izigame.me

APICO has easily become one of my favourite games that I have played. I'm always drawn towards games with pixel art styles, and the goal of collecting/repopulating bees and butterflies sounded like something I wanted to try.
A lot of reviews on here describe the breeding mechanics as complex and it does come across as daunting, however I found that I picked up pretty much everything very quickly from just playing the game. There are a collection of books you get in game that are essentially guides that you can access at the click of a button, at any time. Forget what effect a flower has, or want to check what particular flora a butterfly likes? It's all already in the game, there to look up in a matter of seconds. This is such a huge quality of life feature and it helps with (at least my) overall ability to concentrate and be immersed in the game; I don't have to stop to google a question and have to wade through multiple 'guides' to find my answers.
The breeding mechanics are so much fun; you can't really get them 'wrong'. Get bees with traits or stats you don't want? Try again with a new bees, different flowers, a new approach. Opening a swarmer to find that I'd bred the bee I've been after for a while provides such a rush, and then I get to set them up in some hives to repopulate them, and then in some apiaries to see what special produce they make. There are so many fun and satisfying gameplay loops - restarting your hives, grabbing the honeycomb and releasing the extra bees, uncapping, processing and replacing all the apiary frames, processing the honey into apicola, teleporting around all the biomes to refill all the butterfly nurseries and check all the solitary bees - and if you get burnt out on one of them and don't fancy doing it for a while? There is no punishment. I've had apiaries sat for in-game days all full up waiting for me to feel like doing a processing loop, or if i wanted a particular bee produce or more honey for monies. There's no stamina, no requirement to sleep - the game just lets you play at whatever pace you feel like, doing whatever little task you like.
The newest big update (Nautilus) added the coral reefs, underwater and the geode caverns, as well as fishing. Over 60 hours in I am yet to cast my rod as I'm still focusing on and enjoying all my bee and butterfly-related tasks; restoring the coral and using bees to clear out the underwater sludge was a lot of fun, and overall just an enjoyable 'loop' to fall into for a bit. The special item/bee/flower in the caves were also a satisfying reward for getting the ocean all cleaned up.
Genuinely - I can't really think of anything that I would change about this game, or of any 'cons' so to speak. I would happily discover and repopulate bees and butterflies forever, so it's probably a good thing that there are a finite number of species/varieties in the game! I often struggle focusing on games, and on anything really, but APICO and all it's mechanics just make my brain tick, in the best way. This really is an absolute diamond of a game, and is a fun, unique experience. The devs are really helpful and responsive on the discord, and at looking and fixing any bugs, and I can't wait to play their other games and see what they go on to create next! So a big thank you to them, for bringing this game and experience to life.
Bonus points for the music also being great and helping create the sublime atmosphere in the game. Mothense also appearing as an NPC(s) is also a fun little feature; 'Vulpes' is my favourite bop!