They shout the core theme of the game at the audience, in a moment that’s supposed to be a moving synthesis of what the player and characters have gone through. This feeling might come down to an age disconnect in some circumstances, but certain lines, like the conversation between a few of the supporting cast members during the main character’s final temptation, feel like the end paragraph of a high school English paper. Unfortunately, the few stilted, on the nose exchanges that are there hit you much harder because they break from the rest of the game so intensely. The jokes are relevant and topical without being over-referential, and makes great use of cartoon logic/sight gags. It’s mostly better than your average video game writing, and the sense of humor is great. Things do fall apart a little bit when it comes to dialogue, though. tell is the mantra here, and the simplicity of everything helps communicate the creators’ message clearly. Detroit: Become Human) tend to fall back on when discussing sensitive issues. It’s also important to note that Donut County achieves all this without falling into that rut of cynical preachiness that so many other games (e.g. The Trashopedia catalogs every item you sink, with an amusing description that sometimes includes game lore. On the surface, the bright, minimal visual style and narrative wouldn’t seem out of place in a children’s book, but the amount the game covers in such a short span, that in the few hours it takes to run through it all, you’re left with the urge to play it again to comb the game for missed details (the Trashopedia makes replay that much more rewarding.) The simplicity of the story in Donut County mirrors the core gameplay concept. His friends force him to face the reality of his actions when they piece together what’s happening, and he redeems himself by helping them escape the caverns underneath the city. While I found myself wanting larger scale stages and more fleshing out of the auxiliary mechanics, the game feels much more like a fun vehicle than a burden to the narrative, as is the case with so many similar titles.Īs mentioned before, you play (primarily) as a raccoon, who causes a disaster with an app that allows him to control magical holes. Execution of both the physics and light puzzle solving elements, though, keep it from becoming boring. That gameplay loop is as simple as it sounds, and the influence of Katamari Damacy on both the concept and the game’s visual language is clear. There are many other gameplay quirks like this. Swallowing a pair of rabbits causes them to breed, growing your hole. Each level is a retelling of the main characters’ actions that helps to characterize the supporting cast and outline the main conflict without bogging the player down with exposition. Things that fall in the hole increase its size, allowing the player to engulf larger objects.Īs stages progress, the player finds other ways to interact with the environment, like swallowing fireworks to launch them at obstacles, or moving water around the level to solve puzzles. In Donut County, the player interacts with the world as several characters, that use a smart phone app to move around a hole in the ground. Donut County hits a rare balance that elevates it, past the contrived strangeness of most experimental games, into a realm of interactive magical realism. This is a title that combines a sort of extreme Looney Toons logic with very human, relatable themes to create something much more. Few execute well on their premise, which is why I was so surprised by Donut County. While there are plenty of narratively driven titles, visual novels, and sandboxes/platformers to choose from, it’s a bit harder to find engaging experimental games. While it’s nice to see a revival of a genre I adore, I’ve been spoilt for choice and wandered into the unkown looking for a change of pace.Īlso Read: Next Up Hero Shows Promise with Interesting New Mechanics Each new release presents iterative takes on games like Castelvania, The Souls franchise, and stylish action games like DMC. We’re experiencing a glut of fast-paced action adventure titles in the indie genre at present.
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