Hive Time

You’re in control of a small hive that’s only just about ticking over. There are few workers buzzing about in search of nectar, while the queen sits on her throne twiddling her antennae. To succeed, you’ll need to gradually expand your borders, research new technology, and construct workshops and storerooms for all those lovely resources. Your ultimate aim is to make royal jelly, with which you can replace the serving queen when she eventually dies. But that’s a long way off yet: a persistent, growing threat lurking in the periphery.

You’ll spend most of your time in Hive Time futzing about with population sliders, trying to make enough drones to staff your various bee departments. The early game can feel painfully slow, but the later game is a stress-fest. There’s no option to speed things up, or slow down time. This is not a game with a vast amount of character, but there is humour in the descriptive text, and in the random events that crop up every so often.