A new 2.5D arcade game involving training bugs to do cumbersome tasks will make its debut on PC through Steam. In Bug Academy, players will train flies, fireflies, mosquitoes, and bees by either controlling individual bugs or entire swarms to complete physics-based tasks.

The game launches January 14, 2020, on Steam – with a Switch version coming soon – developed by Polish studio Igrek Games and published by Gaming Factory S.A. and Ultimate Games S.A.

Bug Academy successfully funded itself via a Kickstarter campaign in early 2019. The Kickstarter completed with 180 backers putting together approximately $8,000.

Bug Academy allows you to control insects and even their entire swarm. The goal is to perform tasks the best or the fastest,” said the game’s creator, Jacek Perzanowski. “The gameplay is quick and intense. What is important is that the vast majority of elements are distinguished by their interactivity — they can be destroyed, moved or grabbed. The insects themselves are also diverse because each species has special abilities.”

The game creators say that the game covers various situations of insect life including such things as guarding animals in pastures, working in the mines, putting out fires, catching ghosts, painting pictures, or firing rockets.

The game comes with 33 lessons for the players to complete. Each one is a puzzle that requires a unique task to be performed. Each type of bug has its own specialization and unique skills – individually and in a swarm – and this will make each challenge approachable through its own needs to get the job done.

The puzzles are physics-based and using the 2.5D model, players will use bugs to lift objects and move them through the environment. Since bugs individually can be weak, sometimes the swarm is needed to grab and move objects.

The controls can be a little bit of a challenge at first, but that’s part of learning the game and completing puzzles. For example, once grabbed, a fridge could pendulum wildly side to side while being flown to its final location. Players will need to develop skills to deal with bug-related physics and handle situations as they arise in order to get the delivery done, the dishes washed, or ghosts captured (whatever the level requires).

“In Bug Academy players are placed in a very interactive world full of charming graphics and an original soundtrack full of insect sounds,” added Perzanowski. “All of this is saturated with light humor and a feeling of joyful chaos, which should appeal to both younger and older players.”

If you want to get in on the bug training gig, check the game out on Steam for PC.