Donut County, the game about a raccoon, a hole, and garbage, arrives in August

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Donut County is a story-based physics puzzle game about raccoon and a hole in the ground that steals people's trash, and based on that description alone you can probably tell whether or not it's something you want to play. If it is, then you'll be happy to hear that publisher Annapurna Interactive announced today that it will be released to one and all on August 28.

The Steam page explains what Donut County is all about, sort of: "Raccoons have taken over Donut County with remote-controlled trash-stealing holes. You play as BK, a hole-driving raccoon who swallows up his friends and their homes to earn idiotic prizes," it says. "When BK falls into one of his own holes, he’s confronted by his best friend Mira and the residents of Donut County, who are all stuck 999 feet underground… and they demand answers!"

Mechanically, you'll explore homes, each one providing a unique environment to bang around in, steal stuff and combine it into different, weirder stuff, and then fire that stuff back out of the hole to solve puzzles, or maybe just because you like breaking things. The ultimate goal is, apparently, to swallow up the entire county. Because that's what raccoons do, man.

It sounds weird, and I like weird, but what makes it noteworthy is that it's being developed by Ben Esposito, a level designer on The Unfinished Swan and design consultant on What Remains of Edith Finch. That suggests that there's at least the possibility of more going on in the game than a raccoon, a hole, and smashing things for kicks. Maybe there isn't, too, but I'm anxious to find out. Donut County will also be available on GOG, but isn't listed there yet.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.