Where the Bees Make Honey
A narrative puzzle game revisiting childhood memories through rotating city pieces.
Players re-enact the childhood memories of Sunny, an office worker, through a series of gameplay vignettes.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Where the Bees Make Honey
- Developer
- Whitethorn Digital
- Publisher
- Wakefield Interactive
- Platforms
- Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series
- Released
- Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox WW · 26 March 2019 / Nintendo Switch WW · 17 October 2019
- Genre
- Adventure
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Where the Bees Make Honey was developed by Wakefield Interactive, the studio of independent developer Brian Wilson, while he was enrolled at Penn State University. Wilson conceived the game to resemble the rotation of a Rubik's Cube. The gameplay is split over several scenes with different modes of play, including three-dimensional and isometric perspectives. The main puzzles involve rotating pieces of a city to guide the player character through a path collecting floating honeycombs. Other sequences have no concrete goals and consist of maintaining play until narration completes. The narrative is delivered as a monologue over vignettes depicting Sunny, a young telemarketer working late in an office cubicle, who yearns for her youth. After a blackout, she enters a dreamlike portal and transforms into her childhood self, recalling moments such as losing her bike on a winter night or celebrating Halloween. Fantastical scenes include Sunny turning into a remote control car or a bunny. She eventually returns to reality and reminisces about childhood photos on her desk, revealing the connection between the game's sequences and her memories.
Reader's Guide
Where the Bees Make Honey is significant as the debut title of independent developer Brian Wilson, created while he was a student at Penn State University. Its design was inspired by the rotation of a Rubik's Cube. The game received generally unfavorable reviews on Metacritic, with critics citing technical issues, poor controls, and inconsistent narrative. Matthew Pollesel of Gaming Age called it a 'bad game' and 'broken disaster,' criticizing its boring scenes and nonsensical plot. Richard Hoover of Adventure Gamers enjoyed the visual design and honeycomb puzzles but critiqued the disparate gameplay styles and vapid levels. Bob Dunn of the Berkshire Eagle reported 'controller-throwing' technical issues but praised the game's gorgeous art and emotional impact. Ron Welch of TechRaptor experienced extremely buggy behaviors and poor controls, finding the varied sequences gave 'tonal whiplash' and were 'physically painful' to play.
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