Excuse me while I fight back extended flashbacks of reading Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. While upcoming indie game Time Flies doesn’t appear to be going for the narrative twists and turns of that classic novel, it does have something to say. And it doesn’t waste a lot of time getting to the point.

‘Time flies’ puts you in the wings of one of life’s most annoying creatures, but for good reason

I don’t think that there is a better way to illustrate the fragility and swiftness of life than to make you play as a fly. Even the announcement trailer makes it clear what this game is going for: “Life is short…Make the best of the time you have.” When you start the game, it asks you where you’re from. This reminds me of THRESHOLD, because how the game goes for you is dependent on what you choose.

“If you are from Switzerland, your average life expectancy according to the World Health Organization is 83.3 years. In the game, we convert the years to 83.3 seconds (you are a fly after all). The goal is to complete your bucket list before you die. Because life expectancy in the United States is 76.4 years, you get 76.4 seconds when you play from the USA. This means that the game will be harder in some places than in others.”

Once you get your wings, you’re presented with a bucket list of things to do before your time on Earth is up. That is how you complete the game. Check off the entire list before you die. I don’t know how this is going to work, but I’m very intrigued by it. Especially given what’s in the PlayStation Blog entry about one of the items on the list and how the control scheme works in conjunction with the items in the game. Time Flies is a game with a larger point. And I can’t wait to see how that story is told on July 31st.