I had such a blast in my time visiting the titular fictionalised version of Los Angeles, alternately harassing and helping its antropomorphised citizens, and just simply enjoying its art, writing and perfectly realised set of gameplay mechanics. Instead of stepping away from it going "that was perfect, I loved that", though, my feeling was more "that was it?". While ultimately, my unrealistic expectations are more of a me problem than a Donut County problem, I do feel like Ben Esposito and his co-developers' choice of genre inadvertently contributes to a short and contained length and scope feeling unsatisfying in its brevity. Both in terms of aesthetics and mechanical execution, the developers execute on a level that in my eyes puts DC up on a level with the best puzzle action games from Nintendo or Keita Takahashi, or more modern indie entrants like Overcooked (severely underappreciated as a single-player experience) and Moving Out.

Again, I think Esposito and company succeeded in everything they set out to do with Donut County. I just think that success subconsciously made me bracket the game in with those similar experiences, which created expectations in me the devs weren't even interested in meeting. Definitely a high four-star game, but somehow a three star experience. Brains are weird.