APICO Heeds the Call of The Sea as Update 3.0 is Headed to PC This Fall

Your beekeeping adventures on APICO Islands are expanding into new depths, as today, developer TNgineers and publisher Whitethorn Games announce a new update for the beloved beekeeping sim APICO. Coming to PC on September 26, Update 3.0: What Lies Beeneath invites you to dive into the crystal blue ocean waters surrounding the APICO archipelago and explore its depths. New areas, forageables, quests, and, of course, new bees are yours to discover deep bee-low the watery abyss.

Get a glimpse of Update 3.0: What Lies Beeneath in an all-new trailer:

New features coming to APICO in Update 3.0: What Lies Beeneath include:

  • New areas: Dive deep down to the bottom of the ocean and discover a new bee-ome with new areas to explore that include deep-sea flora and fauna, a coral reef system, and more!

  • New Bees: Discover, collect, build homes and breed new species of bees found only at the furthest depths of the ocean, and collect their resources for craftables and quests.

  • New Quests: Harness the help of your newfound bee friends to restore the damaged coral reef system and clean up underwater pollution to help the bee-cosystem and its inhabitants thrive.

  • New Fishing Mechanic: Skipper’s dad, Captain, arrives at the archipelago to teach you the ins and outs of a new mechanic — fishing!

  • And More: New quality-of-life improvements, including a newly added trash can and nearby chest auto-deposit, will help your beekeeping bee-come more efficient than ever! 

About APICO

APICO combines resource gathering, biology, and minigames with ideas from both real-life and fantasy beekeeping and gardening, as it teaches players about the ins and outs of maintaining a healthy hive and the importance of our irreplaceable pollinating pals. The islands of APICO were once abuzz with different species of bees, and it’s up to players to rediscover lost species, cross-breed new ones, and repopulate each unique bee-ome. Progressing further into the game may also uncover some forgotten secrets. 

As well, a portion of the games’ profits goes toward bee conservation. Full details about these efforts can be found here: https://apico.buzz/savethebees.

Features of APICO include:

  • Play together with up to four in online co-op, with cross-play available on all platforms!

  • Unique crafting and beekeeping minigames that drive gameplay progression.

  • Cross-breed different bees and other pollinators, including butterflies, moths, and solitary bees, to discover over 30 new species.

  • Grow flowers — each with their own special effect on the environment — to keep your pollinators happy!

  • Make and sell honey, Apicola, incense, candles, and other beekeeping products.

  • Repopulate lost species and release them back into the wild.

  • Multiple biomes to explore, each with its own unique pollinator species.

  • A chill soundtrack by Mothense creates a relaxing atmosphere.

  • Uncover the forgotten secrets of the APICO Islands. 

APICO is currently available on PC via Steam, Epic Game Store, Humble Games, itch.io, Utomik, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch™, and Xbox One and Series S|X for $19.99 USD. 

APICO Update 3.0: What Lies Beeneath will be available on PC via Steam and itch.io on September 26.

Follow APICO on Twitter, Instagram, and Discord for more updates. 

Keep up to date with Whitethorn Games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitch, join the official Whitethorn Games Discord, and visit https://whitethorngames.com.

Details about the accessibility features available in AIPCO can be found here: https://whitethorngames.com/apico/accessibility. 

Get Your Cameras Ready - Beasts of Maravilla Island Joins the Aim & Snap Games Event This Week

Today, we at Whitethorn Games are thrilled to announce that the magical photography game Beasts of Maravilla Island has joined the Aim & Snap Games event. 

In celebration of “World Photography Week”, the event organized by Runaway Play features a selection of photography-focused award-winning games. The Aim & Snap Games event runs from August 19 through August 26 and includes fantastic indie games available at a discount, demos to play, and a chance to win some fantastic prizes.

All of the games participating in the seven-day event feature a camera mechanic as part of the core gameplay. As the rise of camera mechanics in games is celebrated, the event organizers, Runaway Play, hope to highlight the popularity of photography games as a rising sub-genre and connect fans with games they love.

Games participating in the Aim & Snap event include:

The week-long event includes a giveaway competition, where participants can enter for a chance to win keys from the featured games, including a major prize winner who will receive a key for the eight participating Steam games! Interested entrants can submit their entries by visiting the Aim & Snap official website!

