Donut County

Mon, 23 May 2022 12:00:00 -0700

This will be a short and sweet review for a short and sweet game. Donut County is a delightful and comical must-play in which you control as a hole in the ground that’s gobbling everything up. Each hole starts small—fitting only a soda can or a pebble—but grows with each object consumed. Pretty soon you’re dropping whole tables, cars, and houses into the abyss. Clear the area of any and all objects, and you win!

Destroying civilization as a hole in the ground is the most satisfying way of channeling your chaotic evil. (Do you hate traffic jams but stifle your inner road rage? Donut County has a level for you.) By methodically working through a location’s objects, smallest to largest, I couldn’t help but make happy sighs of relief as all the junk slowly disappeared. The hole does not discriminate among its targets, though; an upstanding farm in the countryside is just as fair game as a roach-infested greasy spoon. Our consciences get to take a back seat to hilarity on this colorful and minimalist polygon art ride.

From the surprising physics of retrofitting the hole as a projectile gun to the descriptions of mundane objects—a dog dish is described as “drinking from this is like kissing a dog, but not as fun”—Donut County kept me laughing throughout its few-hour playtime. If you need an afternoon pick-me-up or a palette cleanser between longer games, Donut County won’t fail to delight.

Hades

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 13:00:00 -0800

It’s very difficult at this point to say anything about Hades that hasn’t already been said, not because of any lack on the part of this Underworld roguelite, but because so many others before me have loved and effusively written about this game. A week after its early access release in September 2020, it had already sold 1,000,000 copies. It was listed as just about everyone’s 2020 game of the year and even won the first ever Hugo award given to a videogame (for the unfamiliar, those are literary awards for sci-fi and fantasy). Suffice it to say, Hades is critically and personally well-loved.

“But wait!” you say, “I’m no lemming. What is Hades, really? And is it… actually good?” Fair enough.

Hades is a narrative-driven roguelite set in Greek mythology that tells the story of Zagreus, son of Hades, shortly after he discovers a surprising truth about his parentage. Determined to put his anger about being lied to and his frustration with his stern, cold, and impatient father to better use, he attempts to escape from the House of Hades and his Underworld home, aided by his godly relatives on Olympus. Standing between Zagreus and the surface are the many monsters and hazards that Hades put in place to keep the dead from escaping, often resulting in Zagreus’s death and return to the House via the river Styx. Therein lies the game’s core mechanic of repeated and semi-randomized runs, each an opportunity for Zagreus to claw ever closer to the surface and the answers to his many questions.

Along the way, Zagreus forms relationships with his Chthonic relatives and friends in the House of Hades and with the gods of Olympus as they aid him in his escape. In true Supergiant Games style, these characters are each distinct personalities unto themselves with beautifully rendered portraits and top-notch voice acting. Largely thanks to the game’s writing and length, relationships grow and change in believable ways, taking the player on an emotional journey that mirrors Zagreus’s own.

The long character arcs are supported by fast combat and seamlessly integrating progression systems that create the “just one more run” hook. Resources gathered in a run can be used to make Zagreus permanently stronger, spent on decorations and new features for the House, or given as gifts to improve relationships (represented as heart meters a la Stardew Valley). Rare goods earned from defeating bosses can unlock new “aspects” of various weapons, changing their play style or fusing with other mechanics in Zagreus’s repertoire. Keepsakes given to Zagreus by his friends can make the difference between living and dying, and like the relationships they represent, they grow stronger as Zagreus spends more time with them.

As rewarding as it is to deepen relationships and have initially punishing runs become second nature over the course of repetition, Hades is a touch too long for its own good. For the 40 hours it took to me to reach the main ending—triggered by escaping to the surface 10 times—I was dazzled by the interlocking progression systems, character development, and random surprises and quirks (like stealing from Charon). The 25-hour-long road through the epilogue to the full narrative conclusion, however, seemed to stretch out even longer than the first. I completed runs on autopilot, sped along by the Pact of Punishment’s time limits for easy heat, no longer surprised at the ease with which I navigated my way through hell.

Perhaps this is the nature of finding one’s self and place: we trade the head-spinning thrill and crises of the search for the safety and security of knowing, and from the space of knowing we choose our ventures selectively. The epilogue shows us how Zagreus’s potential for redemptive, generous, and loving acts are discovered only after finding his place within community.

isometric | Mohammad Moshtaghi

Donut County

Hades