Donut County (2018)

Donut County... is a game... and you can play it. It's not bad, it's not great.

I enjoyed the theme and idea they were going for but it quickly wore out the welcome. Painfully annoying/nothingburger dialgoue and concept with basically no challenge or reason to play other than to say you did.

I am sure this game will connect with some people, but I found it to be painfully mediocre. I wasn't able to enjoy it as a truly great thing and I wasn't able to hate it as a truly awful piece of software... and not being able to make me feel anything in particular is probably the reason this feels like a definite "meh I guess"/10

This is one that a lot of people seem to like, but I gotta be honest, I'm not seeing the appeal. Some people even compare it to Katamari (a god-tier game in my book) -- and while I can see the comparison, the quality of gameplay could not be any more different between the two.

In Donut Country, you control a hole in the ground that you move about to make objects fall down into it. The hole gets a bit bigger each time you do (and sometimes very randomly gets a lot bigger, when the game needs it to be a lot bigger). I think the best comparison to make to Donut Country would be walking simulators, but you're a hole walking around instead of a person. Can the object fit? Then it'll fall down. It doesn't fit? Just walk around to something else. That's the entire game, and for me at least it was as tedious and pointless as it sounds like.

You actually spend more time with the story than you do for the actual gameplay... and nothing interesting at all happens for the story. I get the general impression that it's meant to be a silly story, but the comedy never worked for me here. I guess it's an extremely dry humor, but for the most part I never even registered the dialogue as attempts to tell a joke. Everyone falls down the hole, and then they're (vaguely) upset with the naughty racoon responsible... That's the plot, and what's meant to be funny I guess. I say PASS! Go play more Katamari instead.

This is exactly what I needed in my current emotional state. I played most of it last night and just finished it up. I needed something kind of mindless that didn't require a lot of focus but would also keep my mind off of things.

I attended a double funeral this morning, for one of my students from two years ago and his older cousin. They were killed in a drive-by a week and a half ago. He was just inside playing video games when the house was shot up. He was an amazing kid who was totally uninvolved in that sort of stuff and I hate this so much.

This simple, charming game is perfect to relax after a stressful day at work. It's a perfect mix of cute raccoon jokes and katamari - esque environment destruction. The simple point-and-click controls are approachable for any age and skill level, but there are plenty of little secrets if you're looking to explore and collect. The music and art is wonderfully cozy - big BMO/Beach City vibes, if you like those kind of cartoons.

I do wish the game was a bit longer - the game can be played all the way through in a few hours, with maybe an extra hour of cleanup for achievements and such - but I've played the game a few times at this point, and it still feels fun and relaxing after a couple playthroughs.

I played this on steam with M+K, but I bet it would be perfect to play on a console, or even on a tablet!

People complain that this game is too short, but I don't believe that's really its problem. Sure, it's like 2 to 3 hours long, BUT IS THAT REALY A PROBLEM WHEN YOU HAVE A BACKLOG AS HUGE AS THE ONE STARING AT YOU RIGHT NOW???? Lol I'm only (half) joking, though I do believe that would be a nice discussion for another time..

Anyways I think Donut County faces a bigger problem with pacing than it does with its length. It takes too long to introduce its cooler mechanics! You spend the majority of the game just moving the hole around and picking stuff up. It's ridiculously easy and I'm not sure if it could be really called a puzzle. When we start to have some new mechanics and interesting environmental puzzles puff the game ends. I think that if those were more evenly spread out, less people would complain about the game being too short.

A positive part of being this short though it that it doesn't take too long to get to the interesting part. In the mean time you are treated to a whole bunch of amazing music, a great presentation with great art style and to the trashpedia which is pretty funny (funnier than the dialogues to be honest lol).

In the end you're left with an experience that is well worth it! The later stages and ending are very very cool and it has the coolest credit sequence I've seen yet. I give it like a pretty strong 7 me thinks.