Prominently featuring photography and camera mechanics as core gameplay elements, these featured games belong to a niche sub-genre yet to be officially categorized on gaming platforms – Photography games. Nevertheless, celebrated titles such as TOEM (BAFTA Games Awards), Umurangi Generation (Indie Games Festival), SEASON: A Letter to the Future (BIG Festival), Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (Games For Change Awards) have garnered prestigious gaming awards. All of the participating games have a dedicated and passionate audience, with games like Beasts of Maravilla Island leaving a lasting impression on players and the gaming industry alike. Play the games, say cheese and enjoy the depths of each title, all of which are the perfect experience for aspiring Virtual Photographers!

In Beasts of Maravilla Island, players assume the role of Marina Montez, an aspiring wildlife photographer who is armed with her grandfather's journal of Maravilla and his camera. The protective magic of Maravilla Island is waning, and the only way to save it is to restore humanity's belief in the magical. To save Maravilla Island, players must climb, explore, and solve puzzles with the island's flora and fauna to find and photograph its fabulous beasts.

Runaway Play is an award-winning independent game developer and publisher based in New Zealand. They recently released Flutter Away on Nintendo Switch and Steam, a short nature exploration game set in a cozy nook of the Amazon rainforest. In Flutter Away you are a butterfly researcher on a five-day camping trip.  Explore nearby tracks, take photos, meet animal friends and journal your discoveries!

Check out the week-long event’s official website and search #AimandSnapGames on social media, and stay up to date with the latest information by following Runaway Play on Twitter.

Follow Whitethorn Games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitch, join the official Whitethorn Games Discord, and visit the official website.

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Whitethorn Games Reveals First Demos for Magical Delicacy, Skate Fish and More Inclusive, Accessible, Easy-Going Games at PAX West 2023

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Today, we’re thrilled to announce their return to Seattle during PAX West 2023, presenting demos for some of their upcoming games, recent releases, along with fan favorites.

Taking place at the Washington State Convention Center from September 1 through 4, 2023, PAX West ticketholders are invited to booth 739 located in the North Hall to get access to the first-ever hands-on demos of two highly-anticipated games: Magical Delicacy and Skate Fish. They will also be able to check out demos for upcoming titles Botany Manor and Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, and the recently released fan-favorite Calico: Pawsome Edition, as well as a number of the publisher's other hit titles.

New store offerings include apparel featuring an exclusive limited-edition Whitethorn Games PAX West Shirt, new pins for their line-up of games, and more. As well we're hosting an exclusive giveaway. Attendees at the show who visit the booth can enter to win fantastic prizes, such as merch, games, and a grand prize of a Nintendo Switch Lite complete with a collection of games.

Check out our full PAX West 2023 lineup below:

Magical Delicacy (Release date for PC, Xbox TBD) — First Hands-on Demo

Metroidvania-lite meets cooking! Play as the young witch Flora as she explores her new home in the harbor town of Grat, meets the charming townsfolk, collects ingredients and brews up magical dishes and potions!

Skate Fish (2023 for Android and iOS) — First Hands-on Demo

Do tricks! Catch fish! Using finger-deck-skateboard-inspired mechanics, perform all kinds of tricks to impress and catch unique aquatic critters as you help repopulate the local aquarium!

Botany Manor (Release date for PC, Xbox, Switch TBD) — Demo 

Explore the stately home of retired botanist Arabella Green as she unravels the needs of rare forgotten flora that need coaxing to flourish! Wander the stunning grounds and interact with the many items to be discovered in order to solve plant-based puzzles.

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (Summer 2024 for PC and Consoles) — Demo

From the developers behind the award-winning Röki, Mythwrecked invites you to visit the sun-drenched shores of Ambrosia Island, home to the Greek pantheon of gods. Explore the islands to find its inhabitants, treasures, and secrets, befriend the gods to deepen your relationship and unlock the rich narrative and their godly assistance to help you uncover the island's mysteries and help restore their memories.

Calico (Out now on PC, Switch, Xbox) — Demo

Calico is a day-in-the-life community sim game where you must rebuild the town’s cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures! Build up your café by filling it with cute furniture, fun decorations, yummy pastries, and get it bustling with animals again!

