Buzzing Away with Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer
Manage the tough decisions to help a hive of bees thrive and survive a full year in Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer.
There are a lot of solo games that have been sitting on my shelves for 3 or 4 years, so it’s about time to see why I’ve taken so long to bring them back to the table! Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer intrigued me from the start with its realistic take on managing a beehive. Being a bee is very difficult! I was about to find out how true that was…
Game Overview
Game Name: Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Matt Shoemaker
Artists: Alina Josan and Helen Shoemaker
Publisher: Hit ‘Em With a Shoe
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of a year, events affect each month as a small hive struggles to collect honey, pollen, and even water to survive. Wild hives provide competition, as well as dangerous neighbors. It’s a struggle to survive in a very realistic sense as the bees must prepare for winter!
First Play
July 26, 2019
Complexity
4
Latest Play
July 11, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
12
Play Time
40 Minutes
High Score
60
Game Area
28" x 16"
Low Score
15
Living the Bee-Level Life
There is a lot of unique artwork scattered throughout the game, which is always lovely to look at! The box art is quite wonderful… Look at that adorable and fuzzy bee!
However, don’t be fooled by the appearance. This is more like a realistic simulation of a beehive. In effect, it has some convoluted rules and feels like a constant struggle.
I enjoyed my plays when it first came out, even though I never fully grasped what it was I needed to do to do well.
Re-reading the rulebook again brought back those murky areas, but I was still determined to give it a fair chance.
Wild Hives and Events
Each month features a random card from the season, which might be something that boosts forage bonuses… Or might be very negative and offer up a challenge.
I’ll go into detail some more, but I found the problem with the solo mode: Wild hives typically don’t show up on their own, yet they’re required to earn victory points.
Effectively, I had to create them by swarming with an overcrowded hive… Yet I lost a lot of bees and resources.
A peaceful area with no other hives was the exact opposite way to play, even though I thought I was doing well.
Just a Lone BeeHive
Map tiles form the main area that has different types for foraging capabilities. This was where my hive began in what looked like a very tiny area. It got bigger!
Actually, scouting is vital to seek out the sorts of tiles that give more resources in later months and seasons.
It started off slowly with me expanding the hive and trying to figure out when to trigger a swarm based on capacity.
Even reading the strategy tips in the rulebook didn’t help me, and I wondered if this would make more sense to an apiarist or beekeeper. Clearly, I am no bee expert!
Expanding the Region
With consistent scouting, the area opened up so that foraging during summer and autumn worked out well.
There were several wild hives that showed up, but I was able to raid them all to remove them from the map. That was a main source of consistent victory points.
However, it felt a little odd to be the one who generated my own rivals, only to keep repeating the process.
I understand that it probably mimics real life situations, but in terms of a solo game? There was an unwritten requirement for me to generate my opponents.
When a Simulation Takes a Complicated Turn
The main idea behind the game is that it provides a realistic depiction of what it’s like to live as a bee. In other words, it’s very difficult! I expected a simulation, but it quickly turned into a more complex set of steps in terms of gameplay. Translating the real world into a game state isn’t easy, yet it shouldn’t be complex for the sake of complexity.
Many rounds saw me doing the same things again and again. I understand that need for repetition in the real world, but I didn’t really feel like I was making exciting decisions. Gather resources, destroy wild hives, swarm to create more wild hives, and keep the disease level as low as possible. The constant counting felt more like a mathematics exercise.
I think this is an interesting concept to show how challenging it is for bees to thrive. For me, though, it’s not as engaging as a solo game itself. There are just too many moving parts… Much like a swarm of bees, I suppose. Ha ha!
A Successful Hive Raid
One of the important things to keep in mind with the wild hives is to ensure their strength doesn’t get too high. So I set out to raid with 5 bees, rolling some fun dice!
I ended up sacrificing a bee to add to the strength, but this was how I took out a wild hive and collected a ton of honey during the summer. Nicely done, little beehive!
Off to the left, I kept the disease level under control to make sure no one died off each month. Very important.
Still, I wasn’t very good at swarming all the time, so months went by with no competition across the map.
Surviving the Winter
While spring, summer, and autumn play out in very exciting rounds, the 3 winter months move by quickly. Bees are fed, bees may die, and then it keeps on going.
Fortunately, I had plenty of honey saved in the hive I expanded over the course of play! All of my bees survived, providing me with plenty of victory points at the end.
Alas, my final score was still laughable compared to the solo scoring tiers. I needed to double it to even come close.
There were some glimmers of interesting moments, although the constant need to check the rules was a lot.
Delightful Artwork
Many events were pretty rough on my beehive, yet they were all massively improved by the unique pieces of art!
It was interesting to see how easy it was to interpret some icons, while I was utterly lost when it came to others.
But it was my confusion about what to do to get better that concerned me. I could focus on swarming, yet that resulted in lost bees and resources. Or was that good?
There were plenty of aspects I brushed aside in my plays almost 4 years ago. However, I’m a lot more aware of what doesn’t work for me now… And the bees were in danger.
Another Chance
Since I had everything partially set up, I simply reset to see if I could make some changes and try other strategies.
In the end, the meadow was still just as small. I had some interesting wild hives show up, but I still had trouble swarming… Especially with lots of bad seasonal events.
There were small rules I missed to give myself bonuses here and there. It didn’t affect the outcomes, but it was annoying to miss out on the Queen’s ability sometimes.
My final score was even worse this time, despite my valiant attempt. Sadly, no beehive should ever trust me!
Session Overview
Play Number: 11 and 12
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 28 and 22 (2 Wins)
Technically, I won since the bees survived through winter… But the highest scoring tier was 60 victory points. Nowhere close! With a lot of rules still a little foggy and lots of iconography, I was content knowing I got this to my table one last time. I’m sure it will be a hit for the right player, particularly someone who loves bees and knows a lot more about them! It’s certainly a realistic struggle.
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
5
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
5
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
3
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is lovely with plenty of unique scenes that help bring the world of bees to life in bright color.
- There are a lot of realistic elements incorporated into gameplay that show just how hard it is for bees to survive.
- Despite not expanding that much, the map takes on an interesting appearance by the end with colorful tiles.
- Scenarios and campaigns offer other ways to play solo, while the difficulty can be increased with challenge cards.
- Wooden components stand out nicely and are easy to see in the hive, helping with constant population counts.
- Since the map area remains so small, the overall required table space is very manageable and doesn’t expand.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Many rules are confusing, and the reference card is missing a phase so flipping around the rulebook is required.
- There is no clear feedback on how to generate more victory points or reach the higher solo scoring tiers.
- Wild hives are mostly self-created, yet swarming as often as possible feels like an odd way to generate opponents.
- Gameplay doesn’t have a lot of variety with the solo mode, and progress usually happens in a set sequence.
Victory Conditions
Survive the Winter
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 20 points.
Score at least 30 points.
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever played Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer? What other interesting solo games offer simulations of realistic elements of nature? I’m glad I had the chance to check this one out again before finding a new home for it. There are some complex processes at play, and I have a much greater appreciation for the lives of bees these days!
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