On-Together is the first focus tool videogame I've used that understands the importance of partnered-up productivity

I completed my final year of university during the pandemic and spent the last five years of my life working from home, and I gotta say… sometimes it freaking sucks butt. I'm a yapper at heart, a jester in an empty court. Days where I'm practically vibrating with pent-up energy and a desire for socialisation instead ping and ricochet off the four walls of my lonely living-room-slash-office-slash-gaming-space.

As anyone who's spent any sort of time living, studying, or working solo from home will know; those vibes can quickly contort themselves into very unproductive habits. A five-minute flick through the phone turns into a full-blown doomscroll sesh. A quick YouTube pitstop becomes an hour of scrolling through Shorts—seriously, who's actually watching those regurgitated Instagram Reels and TikToks outside of an intense procrastination sesh?

It's frustrating. I've tried the wealth of productivity tools the internet has done its best to market as the ultimate work-slash-study-from-home life hack. Some of them have kinda worked—like Spirit Swap—but never for as long as I need them to . The thing that's been missing all along? Doing them alongside other people. No other tool or gamified productivity aid has understood that the way On-Together does.

The virtual water cooler

In the way folks came together in Animal Crossing to stay connected during Covid-19, or reignited their all-consuming passion for spending days on end hanging with friends in MMOs—not even raiding or dungeoneering, simply AFKing next to each other while soaking up the same town hub theme for hours on end—or even the thousands of people who tune in every single day to work or study alongside Lofi Girl. On-Together invites people to be with each other. To spend time together. Borders, distance, mileage be damned.

It's an experience that somehow toes the line between game and productivity tool to near perfection. There's a pomodoro timer, journal, task planner, and to-do list to check off all of the latter needs. But they're carried by everything else On-Together has to offer: the encouragement to explore its surprisingly packed island, non-work activities to break up the seriousness of it all, which is then even further cut by its adorable pastel charm and chibi characters with tons of customisation options.

And the task choices. Oh the task choices. There's something so whimsical about hitting up a lobby with your pals and being able to communicate exactly what you're doing through a handful of animations that are selectable as 'focus tasks'. Cleaning my apartment? There's a focus task where I can pop out a broom and have a little sweep.

Writing this very thing you're reading? I can (virtually) sit next to my wonderful illustrator friend and type away at my digital keyboard as I sit here in reality and type away at the one in front of me right now. All while she doodles on her virtual tablet, which I know means she's hard at work concocting adorable art in the real world.

When my wonderful colleague Lauren—who also loves On-Together—takes meetings, she takes off to a comfy seat and plonks her headphones on in-game. That's how I know she's in a meeting! Even if she doesn't say so! It's the small ways of being able to communicate without saying anything at all that have become so special to me.

Teamwork makes the dream work

Even on the rare occasion I pop into a public lobby with strangers, there's been something so wholesome and MMO-y about it. I ventured into one where everyone had huddled together into an open-air classroom, encouraging messages chalked onto the blackboard sitting in front of all the desks.

People would occasionally pop into the chat to make sure everyone was keeping on-task—plus hydration checks and occasional natter about what people were working on or studying for—before getting back on with things. Pomodoro timers floating above everyone's heads so we all knew exactly how far along everyone was in their productivity journey. It was fab.

Breaking off during breaks to shoot hoops, catch some fish, float to the mini band setup atop a high cliff—or going even higher than that to a rad little dome housing an entire D&D setup—is the perfect way to offset the intense focus sessions and give my brain something silly and menial to do for five minutes.

On-Together is only a sort of game, sure. But it hits all of those beats that I get from playing my MMOs or visiting my friends' Animal Crossing islands but also makes me feel not horrifically guilty for doing those things during my 9-5.

It's excellent redirection from the harmful habits I've undoubtedly spent the last half-decade building up, and it's something I could not recommend enough if you spend any modicum of time at home desperately trying to complete a task that would be better completed with a timer or a friend on your side.

If you're already itching for a virtual third space with strangers and friends alike, you can check out On-Together—out now on Steam.