Welcome to Lio Gaming Game Reviews. If you’re looking to find a relaxing game to play to de-stress, you’ve come to the right place. Donut County is a truly bizarre puzzle/adventure game. It has a really weird concept and a great sense of humour to go with it.
| About Game | Details |
|---|---|
| Game Name | Donut County |
| Developer | Ben Esposito |
| Type | Puzzle |
| Publisher | Annapurna Interactive |
| Game Engine | Unity |
| Supported Platform | Xbox one, PS4, Pc, Android, iOS |
You follow the events unfolding in Donut County as holes start opening up across town swallowing up everything from fences and buildings to the residents themselves. There’s not really any mystery surrounding this, the racoon BK is very much the one controlling these holes and he is very much under the impression he’s done nothing wrong.
There is a simple plot running through the game, tying all the levels together. The majority of the story follows the characters as they are trapped at the bottom of the hole after they have fallen down there, with the levels acting as flashbacks to what happened to each of them. The gameplay itself is moving a hole around the level trying to make everything fall into it, simple but very satisfying.
As you catch more things the hole grows larger and you can make even bigger things fall in. Each level will introduce a new additional element such as absorbing water into the hole (and removing it again) or a catapult to fling things you’ve caught back out to hit targets or to knock even more items into the hole. There are no time limits and none of the puzzles are particularly difficult. They do require a little lateral thinking, especially towards the end of the game.
When a new mechanic is introduced it is either built on by the next level or pops up again in the final stage of the game resulting in a game that feels very well thought out and cohesive. Each level is really fun, and it’s so satisfying to finally see the largest objects fall into your hole. Donut County has a very strong visual aesthetic. I’m always a fan of a colourful, low-poly art style, as regular reader’s of this website will be well aware. The characters designs are all really fun, as are the objects which fill the levels giving each area a distinctive look and feel.
The tone of the game is very light-hearted. It really leans into the absurdity of the concept and works to get jokes in wherever possible. I enjoyed looking through all of the object descriptions at the end of each level, and the dialogue between Mira and BK in particular regularly got a few chuckles out of me. It’s a relatively short game and this is the main complaint I’ve seen against it in the past.
It takes between an hour and a half and two hours to complete so at full price it does feel a bit steep. Keep an eye out for it to be on sale though. Even if it was over too soon, I enjoyed my time in Donut County and can happily award it the Lio gaming Seal of Approval. Thank you so much for reading.