Donut County Cheats & Secrets for PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and More

Coming from the mind of solo developer Ben Esposito, Donut County is a cult-classic indie puzzle game where players control a moveable gravity well. As a physics-based puzzle game, Donut County takes the general principle of the Katamari Damacy series and flips it on its head, requiring players to remove items from stages rather than use them as contributions to a massive singular object. The title’s origins date back to a game jam — events where developers get together and try to collaborate on making a game from scratch — that originated from the Peter Molyneux parody Twitter account “Peter Molydeux”. After going through several iterations and adding features throughout development, Ben Esposito would eventually partner with indie publisher Annapurna Interactive to release the title in 2018.

Development on Donut County would run concurrent to Esposito’s work on The Unfinished Swan, with the developer chipping away at the title during free time before eventually committing to finishing the game. Several demos and early release builds found their way to the public, generating hype for the title in the years leading up to its release as a “reverse Katamari“, and the game’s launch in 2018 was met with significant critical praise as well as modest commercial success. The title would eventually receive several nominations for prominent game industry awards such as Best Mobile Game and Best Debut Indie Game from The Game Awards and Portable Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards. Notably, Donut County is the winner of the 2019 SXSW Gaming Award for Mobile Game of the Year.

Donut County Premise

A physics-centric puzzle game in which players control a gravity well, Donut County sees players moving a void around stages to remove every object from the environment. The title also incorporates a charming narrative and story component to add context to its gameplay, with the story setup being one of the main reasons for the game’s success among critics and fans. In Donut County, a human named Mira works at a local donut shop for her friend, the raccoon BK. BK’s obsession with a new mobile app where players earn points for prizes leads him to launch a scheme regarding donut deliveries around the county, only for him and Mira to discover that they’re actually delivering holes in the ground that swallow objects from the environment, even the donut shop where Mira works.

Each level in Donut County begins the same. Players start off in a self-contained area that eventually opens up to larger areas as the player progresses. Gameplay consists of moving one of the “donuts”, a gravity well, around the stage and using it to swallow every object in the environment. As players progress and swallow more and more objects, the moveable void grows in size. However, obstacles such as height and terrain type provide some wrinkles to the gameplay, with players needing to drain water from lakes or use objects to flip switches in order to clear levels. In between each level are story segments that flesh out the charming world and characters of Donut County all while retaining the game’s offbeat sense of humor.

Donut County Main Characters

At the center of Donut County are the main character, Mira, and her best friend, the raccoon BK. The two friends work at a donut shop that is actually a front for a secret cabal of raccoons hoping to amass all the world’s trash, led by the mysterious Trash King. Together, these three make up the game’s protagonists and antagonists, but several other noteworthy and interesting personalities show up during the main story. Main characters include:

• Mira: Mira is the human protagonist of Donut County and works at her local donut shop along with her best friend, the raccoon BK. She regularly texts with BK to facilitate some of the game’s storytelling and primarily cares for her three pets — Cat, Dog, and Bird.
• BK: The player protagonist of Donut County and Mira’s best friend, BK is a raccoon who works for both the local donut shop and secretly takes orders from the boss of raccoons — The Trash King. Under orders from the Trash King, BK delivers “donuts” around town in the form of gravity wells that swallow objects.
• The Trash King: The leader of the raccoons and lover of trash, the Trash King hatches a scheme to get BK and other raccoons to steal the town’s objects so that he can collect all the world’s trash. He’s the same as every other raccoon in the game except that he sits atop a massive mound of stolen trash and wears a crown.

Games in the Donut County Series

Though Donut County is a singular game without any sequels, developer Ben Esposito has also contributed to several other noteworthy indie titles. Almost all of these have gone on to be nominated for or win awards as well as generate significant critical praise. Games Ben Esposito has contributed to include:

• The Unfinished Swan (2012)
• Donut County (2018)
• Neon White (2022)

Donut County Cheats & Secrets

Though there aren’t any official cheats for Donut County that are supported by the game, there are some hidden achievements and tricks that players can use to be successful in some of its more puzzling stages.

Start Small, Work Up

Stages in Donut County end after the player swallows the building with a resident inside, meaning that they’ll want to make sure they’ve cleared out every other object beforehand. Since the “donut hole” players control starts small and grows in size with every swallowed object, it’s best to get all the smaller objects first before working up to larger ones, clearing out an optimal path along the way.

Be Mindful of Objects & View the Trashopedia

Certain objects will give the “donut hole” various properties such as filling it with water or allowing it to spew forth flames. Using these abilities to reach seemingly unreachable objects is a key component of the game’s puzzle element. Be mindful of an object’s properties and take advantage of the Trashopedia after each level to view information about each type of object, using it to guide your strategy in later stages.

Trophies/Achievements

Here is the full list of unlockable trophies/achievements for Donut County and what players must accomplish in order to unlock them.

Donut County Cheat FAQs

What is the Vault code for Donut County?
To unlock the Vault in Raccoon HQ, players will need to enter the following sequence:
Up, Left, Down, Left, “Grab” button
If players input the sequence correctly, a cutscene will play out showing the Vault door opening.

How do I beat the fireworks level in Donut County?
The Beach Lot C level features a sequence where players need to swallow fireworks and launch them at birds on a telephone wire. After growing the hole big enough for the firework, position it next to Morsel’s window which will light the fuse. Quickly swallow the firework and position the hole underneath the telephone wire. Repeat this process with the firework (lighting it and swallowing it) but position the hole underneath the cliff’s edge. After completing this three times, the hole will be big enough to swallow Morsel’s building with him inside, ending the level.

How many levels does Donut County have?
There are 24 total levels in Donut County.

What is the recipe for Secret Soup in Donut County?
To earn the “Secret Soup” achievement, players can use two shakes of salt and three shakes of pepper to recreate the Chef’s recipe.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Donut County key art.