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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Donut County
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Your progress is saved at the end of each level, though you also have the option to return to any level you've already cleared at any time. To pause the game, bring up the game's menu with ESC. Time needed per session:Plan on playing for ten to fifteen minutes per session, as that will give you enough time to clear two or more levels. That said, you can complete the entire storyline in under two hours, so perhaps one long session will be enough.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians This game is fairly tame, with the main issue being that a raccoon called BK is dropping people and animals down a portable hole. Despite the long fall, nobody appears to be harmed by this. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/donut_county_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/donut_county_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/donut_county_2.jpg)
Game Overview
If you've only glanced at Donut County's promotional material, you might be led to think that it's yet another game where you're tasked with growing something by "eating" things. Games like that are a dime a dozen, and even the best ones get fairly monotonous quickly. But, while Donut County does share some mechanics with these games, there's a lot more substance to it. For starters, this is actually a puzzle game - each level has its own quirks that you'll need to figure out in order to advance the story.
At the start of the game, the story is already underway - in fact, it's almost over. The residents of Donut County are trapped nearly a thousand feet below the surface. As they huddle around a campfire, a raccoon named BK is complaining about how his best friend Mira broke his precious remote-controlled quadcopter. But, nobody else is on his side. Instead, they claim that their current situation is BK's fault, and to emphasize their point, they take turns explaining how they personally ended up so far underground.
These flashbacks form the basis for the levels you'll be navigating. Nearly everyone had the same experience: thinking they were ordering a tasty treat, they would order a donut from BK. In turn, he would use his tablet's hole making App to "deliver" a hole, and then move it around so that it gobbled up what he thought was everyone's "trash". In reality, these items were people's belongings, homes, and even the residents themselves!
During the levels, you take on BK's role, guiding the portable hole around. The trick to this is that you can't entirely rely on the classic formula of "the more you consume, the larger the larger you get". Most of the levels contain objects that you'll need to interact with in order to either make something accessible or small enough to fit in the hole. Since holes don't exactly have many options when it comes to interacting with things, you'll often need to think about what you're doing before you go around mindlessly swallowing everything.
All in all, Donut County is a cute puzzle game that's worth a look, especially if you enjoyed games like Tasty Planet or Katamari Damacy.
At the start of the game, the story is already underway - in fact, it's almost over. The residents of Donut County are trapped nearly a thousand feet below the surface. As they huddle around a campfire, a raccoon named BK is complaining about how his best friend Mira broke his precious remote-controlled quadcopter. But, nobody else is on his side. Instead, they claim that their current situation is BK's fault, and to emphasize their point, they take turns explaining how they personally ended up so far underground.
These flashbacks form the basis for the levels you'll be navigating. Nearly everyone had the same experience: thinking they were ordering a tasty treat, they would order a donut from BK. In turn, he would use his tablet's hole making App to "deliver" a hole, and then move it around so that it gobbled up what he thought was everyone's "trash". In reality, these items were people's belongings, homes, and even the residents themselves!
During the levels, you take on BK's role, guiding the portable hole around. The trick to this is that you can't entirely rely on the classic formula of "the more you consume, the larger the larger you get". Most of the levels contain objects that you'll need to interact with in order to either make something accessible or small enough to fit in the hole. Since holes don't exactly have many options when it comes to interacting with things, you'll often need to think about what you're doing before you go around mindlessly swallowing everything.
All in all, Donut County is a cute puzzle game that's worth a look, especially if you enjoyed games like Tasty Planet or Katamari Damacy.
Points of Interest
Hidden objectives
Each level is considered completed when you've dropped everything down the ever-growing hole. However, that's not all you can do - nearly every level contains a hidden task for you to attempt. These aren't needed to complete the game, but figuring them out usually causes something silly to happen, so they're worth attempting. You can find hints about these tasks by looking over the list of achievements or by looking up specific items in the Trashopedia.
Steam community features
While you're busy cleaning up the town, you can earn twenty different achievements. About half of these are related to the story's progression; the rest are based around completing the various hidden objectives or just doing something silly, like overusing an emoji in your text messages.
For those who might be interested, there is also a set of Steam trading cards available.
For those who might be interested, there is also a set of Steam trading cards available.
Concerns and Issues
Very mild violence
In order to gather everything up, the player needs to either drop animals or people into the portable hole. Sometimes, you'll need to encourage them to move closer by damaging the environment, including objects that people are resting on or hiding in. There is also an actual boss fight near the end of the game, where the hole is used to destroy an occupied enemy vehicle.
None of this is shown in a serious or violent way, and the story clearly shows the hole's victims remain alive and well despite their long falls.
None of this is shown in a serious or violent way, and the story clearly shows the hole's victims remain alive and well despite their long falls.
Good at multiplying
Occasionally you'll gather up some rabbits or bunnies while scooping things up. When two or more are in there, hearts will fly out of the hole followed by a large number of baby bunnies. This is about as offensive as things get.