Time Wasters

In "Time Wasters," players manage a futuristic waste disposal facility, dealing with peculiar trash and mysterious time anomalies. Upgrade your equipment, research unusual items, and adapt to ever-changing challenges to keep your facility running smoothly. Balance productivity, safety, and employee happiness to become a successful Time Wasters Inc. franchisee.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,570 reviews

gameplay144 positive mentions

grinding46 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay with a unique twist on the survivor genre, incorporating planets that provide various buffs and resources.
Fast-paced action and a satisfying progression system that keeps players coming back for more.
Great value for the price, with frequent updates and new content being added by the developers.

Poor balance among characters and weapons, leading to some feeling underpowered or useless.
The game can feel overwhelming with too many enemies on screen, making it difficult to navigate and survive.
Lack of variety in maps and enemy types, which can lead to repetitive gameplay over time.

gameplay
334 mentions
43 % positive mentions
54 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by fast-paced, addictive mechanics that blend traditional shoot 'em up elements with unique features like planet interactions and diverse character upgrades. While many players appreciate the solid mechanics and engaging progression system, some express concerns about balance issues, repetitiveness, and a lack of tutorial guidance. Overall, the game offers a polished experience with a satisfying gameplay loop, appealing visuals, and a variety of unlockable content, making it a noteworthy entry in the bullet heaven genre.
- “The moment-to-moment gameplay is action-filled and gives you a sense of a fair challenge.”
- “Absolutely fantastic game with meaningful progression and very fun moment-to-moment gameplay.”
- “The combination of fast-paced ship movement, upgradable auto-firing weapons, and unique captain upgrades creates a gameplay experience that is both engaging and rewarding.”
- “It fails to implement a decent progression mechanic.”
- “The gameplay loop is repetitive and there's not much variance in how you'll be playing.”
- “There's no real challenge or anything to work towards besides unlocking marginal upgrades which don't have much effect on the gameplay.”
graphics
132 mentions
52 % positive mentions
45 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their vibrant colors, appealing art style, and smooth animations, creating an immersive experience. However, some players noted issues with cluttered visuals and a "mobile game" aesthetic, particularly due to the use of AI-generated artwork. Overall, while the visuals are considered attractive and engaging, they may not appeal to everyone, especially those seeking more variety and balance in gameplay.
- “The visuals are stunning, with vibrant colors and impressive special effects that bring the game's universe to life.”
- “Great graphics and buttery smooth gameplay.”
- “The graphics are fantastic, the music is exactly what I would expect from the makers of Time Clickers and Time Warpers (furious electronic fast-beat energetic music), the mechanics feel perfect.”
- “For some reason, the graphic style made me think mobile game.”
- “To put it bluntly, it's like the game design stopped halfway through and the dev team decided to polish the graphical side and never consider gameplay balances, imbalances, or shortcomings at all.”
- “Game is pretty loaded with AI-generated artwork which isn't supposed to be allowed on Steam.”
music
78 mentions
31 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its energetic and pumping quality, effectively enhancing the gameplay experience and keeping players engaged. However, many reviewers noted that the soundtrack can be repetitive, with a desire for more variety and additional tracks to prevent monotony during longer play sessions. Overall, while the music complements the game's fast-paced action well, there is a consensus that expanding the soundtrack would significantly improve the experience.
- “The music and the sound of damage inflicted has a really nice rhythm that gets you deep in a flow state.”
- “Mowing down the hordes and overcoming the bosses with most of the weapons is fun, addicting and satisfying; the music is wonderfully pumping and drives the gameplay effectively without being grinding.”
- “Gameplay is very smooth, the soundtrack is awesome and fitting.”
- “Fast paced, interesting style, fun gameplay loop, diverse characters and weapons, only real issue is the music being repetitive as hell.”
- “The same music track can get boring on long runs.”
- “- weak soundtrack: ok so it's not that it's bad but I only have heard one music the whole time, could have a bit more so it doesn't get so tiring.”
story
50 mentions
12 % positive mentions
82 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The game lacks a traditional storyline, focusing instead on gameplay mechanics and mission variety. Players engage in various missions with unique challenges tied to different captains, but the overall narrative arc remains minimal, leading to a repetitive experience. While the missions are well-designed and provide a fun diversion, the absence of a cohesive story may leave some players wanting more depth.
- “The captain specialty missions were very fun, and the loyalty reward felt very appropriate for ease of character customization.”
- “Each of the captains have their own unique weapons that are very different, and it makes for a good challenge to work out which weapons to take into a particular mission, or to just play the regular survival with your desired loadout.”
- “They also each have their own unique missions which are very well designed on unique maps and add a lot of value to the game.”
- “There is no real 'storyline', but that's not needed anyways.”
- “There's no story, just pure gameplay.”
- “Randomize the level layout and wave structure to make runs more varied, or provide alternate maps or missions; anything to fix the fact that the overall game arc is the same every time.”
