What’s the deal with all this nectar?
Bee Simulator: The Hive is a game that just begs to be booted up mostly out of curiosity, the kind where you expect a cute little nature lesson wrapped in mild gameplay, and maybe Jerry Seinfield asking about whatever the ‘deal is with something’. But Bee Simulator: The Hive manages to wear its earnestness like a badge. You’re not just a bee; you are a productive bee. A buzzing cog in an overloaded floral machine. And the game absolutely wants you to feel that pressure, for better or worse.
The setup drops you into a freshly born worker from a thriving hive, and your job is effectively everything: collecting nectar, fighting predators, playing bee tag with other colonies, and occasionally negotiating the joyful chaos of human beings stomping around with no idea how fragile your world is. What surprised me is that The Hive actually expands on the original formula. You see, this is actually the second Bee Simulator game. There’s a bigger map, and from what I looked up the missions also seem to be a lot deeper than in the original game.
MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
I gotta say, flying around is the best part. I’m playing on Xbox Series X and the game holds a smooth framerate for the most part, and darting between branches or cruising over ponds has a cozy glide to it. There’s a certain charm to squeezing through tiny gaps or hovering above picnic tables listening to NPCs chatter while you plot your next nectar run. The world is bright, exaggerated, and unmistakably designed for a bee’s eye view.
The mission design ranges from delightful to mildly repetitive, which isn’t surprising for a game built around harvesting plants and returning to the hive. But the developers try to shake things up. Sometimes you’re in races, sometimes you’re batting away wasps in lightweight combat, and other times you’re dumping pollen onto flowers like the world’s tiniest sprinkler system. Nothing gets complex, but it also rarely feels like busywork. It’s more like a low-stakes nature documentary that occasionally hands you a tiny pair of boxing gloves.
The story tries its best to inject drama, mostly around the looming dangers of humans and environmental disruption. It’s heartfelt without being heavy-handed, though there are moments where the game leans so hard into “save the ecosystem” territory that it starts to feel like a polite lecture from an overly enthusiastic park ranger. Still, the messaging fits the world, and younger players will probably latch onto it.
The Hive’s biggest weakness is that its charm starts to thin if you tackle it in long sessions. The loop doesn’t evolve much, and after a few hours you can predict nearly every beat before it happens. It’s a game best enjoyed in short bursts, where the whimsy still lands and the repetition doesn’t have time to creep in.
Visually, the game gets by on color and style rather than raw detail. Flowers pop, grass sways, and every surface looks like it’s been generously waxed. The character models are simple but expressive enough to sell the Disney-tinted vibe. Nothing screams “next-gen,” but nothing drags the experience down either.
What caught me off guard was how relaxing the whole thing is when you let it be. No pressure, no grim stakes, just a tiny creature doing tiny creature things in a world that feels a size too large. It’s a game built for comfort rather than adrenaline. And honestly? That lane fits it perfectly.
Bee Simulator: The Hive isn’t deep, and it isn’t flashy, but it’s surprisingly earnest and occasionally endearing. It expands on the original concept just enough to feel like a genuine sequel rather than a reskin. Kids will get a kick out of it, and adults might find it a pleasant palate cleanser between heavier games. The repetition and simple mission structure keep it from greatness, but the charm carries it farther than you’d expect.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
