PC Gamepass Exploration: Donut County

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Aywren

Donut County will be leaving PC Gamepass at the end of this month, and it’s a game that’s been on my “try it” list there for a while. So, in hearing it was a shorter game, I sat down with it and gave it a try last night.

When I say “shorter” game, I mean it. I didn’t intend to beat the game, but I did finish the story in a little under 2 hours. While I had fun and enjoyed all its quirks, I feel the full price of the game is rather steep for the amount of content you get. I’m glad I jumped on it via Game Pass before it left.

What is Donut County?

Donut County is a story-based physics puzzle game where you play as an ever-growing hole in the ground. Meet cute characters, steal their trash, and throw them in a hole.

I’m not sure what I expected when I began playing this game, but it wasn’t this! That’s not meant in a bad way, just that I was surprised by what the game offered. I knew it was something about opening a hole that swallowed items and grew larger for each item it swallowed – that was about it.

There are some puzzle elements to it – which the game does not explain, and leaves you to figure out on your own. I didn’t have too much trouble sorting through what the game needed me to do to progress, and didn’t need to stop to look anything up. So, I’d say that it was a pretty fair assumption that players could figure it out.

I won’t say much about the storyline, because saying anything about what the holes actually are and how the many characters tie into the story would be giving the experience away. The characters were all very quirky, though only a few really stood out, despite having quite the cast.

The art style and the music fit the theme well. The stages were fun to complete and puzzle through. There was even a semi boss fight near the end, which was unexpected – and you had to figure out how to use what you had to defeat it.

Overall, I’ll say it was an enjoyable experience that I’m glad I tried. But for the amount of gameplay you get and the depth of the game, wait until you can catch it on sale. Or, if you have Game Pass, give it a try before it leaves at the end of this month!

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