Donut County was created by Ben Esposito. Check out his website here. It can be played on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, IOS, and Steam. I played mine on Switch. It is a charming and whimsical physics/puzzle game where you control a hole in the ground and swallow everything up. Even though you move the hole, it is actually controlled by a raccoon named BK. It sounds a bit strange but trust me, this game is well worth the two to three hours it’ll take to complete it.
The game is divided into roughly 20 levels, each taking place in a different part of Donut County. The story of the game takes place below Donut County inside this infamous hole and is told in a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks are the levels you play. Each resident from Donut County has a story about how they got swallowed by the hole.
I do not want to spoil too many things about the story because I rather enjoyed experiencing it without knowing too much, but I will say that it is very well written. I began to get invested in the residents of Donut County, even though I was also the one swallowing all of them up. That duality between sympathizing with the townspeople and being responsible for their misfortunes is an interesting feeling. It left me wanting resolution and hoping that BK would end up making the right decision. I believe that is the lesson of Donut County. Your actions have consequences whether you witness them or not and fixing your mistakes can often take more work than making them.
Donut County’s gameplay is oddly satisfying. You start as a very small hole at the beginning of each level and as you consume the items around you, you grow bigger. Eventually, you will be swallowing entire buildings. Personally, I was entranced watching items, people, and animals fall into this hole. There was an odd sense of productivity attached to each level. It almost felt like I was cleaning the town, not ruining it.
There are puzzle aspects as well. Sometimes you will reach a point in a level where there isn’t anything left to collect into your ever-growing hole, so you have to solve some puzzles to get more things to produce or fall off of something. I remember gathering up some corn and moments later, seeing popcorn shoot out of the hole. It were moments like this that just made me so happy. There was clearly so much thought and love put into this title.
Once you clear a level, it gives you a congratulations screen and an EXP bar will fill a little. It’s funny to see that this raccoon is gaining levels from everything he destroys. As a gamer myself, I actually identified with BK in this aspect. This naughty raccoon was doing all of these things just so he could level up and use his points to buy the items he wanted. How many of us have done awful things in video games to level up or get rare items? I know I have. It was honestly concerning how relatable it was.
I thoroughly enjoyed Donut County and its charm. The soundtrack compliments the entire feel of this game and it all came together beautifully. I will certainly look forward to more of Ben Esposito’s games and hopefully even more Donut County content. I could’ve played this game for much longer than the story offered. If you enjoy the physics or puzzle game genre then you need to give this title a shot.
