#vania plays

"BirdGut is a hand-drawn 2d puzzle-platformer from the perspective of an outcast bee who gets eaten by a bird, and discovers that the bird's internal organs are not organs at all, but facilities in which the consumed insects are brainwashed and enslaved. Experience this bizarre one-man project for yourself." (from the Steam page!)

birdguts a fairly short game but it can still be pretty challenging! (pain and agony as i remember a section that had a lot of buzzsaws; seriously what is with challenging platformers and buzzsaws)

bug content: oops all bugs! - almost every character in the game is bug or bug-adjacent!

free or paid?: free!

genres: adventure, puzzle-platformer

content warnings: player character is a deformed bee that is rejected from their hive

"Swing through the trees, spin sticky webs, and make friends with bugs! Be the adorable spider you've always wanted to be." (from the Steam page)

a cute little platformer! the fun part is being a spider that can shoot lasers from your eyes :]

a warning for the video, arachnophobia safe mode is not on! don't watch if spiders of any medium and/or dimension freak you out!!

bug content: oops all bugs! - almost every character in the game is a bug or bug-adjacent!

free or paid?: paid! webbed costs $9.99 in USD

genres: adventure puzzle platformer

content warnings: spiders (jumping spider, wolf spider and babies, ogre spider, black widow, orb weaver(?); there is an arachnophobia safe mode that turns them into blobs!), flashing lights, mild screen shaking

"Live the life of a bee! Explore a world brimming with life in which you collect pollen, defy dangerous wasps and save your hive. Play with others in three game modes, including co-op and PvP on split screen." (from the Epic Games page!)

this game taught me things that i didnt know bees experienced like common to legendary rarity flowers and bug pvp /joking

video warnings: potential photosensitivity and trypophobia triggers

bug content: bug player & bug enemy & bug friendly - not enough to warrant oops all bugs because theres people and other animals that arent bugs!

free or paid?: paid! it costs $19.99 in USD

genres: adventure, casual, simulation

content warnings: flashing effects, honeycomb (potential trypophobia trigger), spiders

"Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style." (from the Steam page!)

hoowee first post! this game is a special one to me cuz its probably the one that caused my spiral of being super into bugs! :]

(also oopsies. the video is nearly an hour long kjsfhsf)

bug content: oops all bugs! - almost every character in the game is a bug or bug-adjacent!

free or paid?: hollow knight is a paid game! it costs $14.99 in USD.

genres: metroidvania (action-adventure / platformer subgenre), souls-like (action roleplaying / action-adventure subgenre)

content warnings: flashing/bright lights, spider area (arachnophobia), screen shaking

"APICO is a laid-back beekeeping sim game about breeding, collecting, & conserving bees! Set in a series of lush environments, APICO uniquely combines resource gathering, biology, and beekeeping minigames, taking ideas from a mix of real-life and fantasy apiculture & floriculture." (from the Steam page!)

game about beekeeping! and butterfly catching! and saving bees! and more to come! playing this game for the first time in a while reminded me of how much i like the music! as of posting this, there are still major updates that are planned for this game and im very excited for those! :]

bug content: bug friendly - you keep bees, raise butterflies, and wait for solitary bees to visit your bee hotel!

free or paid?: paid! apico costs $19.99 in USD!

genres: casual, simulation, sandbox

content warnings: none! (please let me know if you believe there are some to note!)

this game also has some accessibility settings such as mechanisms moving automatically, high contrast views, turning off buzzing sounds, and a focus mode (where only 1 menu can be open at a time)

"Welcome to the Honey Pot! Step into the boots of a bee working in a hive's coffee shop. Meet customers, make coffee, and have a cozy day." (from the itch.io page!)

a very short game about running a cafe and helping bees get warm during the cold! its a very sweet and chill experience and i do enjoy the amount of puns that are in the game :]

bug content: oops all bugs! - everybug in the game is a bee!

free or paid?: free!

genres: casual

content warnings: none! but please let me know if there's some to note!

the game's font uses open dyslexia!

"In Hivemind, you collect bugs to defeat insect predators in the jungle. Build a deck of cool bugs that can synergize to create powerful armies!" (from the itch.io page!)

have i mentioned that i really enjoy card games? hivemind is a pretty short game so i actually ended up playing 3 rounds of the game for the video! (darn that healing final boss and eagle) but the game's pretty fun! enjoyed trying to strategize and playing new rounds to see if the odds would be on my side that time :]

video warnings: minor flickering because of the animation used in the flying bug wings and potential arachnophobia trigger (there is a spider enemy in the game, and though cartoony, does slightly lean to a realistic drawing of the bug). viewer discretion is advised!

bug content: oops all bugs! - almost every character in the game is bug or bug-adjacent!

free or paid?: free!

genres: deck building, roguelike, card game

content warnings: minor flickering (wing animation), spider (slightly cartoony)

"Berry is a short orthogonal 3D platformer about a tiny, blue spider. Gain new abilities, weave through projectiles, collect and purchase a variety of items, and combat various bosses in this tiny metroidvania adventure." (from the Steam page!)

a very short platformer game with multiple endings! i also think the story is also nice and it was a very interesting take on the "touch the stars" themed gamejam it was originally for!

with this post i will also be going on hiatus until mid july! so no insectoidvania posts until then. in the meantime, thank you for your support with this little blog i made for fun :]

video warnings: flashing effects (you do also play as a spider and another spider is drawn, but i assumed theyre cartoony enough to not warrant a warning, but please let me know if i should!)

bug content: oops all bugs! - all the characters in the game are bugs or bug-adjacent!

free or paid?: free!

genres: metroidvania (action-adventure / platformer subgenre)

content warnings: flashing effects

check out berry on steam here!