Wednesday 25 September, 2019

Well that was short. It was also a bit underwhelming. Being short was not the problem. (and to be fair I played as much as possible out of it in the sense that I then went back and picked up the trophies I had missed along the way).

Underwhelming is perhaps my overall feeling - the game is "fine", it's cute, there's some humor and unexpected interactions. BUT, I feel like the experience I had imagined in my head (you're a hole, swallow things to get better, it'll be crazy, and wacky, and wild, and fun) isn't what the game is about. It's much smaller in scope and scale (none of that Katamari craziness where you really feel like your ball grows in wild ways) and much more tranquil and laid back. Most levels are about solving easy/simple little puzzles...and much less about the hole and swallowing stuff. There isn't even all that much to swallow in the different levels and the scale is almost always the same - you start at the same size and then grow enough to swallow, say, a house. And that's it. No fanfare, nonsense, or wackiness.

It feels quite modern - and the conversation "system" (hit respond on a text messaging app) was cute. And there's humor. Which is nice...but overall I still feel like it falls a bit flat.

I wonder if the game would work much better with kids? Might they relate more to the characters or enjoy the gameplay?

Aw, I had looked forward to playing this because it seemed really quirky and Katamari-ish. I wonder if its early development had an impact on how merely fine it wound up being. The developer has a good GDC Failure Workshop talk on Kachina, the prototype that Donut County emerged from.