Some people like donuts, some people like the holes…I, myself, prefer delightful indie game puzzlers designed around the concept of holes swallowing everything and anything in sight… but I also like donuts of course!
Now, Donut County is a weird game. Developed by Ben Esposito and based around a tweet from parody twitter account @petermolydeaux, it takes an idea as limited as “things fall in holes” and constructs a game that feels like reverse Katamari Damacy but with racoons instead of space princes.
So gameplay-wise it’s exactly as it sounds: you control a hole and you have to make things fall into that hole. As you grow in size, you can swallow bigger and bigger objects but some things you cant swallow until you’ve worked your way around some sort of puzzle or changed the very nature of the hole itself. It’s smart and takes some out-of-the-box thinking, but there’s never a time when you’ll be truly stumped as to what to do next and while in some games relative ease in puzzles could be a down side, when combined with the quirky nature of the game actually adds to it, allowing you to take in the beautiful art direction and the general atmosphere. Also there is nothing more satisfying in this world or the next then devouring everything in your path into hole-based oblivion.
Story-wise, I’m a fan. It’s the tale of a county being eaten by holes, who caused these holes and how it affects the denizens of Donut County. It’s a cool, albeit short, narrative that’s surrealist and comedic and feels like a perfect bookend to the puzzle levels you play in between. It gives the game heart and I found myself burning through the game just so I could see who I’d find in the hole next and just what was going on.
“Burning through” can be viewed as the main idea in the last paragraph because although I loved the game and the story, I was also done in about 2 hours and left wanting for more. Now it’s understandable as the games only made by one guy and I only payed around £8 for it, but when I finished I just felt like the puzzles still had so much potential to grow and the story could have easily been continued without becoming boring or redundant. Of course making the game longer might have killed everything I loved about it but when I finished and the credits started rolling I was left with a slight feeling of disappointment as I wanted to carry on playing. Maybe thats just selfishness talking and, with no game development experience myself, I could be completely wrong but hopefully theres more from Donut County in the future so I can carry on the journey.
In closing, Donut County is short but sweet and if you’re a fan of any of the Katamari games or just interesting narratives and interesting puzzle ideas then I would look to buy this game and be ready for some enjoyment.
Author: Hal, Plymouth store
