The O.D. on Games: Donut County

After finishing Donut County, Rulerofowls (ROW) and Powlzzle Hut (PH) got together to discuss the game.

• ROW: So, Donut County is finally out and we’ve both finished it. What are your thoughts on it?
• PH: I like it; I wish there was more, but what is there is fun and seemed very hard for a development team of mostly one person, so I get why it was short. Interestingly though, in the two hours there are tons of ideas and concepts implemented, which kept my interest and left me wanting more.
• ROW: Yeah, but we should say that this is a game all about being a hole and as you feed stuff in that hole, it grows and it can consume larger stuff. Some other concepts come into play later on, but that’s spoiler territory!
• PH: Right and we should also mention that this is not a hard game; don’t expect to stare into your screen, or overthink a very simple solution, sleep on it, solve it the next day and feel really stupid, as is the case with most other puzzle games. Brain-teasing or problem-solving are not the focus of the experience here; it’s mostly about being chill, cheery and funny, and it wants you to have two lighthearted and relaxed hours with it.
• ROW: I think the art-style is such a good analogy for the hole game (pun intended and validated, because the developer made this pun and I will rip them off shamelessly), because it’s this relaxed, colorful, symmetrical and easy to look at style that fits with the game’s vibe, but does not promise something that it’s not. I think the reason we wanted more, is because what is there is really good and we just want more of something that’s really good! 

  

   

• PH: I agree and although I really dig the style (pun intended again), at times it got the game into trouble; birds would be sitting on the power lines, but I thought they were on the fence below, and little things like that, which made the HUD-less experience of the game not work as well as I would have liked.
• ROW: I had the same issues on the same level, but I accidentally got past it and then figured out what I was supposed to do; other than that though, I found every other level and the physics-based gameplay to be fun and joyful, which was a surprise because I didn’t think there was much to do with the concept of “control a hole and feed it stuff to make it bigger”.
• PH: That’s kind of the puzzle-game genre though; I never thought there was much room to experiment with line puzzles, but then The Witness came along and proved me wrong. What actually surprised me though was how much fun the story, characters and dialogue is; controlling the trash-loving raccoon B.K. and meeting these other interesting and funny characters, while they describe how they were sucked in the hole, actually leads to some funny and charming moments.
• ROW: I really liked the philosophical debate of “what makes a donut? Is it the hole” bit. That’s a good point though, because you also play the asshole that controls the hole, and is unrepentant and unwilling to understand or accept that what he is doing is wrong; he just wants his cool quadcopter-which is pretty cool admittedly! Also, you are controlling the hole through an app, which also has a “bestiary” called “trashopedia” that has all the things you fed into the hole, and all of those things come with a pretty funny description; I spent an extra half-an-hour going through them and laughing!
• PH: Me too! I thought there were some misses as well, but the jokes that do hit are pretty good, and have gotten some genuine laughs out of me. But, I think that’s it for Donut County; at the low price of 1200 owlians (12 euros for humans) it’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
• ROW: I think that if you go in with the right expectations and just want a game that will relax, charm, and entertain you for a couple of hours and then move on to something else, then this is definitely worth checking out!