Annapurna Interactive has announced when Ben Esposito's Donut County will be released, and it's only a few weeks away.

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Dount County E3 2018 Screenshots 5 IMAGES

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Donut County PSX 2017 Screenshots 6 IMAGES

IGN can exclusively reveal Donut County will be released for the PS4, Steam, GOG, and the iOS and Mac App Store on August 28. It will cost $12.99 across all of its platforms, except for the iOS App Store, where it will cost $4.99. Donut County is available for a preorder discount of $10.49 on PS4, where players will also receive a special dynamic theme for preordering.The physics puzzle game, which puts players in control of a hole — via a raccoon — who must suck up every item in any given level. The levels are flashbacks told by a group of survivors deep underground who have found themselves subjected to the hole's destructive presence.One of the 10 awesome games IGN thought you might have missed at E3 2018 , Donut County began life as a game jam title based on tweets from the Peter Molydeux parody Twitter account, slowly morphing into the full game now only a few weeks from release. Speaking to IGN, Esposito explained that the game really coalesced when he realized Donut County, surprisingly to him, "really hung on the story.""...At the beginning I didn't realize that it was going to be a game that really hung on the story, but as I developed it and we made it more and more important, I realized that 'Oh, the main reason to play this is the story that's extremely cute and interesting and it unfolds in a weird way,'" Esposito said.That story centers around an "idiot" raccoon, who is causing the devastation this hole is leaving in its wake. Putting the focus on the raccoon's arc crystalized what Esposito thought could carry players through the experience."I went through a lot of iterations until I landed on what I have, which is you play as this idiot raccoon who you can kind of understand why he's doing this and why he doesn't think it's a problem," Esposito said. "But the irony in the entire game is that everyone in the world, including the player, knows that the main character is an idiot. It's about changing his mind."I thought it would be really cute in Donut County, the entire game revolves around just convincing this one raccoon that he's being a jerk."Esposito went on to explain how Donut County pulls from his love of Los Angeles and an effort to insert a Bruce Spingsteen-esque Americana into the puzzle game."The arc of the game is kind of like these holes start out in the Mojave Desert, and then inch their way closer and closer into the heart of LA, and then it ends kind of right in the center," he said. "I've always just been in love with [Los Angeles] since I moved here."I wanted the writing and the jokes and the culture to be very kind of obviously American and about the stuff we're dealing with."And while Donut County may have a deeper story than puzzle players may be expecting, those hole-based puzzles are very much key to Donut County's charm as well. And from personal experience, playing those puzzles is relaxing, but still enjoyable to figure out. Esposito said achieving that balance and making these puzzles accessible was a key aspect of Donut County."I wanted a game that was about the tactile feel of interacting with the physics and using the hole, and it wasn't about the execution and the technical challenge associated with the game," Esposito said, noting there are still a couple of more difficult, optional challenges for those looking for some tougher puzzles.Donut County is now available for preorder on the PSN, and will be available for preorder on the iOS and Mac App Store on Aug. 1.

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's News Editor, who had a blast playing Donut County at E3 earlier this year. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush