Released on World Bee Day, Apico is a relaxing beekeeper simulator. Players collect, protect, and breed bees in this casual sandbox game. They can gather resources and craft items, learn about bee biology and breeding, and help conserve different species across the world. It's much like Stardew Valley in the exploring, building, selling, and overall mechanics. Players will enjoy discovering new species, building a home and bee sanctuary, and making bee-related products to sell, such as mead.
Beginners to the game will love the overgrowing and lush environment. Apico can be played solo or with online multiplayer. If people choose to play the game alone, there are some tips and tricks that can make the game go smoothly from the very first day.
7 Follow The Guide
The achievements lead players through the mechanics well, so don't skip the text or the instructions. It's possible to work ahead based on the unlocked technology, but unless people have played the game before, doing this can lead to confusion down the line.
Follow Grandpa's Guide to know how to make items, why they are needed, what products they produce, and how they connect to other technology. Plus, the jokes thrown in make the information fun to read.
6 Build By Different Hive Types
Players will need access to the three basic bee types right away. These are the yellow Common, the green Forest, and the blue Verge. With a base near multiple hive types, players have access to a variety of bees without having to use resources to build hives.
The naturally occurring hives give players an easy access to resources like honeycombs and bees. By relying on those, the honeycombs are saved for better items down the skill tree, such as apiaries where players can cross-breed bees or tools to make bee products like mead.
5 Steal From Neighbors
There are abandoned places around the map, from single boxes to deserted bases. Explore the map and take any items in storage containers. The items are often needed for advancing technology, which saves players the time of crafting them themselves or unlocking the recipes.
In addition to the abandoned homes, the villagers in the town have many items stored in their houses. These NPCs will not notice or get mad when players take these things, so save the time and steal from them.
4 Hoard Resources
Basic resources should be gathered in bulk and hoarded. Items like logs, lily pads, and honeycombs will be needed in large quantities down the line. For example, logs must be turned into wood planks before they can be made into sticks, so many logs will be needed to make more processed resources.
Players should make many storage containers so all these hoarded items can be stored, and should organize boxes by type, such as putting all the bees in one container and all the wood products in another. Make sure to replant resources so they can be harvested over and over, but leave room for tool tables around a base.
3 Build A Secondary Base By Town
Bases don't have to be fancy to start with. Save resources and use those for tools and beekeeping items. The easiest places to set up bases are in the already constructed deserted homes around the map. Once players get going with that then a pretty home can be constructed.
If a player's initial base is not near the town, it's a good idea to make an extra one close to that area. The town provides places to shop and sell and has hives and storage already in the area. It may not be by all the hive types or lush with trees, so another base in the wild is a good idea.
2 Know Your Bee Types
One of the main points of Apico is bee conservation. It's important to not only help the base bees flourish but to cross-breed them for new types of bees. Players may not realize initially that they can do this until they look more closely at Beelia's Almanac.
In addition to breeding new varieties of bees, unlocking technology can help players find other varieties. For example, once an upgraded pickaxe is made, players can break larger stones and discover rocky bees. Explore the island, experiment with combinations of species, and make sure to check the almanac for tips on breeding.
1 Don't Worry About Money
At the beginning of the game, players will have very little money and not many options for earning it. The items sold by the villagers are helpful, but cost more than players will think is reasonable. Don't worry about not earning money at the start of the game since it's very easy to make once mead is unlocked.
The main way to make money in Apico currently is by fermenting a combination of honey and water into mead. Bee products in general will sell more than other items, and the more processed the more they will be worth. Once the money starts flowing in, it will quickly become a surplus.
Apico is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Macintosh operating systems.