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Who\u2019d have thought that we\u2019d be playing games where the lion\u2019s share of time is spent not <\/em>playing. We watch, we occasionally tinker, but most of the time we\u2019re picking lint out of our belly buttons. The spirit of idle games is everywhere, from the automated battles of Raid Shadow Legends to the skirmishes of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re part of the club that does <\/em>like them (we\u2019re included in that), then you\u2019ll know the truth: you are <\/em>actually playing them. In the moments between the action, you\u2019re strategising. There\u2019s tactical thought in which unit you upgrade, or which business you invest in. The idle bit is the pay-off: you get to watch as all your choices come to fruition. It might not be as exciting to play as Street Fighter 6<\/strong>, say, but it has its charms. Plus you need gaming downtime on occasion.<\/p>\n

And then we have games like Strike Force Kitty, which blurs the lines between idle games and other genres. Suddenly, a little of that excitement bleeds in. Because Strike Force Kitty is just as easily classified as an idle game as it is a platformer. Which isn\u2019t the mash-up we expected when we first booted it up. We didn\u2019t expect it to work quite so well, either.<\/p>\n