Hole io

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)

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Review:

(Note: Included in Hole io & Paper io 2 bundle, along with Paper io 2. Also included in Hole io & Candivity along with Candivity.)

Hole io is a family-friendly Arcade-style game released on mobile devices in 2018 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2023. This game has players moving around a hole in the ground, swallowing up any items sitting above it that will fit, which in turn causes the hole’s size to increase, enabling the gobbling up of even larger objects.

This is a gameplay formula that is very similar to Katamari Damacy, but this game even more closely resembles Donut County. In fact, Donut County’s creator, Ben Esposito, even claimed that Hole io was a cheap clone of his game. However, while it may well be that the core gameplay concept of Hole io was directly inspired by Donut County, I think that calling it a “cheap clone” is stretching things a bit – beyond that core concept, both games play quite differently, with Donut County being a story-driven game, while Hole io is more of an Arcade-style score-based game.

One major element that sets this game apart is that players aren’t alone in their attempts to gobble up various objects in each of the game’s locales – the area will also be patrolled by multiple other AI-controlled “players” seeking to do the same, and players need to be wary of those opponents not only because you’re competing for the same resources, but because holes don’t just swallow objects, they also swallow smaller holes.

This is a nice idea in theory, but the execution is unfortunately some what wanting – at the start of each level you’ll see multiple AI-controlled opponents are already much larger than you, and while you see the scores of various opponents you’re trying to beat, those scores don’t actually seem to correspond to the size of your opponents – you can be smaller than multiple enemies and still end up winning.

Another issue here is that players don’t have an option to shut off these annoying AI-controlled opponents, nor can they change what appears to be a baked-in time limit. Players do have some adjustable settings, as well as cosmetic options, but it’s sadly slim when it comes to gameplay options.

Those wanting to rid themselves of the time limit can opt to play the game’s endless mode, but rather than just letting you loose on a map to wreak havoc at your own pace, this game places you in an empty space with endlessly-spawning items and the ability to gradually upgrade yourself in various ways. While this makes for a pretty bland experience for those seeking the Arcade-style thrills of the main game, this oddly ends up working out to be a decent but limited Idle Game.

There are other complaints I need to point to here. The points you get for swallowing up different objects don’t seem to scale appropriately. When you get one point for swallowing a traffic cone, and only four points for swallowing an entire skyscraper, it incentivizes you to aim for groups of smaller objects rather than large ones, even when your hole is more than large enough to swallow the larger ones. In addition, there’s no collision detection for objects – run into a mountain or building and you’ll just slide under it, even if you’re far too small to swallow it. Just overall, there are plenty of flawed elements and questionable design choices throughout the game that really hinder the experience.

The thing is, despite all of this game’s many flaws… it’s still a blast to play. Yes, there are numerous frustrations that mar the experience, but at its core, taking the compelling core gameplay of a game like Donut County and challenging players to gobble up as much as they can for a high score makes for some really fun and compelling gameplay that will repeatedly push you back for “just one more round”. What’s more, players can compete in this game’s local multiplayer, which is also a delight… though, again, this comes with its own frustration, as multiplayer will not allow players to use Pro Controllers, you’re forced to use Joy-Cons for no apparent reason. Oh, and on the topic of control, those who feel like they would prefer to use the touchscreen when playing the game in portable mode have that option (though I find the standard gamepad controls to work just fine).

The presentation here uses pretty simple 3D visuals that honestly do not look very good, with some low-poly character models that still have problems with polygons sometimes flickering in and out. What’s more, the fixed camera angle means that not only do you not get a good sense of scale as your hole grows, but sometimes you’ll have difficulty seeing behind a wall or building that’s blocking the camera. And while I guess this game’s Jazzy music works well enough for the whimsical tone of the game, it’s not particularly good music, and it gets repetitive before long.

Okay, look… it’s hard not to write an honest review of Hole io without including a laundry list of complaints. This game is rough, full of all sorts of issues, and I can point to countless ways that this game could be improved. But despite the many flaws this game has, and despite that the core gameplay here seems to have been “borrowed” from another game… the game this all coalesces to make is still a surprisingly enjoyable one, and if you’re craving a lighthearted Arcadey experience, this game’s $5 price tag makes it well worth checking out.

tl;dr – Hole io is a family-friendly Arcade-style game where players move a hole around to swallow up objects to grow its size, aiming to get it as big as possible. The core gameplay is pulled straight out of the game Donut County, and there are countless poor design choices and gameplay flaws here. Yet despite all of that, it’s hard to deny how fun and compelling this game is, and for only $5, this is a superb time-waster.

Grade: B-

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