For more information about Whitethorn Games, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitch, join the official Whitethorn Games Discord, and visit https://whitethorngames.com.

Calico, the Cute Cat Café Game Is Coming To PlayStation 4 and 5!

We and developer Peachy Keen Games are excited to let you know that Calico is coming to PlayStation 4 and 5! If you have a PlayStation console, you’ll soon get to enjoy the beloved day-in-the-life community sim game, where you are given an important and adorable task: rebuild the town’s cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures! Build up your café by filling it with cute furniture, fun decorations, yummy pastries, and get it bustling with animals again!

Check out the announcement trailer below:

Included with the PlayStation release is Calico: Pawsome Edition, bringing even more content to your cat café. Pawsome Edition introduces new animals to befriend, a UI and visual overhaul to provide a more pleasant playing experience, and the ability to customize your wallpaper and floors while in the café. 

But that’s not all — the cooking that players have come to know and love is bigger than ever! Each recipe comes with its own series of minigames to perform in the kitchen. Time and accuracy in the recipe minigames will award players with a gold, silver, or bronze star, which will provide different bonuses to sales prices. But be careful: once customers have bought all the fresh food, star bonuses will disappear until that recipe is played again.

Key features of Calico include:

  • Every Animal is a Friend: You’ll encounter a lot of animals on the island. Befriend them, name them, add them to your party, send them to live at the café, and most importantly, love them forever! Interact with your new friends by dancing, cuddling, petting, carrying, lounging with, and playing with them!

  • Bewitching Good Looks: Express yourself through fashion! Create an avatar and customize them with collectable clothing found throughout the game.

  • Design, Decorate, Delight: Decorate the interior and exterior of the café to your liking! Collect and arrange furniture and toys for both your human and animal visitors. Cat trees, scratching posts, and dog beds are definite must-haves!

  • The Power of Magic: The world of Calico has no limits! With the potion system, there are so many ways to live out your magical dreams. Want to make your feline friend ginormous? The Big Small potion has you covered!

Calico is currently available on  Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™, and PC — via Steam, Epic Games, the Humble Store, itch.io, and Game Jolt. Calico is Coming to PlayStation 4 and 5 this year, with more information about a precise release date in the coming months.

Keep up with Calico by following the game on Twitter, or by staying tuned to Whitethorn Games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Twitch, Discord, and whitethorngames.com.

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Check out the Sights and Sounds of Providence Oaks Under a Blanket of Snow in a New Trailer for the Upcoming DLC, Lake: Season’s Greetings

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While it’s far from snow season for many of us, the team at Gamious is hard at work creating an authentic, festive winter scene for the upcoming DLC to their beloved mail carrier narrative adventure Lake, Lake: Season’s Greetings. Today, the team provides an early look into some of the effects used to help create the idyllic winter atmosphere by sharing a new trailer.

As fans of the snow, the team at Gamious is working to ensure the most important details are present to create their captivating winter wonderland. From the crunch of snow under heavy boots and the fluffy clumps that flick up as you walk, to tire tracks and doughnuts in the snow, to the pine branches sagging with heavy ice crystals after a recent snowfall, you’ll be transported to a picturesque snowscape without ever having to pick up a shovel!

Watch the Sights and Sounds of Providence Oaks trailer below:

Lake: Season’s Greetings is a Christmas-themed prequel to the successful, relaxing mail carrier narrative adventure, Lake, and introduces a new chapter to the story, presenting a different perspective to many of the familiar faces players have grown to love from the main story. It will also introduce five completely new characters to the town of Providence Oaks, each of them with their own slice-of-life storylines. Changing the perspective from Meredith to her father, Thomas, presents a new understanding of the relationship Meredith has with her parents for you to explore. Players will also get to find out more about some of the unanswered questions that were teased in Lake, and learn more about life in Providence Oaks and its inhabitants, as well as the positive role an amiable mailman can play in all sorts of small-town drama.

Lake: Season’s Greetings will be released on PC and several other platforms this holiday season. More information about the precise release date and launch platforms will be revealed in the coming months.

Lake is available now on PC via Steam, or Epic Games Store, on PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.  


Follow Lake on Twitter, Facebook, and visit the official website, for more updates.

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