Where the Bees Make Honey – PAX East Hands On

Narrative is a powerful tool. It’s often touted as the most powerful tool in storytelling, with it being the thing that many fans of video games claim they see as the most likely thing to get them interested. There have been some incredible games that play with narrative in a unique way. What Remains of Edith Finch, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, etc. Where Bees Makes the Honey explores narrative is in an expressionist-like form, where the narrative is displayed in both directly related and unrelated tasks.

The memories of a woman locked in a dead end job, being used flippantly by her fellow employees and employer, as she works overtime in the middle of the weekend, with no end in sight starts the story off. She daydreams of life as easy as it was before, the memories of her childhood explored in a child-like wonder. Memories of pretending to be running and leaping through a jungle. Memories of wanting her beautiful bike to see and experience the beauty of the snowy winter night. Of being lost in the grocery store.

All of these are played through, with different goals and mechanics with which to experiment. In this, even with its non-traditional graphical performance, makes for a cute, simple set of stories presented in a way that feels smarter and more sophisticated than a straightforward narrative telling. It’s in this that Where the Bees Make Honey sees its promise made, but still has much to show.

Where the Bees Makes Honey from Whitehorn Digital is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, and XB1.