While equilibrium phase transitions are easily described by order parameters and free-energy
landscapes, for their non-stationary counterparts these quantities are usually ill-defined. Here,
we probe transient non-equilibrium dynamics of an optically pumped, dye-filled microcavity. We
quench the system to a far-from-equilibrium state and find delayed condensation close to a critical
excitation energy, a transient equivalent of critical slowing down. Besides number fluctuations near
the critical excitation energy, we show that transient phase transitions exhibit timing jitter in the
condensate formation. This jitter is a manifestation of the randomness associated with spontaneous
emission, showing that condensation is a stochastic, rather than deterministic process. Despite the
non-equilibrium character of this phase transition, we construct an effective free-energy landscape
that describes the formation jitter and allows, in principle, its generalization to a wider class of
processes.