Today, publisher Whitethorn Games and indie developer TNgineers are bee-yond excited to announce the PC release date of May 20th, 2022, for their chill beekeeping sim, APICO. But that’s not all — the release date coincides with World Bee Day to promote the importance of bee conservation!
TNgineers, made up of brothers Ell and Jamie, were inspired by their love of old Minecraft mods, casual, and crafting games to work on their own projects. They wanted to create something relaxing, intriguing, and semi-educational, which is why the beekeeping in APICO is based on real-life apiculture (the technical term for beekeeping) and floriculture (the cultivation of flowers) methods. Accompanied by the music of extremely talented composer Mothense, budding beekeepers will breed, collect, and conserve bees in a series of lush environments animated in beautiful sprite art.
In APICO, players will leave their pointless, soulless, meaningless corporate jobs and non-stop exhausting big-city lives behind to return to their family home in Port APICO and get back to what really matters: bee-ing the best beekeeper they can bee. Combining resource gathering, biology, and minigames with ideas from both real-life and fantasy beekeeping and gardening, APICO will teach players about the ins-and-outs of maintaining a healthy hive and the importance of our irreplaceable pollinating pals.
The islands of APICO were once abuzz with different species of bees. It’s up to players to rediscover lost species, cross-breed new ones, and repopulate each unique bee-ome. Progressing further into the game may also uncover some forgotten secrets. But that’s none of our beeswax.
