Donut County Review

Donut County  is one of the oddest premises for a game I've ever come across; this story-based physics puzzle title is all about hearing the perspective of townsfolk who have been thrown to the centre of Earth by a very mischievous raccoon named BK. Although that in and of itself is bizarre, the way he managed to do this is even stranger: when users unwittingly buy a donut from his shop, he summons a hole in the ground that grows with every item it eats — your goal is to leave nothing, and no one, behind.

Thanks to the interesting premise, I had no idea what to expect. Being a hole in the ground that devours everything — including buildings! — sounded interesting, but I figured it would be one of those games that is only fun until it stops being new. Eventually, I caved and played after my wife urged me to, and I fell head over heels for the silly dialogue and characters nearly instantaneously. 

In Donut County, aside from eating, you'll get to know a crazy cast of characters who are all angry with BK for destroying their town. The dialogue is quick and witty, and there's nothing but disarray and screaming... but in a good way! Of course, the raccoon is the cherry on top of the already humorous writing, with an absolutely chaotic personality that charmed me off my feet. 

While the gameplay is about as simple as I expected, there are some puzzle elements, especially the more you "level up"; this isn't really a downside, especially if you take the game in stride and only play when you want to, as it makes it a perfect title to boot up during downtimes or when you're in the mood for some silliness. Whilst I would mostly play it up during days I didn't have much time to game, I'd end up sucked into the satisfaction of slowly destroying everything.

The way each level works is pretty straightforward: a resident orders a doughnut, and you get to deploy a hole. While it starts off tiny, slowly eating at the grass or smaller objects, like rocks or shoes, you’ll eventually be big enough to devour the customer and their home/shop. Thankfully, my initial suspicion that the game might be stealth-based was wrong — you can eat and do as you please without fear of repercussion. Not every level is just eating everything, though, as some of them have gimmicks that add some spice to the gameplay, such as having to use water or fire to create chain reactions and help the hole grow larger; a good example is popping tons of popcorn by eating a kernel after swallowing fire. This, of course, means that these levels offer more interaction and goofiness, so they were my favourites.

Despite the special levels, I feared that the game would become repetitive. Although the gameplay never moves away from the puzzles and the hole, I never got bored; in fact, I very much looked forward to unravelling more of their story to learn more about what BK had done and how this all even happened. Once the short cutscenes were done, I was usually excited to surpass the next eating challenge.

I'm not surprised Donut County sits at 91% Very Positive on Steam at the time of writing — the game is downright enthralling! From the endearing cast and humour to the nuanced gameplay and setting, there's just a lot to love about it, especially if you're into silliness. Truth be told, I couldn’t recommend it more.