grinding
48 mentions
2 % positive mentions
2 % neutral mentions
96 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight that the game features a significant amount of grinding, often leading to a tedious experience, especially in the late game where players may feel overwhelmed by the lack of content and variety. While some players appreciate the replay value and meta progression, many criticize the grind as unbalanced and artificially difficult, detracting from overall enjoyment. Despite these issues, the game maintains a fun and engaging core gameplay loop, with some players finding satisfaction in overcoming challenges and unlocking upgrades.
- “It's well paced and not too grindy.”
- “How can a game be so grindy and yet so lacking in content? We will never know.”
- “It's extremely grindy and unbalanced.”
- “The challenges and the variety of ships give it a good lifetime, but once you have unlocked all the captains and most of the upgrades, it gets very grindy to finish the very last few bits.”
replayability
40 mentions
55 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is generally viewed as strong, with many players appreciating the addictive nature, numerous upgrades, and self-imposed challenges that enhance the experience. However, some critiques highlight a lack of variation in gameplay and maps, leading to diminished replay value after extensive play. Overall, while it offers enjoyable mechanics and content, the depth of replayability may vary significantly among players.
- “Very addictive and replayability is amazing.”
- “Excellent gameplay, highly replayable, and a ton of content.”
- “Great art-style and tons of replayability, can wholeheartedly recommend 10/10 stepsisters stuck in space!”
- “Beyond that, by the time that you unlock the final 'upgrade' for the final ship (the ability to choose them as a crew member at the start of a run), you will have ground out hundreds, possibly 1,000 or more runs, and will have seen every bit of combat that is possible 100,000,000,000,000 times, so where is the replay value?”
- “Game is balanced poorly, and the same map every time with no variation means this game has barely any replayability.”
- “After you beat the game once, you've seen everything - no replay value.”
optimization
28 mentions
36 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while many players praise its solid performance and stability, especially on the Steam Deck, there are notable concerns regarding lag during intense moments and issues with the main menu upgrade system. Some users report significant frame rate drops under heavy action, indicating that further optimization and performance updates are needed. Despite these drawbacks, the game is generally considered well-optimized for its genre.
- “Performance is fantastic, even on Steam Deck, which is surprising with the amount of effects in the game.”
- “Bonus than the performance is absolutely fantastic for this style of game and it is very stable on the Steam Deck even at pretty crazy builds and enemy numbers.”
- “Really well done optimization.”
- “It's very poorly balanced, and even more poorly optimized.”
- “Why this game ends up being very poorly optimized is in the main menu upgrade system.”
- “(edit: it does need a bit of optimization as it dips all the way down to 10 fps when things go crazy).. still highly recommended if you like vampire survivors.”
stability
18 mentions
67 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game runs smoothly on the Steam Deck, with many users reporting a great experience and fast performance. However, there are some notable bugs, including occasional freezes and issues with achievements, suggesting that while the game is stable, it could benefit from improvements in reliability and autosave features.
- “Runs great on the Steam Deck.”
- “Perfect game for the Steam Deck, and runs great with a controller.”
- “Only playing on Steam Deck and it runs great.”
- “The game freezes but the music still plays; the only option is to close and lose progress. Consider adding autosave.”
- “Buggy for sure; I have beaten the game with 3 out of 4 characters, and I have yet to receive a single achievement.”
- “Has a few bugs and glitches here and there, but good fun overall.”
humor
6 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised, with players finding it genuinely funny and entertaining, making it a great time-waster. However, some users note that character balance issues contribute to the comedic experience, as certain characters are either extremely difficult or hilariously easy to use.
- “I am dying laughing.”
- “Woot, very funny game, definite time waster.”
emotional
6 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players express a strong emotional response to the game's mechanics, particularly the frustration of instant death from minor contact with enemies, which can feel punishing and unfair. The desire for a more forgiving system, such as high damage instead of immediate death, highlights the emotional stakes involved in gameplay and the impact of risk versus reward on player experience. Overall, the emotional tone reflects a mix of tension and disappointment, suggesting a need for balance in the game's design.
monetization
4 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The monetization model is praised for its transparency, as there are no fraudulent advertisements or intrusive microtransactions, making the game feel more like a premium experience rather than a typical mobile game.
- “Simply put, this feels much less like a Steam-standard roguelike grinder and more like a mobile game with the ads and microtransactions (thankfully) removed.”
character development
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is noted for its appealing designs, though some reviewers feel the characters could be more creatively named, suggesting a lack of depth in their identities. Overall, while the visuals and aesthetics are praised, the character development may not fully resonate with players seeking more substantial narratives.