game's short length may disappoint some players given its price and limited content.
  • Timer mechanic tied to real-life lifespan can feel gimmicky, frustrating, and sometimes detracts from relaxed exploration.
  • Some puzzles and objectives can be overly cryptic leading to confusion; finding all content may require guides.

  • humor

    40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is widely praised for being playful, clever, and funny, blending absurdist and existential themes with charming, quirky moments. It balances lighthearted, goofy gags and pun-based jokes with bittersweet, contemplative undertones about life's brevity, creating an experience that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. While some find the humor simplistic or sophomoric, most appreciate its originality, wit, and emotional depth.

    • “A playful, quietly funny, and yet also poignant ludic exploration of mortality and what it means to spend your life.”
    • “Time flies takes the simple premise of a fly’s life and stretches it out into 4 hilarious chapters that will frustrate you, make you laugh, and appreciate the smaller things in life.”
    • “The game also has a humorous slant, from the pun-based goals to the cute ways the world changes and reacts to the fly to even the way the fly walks as it's pushing heavy objects around, that all leads to a surprisingly bittersweet ending.”

  • gameplay

    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 59% neutral mentions, 11% negative mentions

    The gameplay is characterized by a simple yet polished puzzle-adventure loop centered around a unique limited lifespan mechanic that adds urgency and reflection, though some find its thematic framing around real-life mortality controversial or gimmicky. Players appreciate the satisfying controls, engaging exploration, and humorous interactions, making the brief 2-3 hour experience enjoyable and distinctive despite its unconventional progression. Overall, the gameplay offers a meaningful, fun, and well-crafted experience, albeit with mixed opinions on the lifespan mechanic's impact.

    • “The short gameplay loop made exploration fun and rewarding, and I was really impressed with the level of polish for the controls.”
    • “The puzzle adventure gameplay that you need to speedrun is a concept that works really well.”
    • “The simplistic art style, satisfying movement mechanics (you really feel like an erratic fly), spot-on sound effects, casual puzzles, and loads of funny interactions kept me smiling the whole way through.”
    • “Even if this vibe wouldn't be a red flag for you so far, let's talk about how the game concept falls apart when they actually apply the lifespan mechanic.”
    • “First, since there are no specific achievements, extra content, or unlocks for completing the fly's "bucket list" items with a shorter lifespan, the gimmick of having your game length in seconds mirror your actual lifespan in years (based on WHO data, and selected via nationality dropdown at the beginning of each round) is not a thoughtfully interwoven game mechanic—it's a punitively tacked on memento mori.”
    • “So, it's not simply that your mortality is being made into a trivial game mechanic, it's that lying about it is a matter of min-maxing to 100% the game at all.”

  • graphics

    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    56% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 19% negative mentions

    The game features a charming, hand-drawn art style that is simple yet distinctive, effectively complementing its unique gameplay and immersive atmosphere. Its minimalist graphics blend nostalgic, early PC aesthetics with playful visuals, creating a calming, cohesive experience that enhances exploration and humor. Overall, the graphics are praised for their endearing simplicity, unique charm, and synergy with sound and gameplay.

    • “It has a beautifully-spare hand-drawn art style, and creates a startling sense of empathy for a much-maligned fellow creature of ours, who is, like us, caught in the painful web of mortality.”
    • “The design and graphics are super pretty, so as the general experience.”
    • “The simple graphics work with the simple gameplay (and the fact you are playing a tiny dot of a fly in a big world).”
    • “Visually, the game embraces a distinctive hand-drawn art style that immediately sets it apart from most modern releases.”
    • “Moreover, the hand-drawn art style adds a unique charm to the game.”

  • emotional

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game evokes a range of emotions, blending humor, mystery, and heartfelt moments to deliver a surprisingly deep and life-affirming experience. While some players felt emotionally moved and uplifted, others were disappointed by purposeless collectibles that detracted from immersion. Overall, it resonates emotionally for many, offering both warmth and thoughtful reflection.

    • “Some are humorous, some are mysterious, and others carry surprisingly emotional undertones.”
    • “Beneath the comedy lies a surprisingly emotional core.”
    • “A little heart-breaking and a lot life-affirming.”

  • story

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The story is subtle and unconventional, centered on completing a fly's bucket list within its short lifespan. It conveys sentiment and thoughtful subtext without dialogue or traditional storytelling, creating a sweet and unique narrative experience that complements the simple gameplay and aesthetic.

    • “There was something so sweet and sentimental about this game even with no dialogue or traditional storytelling to it.”
    • “There was a lot of thought about the elements and how to make it all come together to story the subtext.”
    • “A cool and unique concept with a fun and simple gameplay, a nice aesthetic and a neat little story that thankfully doesn't take itself too seriously.”
    • “At first, it feels like a weird little game about doing random quests as a fly.”

  • music

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music is praised for its calming, timeless quality that complements the game's polished, cozy art style and environment. It enhances the overall experience with a restrained and satisfying soundtrack that players appreciate deeply.

    • “The art style and the music give a calm environment to play.”
    • “A lot of love went into minutiae, the soundtrack is timeless, the game is polished on release and it's also satisfyingly gamified.”
    • “Well made game, very like the music, restrained and cozy style and vibe, short film on 2nd level was breathtaking.”

  • replayability

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    Replayability is limited, with most value coming from pursuing all Steam achievements, which can be completed quickly.

    • “There's basically no replayability value if not trying to get all the Steam achievements, but that's easily done as well in a short time.”

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game can become somewhat repetitive due to backtracking, but overall it remains enjoyable and engaging.

Skip Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

76%Critics’ scoreBased on 13 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy Time Flies

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Time Flies is a open world simulation game with romance and comedy themes. Common tags for Time Flies include indie, 2d, life sim, pixel graphics, physics and others.

Time Flies is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, Mac OS and others.

Time Flies was released on July 31, 2025.

Time Flies was developed by Playables.

Time Flies has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Time Flies for its humor but disliked it for its replayability.

Time Flies is a single player game.

Similar games include Minit, Toem, The Sexy Brutale, Pilgrims, Botanicula and others.