Donut County is some sort of reverse Katamari Damacy where instead of trying to build a large ball out of stuff, you’re mainly trying to use an increasingly bigger hole in order to grab everything in each level, solving puzzles along the way. I had a great time with it and loved its style and charm. Some of the gimmicks were a bit annoying, but ultimately nothing prevented me from completing the game.
Told in a story going back and forth between the past and the present, Donut County is the tale of a raccoon using a machine to create holes and move them around a town. The way the story is presented is pretty funny, giving the player useless but humorous interactions - such as hitting the ‘honk’ button during text message discussions - and ties up gameplay sequences well. The game goes in really weird places by the end and you have to fight a boss before everything wraps up, so you’re always at least kept on your toes.
Each level plays in a similar fashion; you start with a very small hole and must figure out what’s the thing you can grab, each time something falls into the hole, it gets bigger, so you can grab bigger and bigger things, until you’ve grabbed everything in sight. Some levels will add additional mechanics, like the hole now throwing rabbits, frogs or eggs around around, or getting filled with water. Most of these work fine, but a few don’t. It’s an overall positive experience, so I’m not holding the last boss too much against it.
Dunut County oozes with style and charm, so that’s why there’s not much to say about its mechanic. No deep system of skills to unlock nor an experience curve to analyse and loot to quantify. You’re just a hole moving around, grabbing everything you can, and there are raccoons. Donut County is pretty great, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
