Cocoon

It makes Cocoon the ultimate example of what a game should strive for: full of puzzles and a strange world to intrigue you, perfectly folded into a final product where it is unclear where the world ends and the user interface begins. It's a game that requires no tutorials or explanations - playing it is as natural as riding a bike. Despite this simplicity, a complex game quickly forms that will haunt your mind for a long time. Cocoon is a game that we can point to for years to come as an example of a perfect puzzle game.

Few games have fascinated me the way Cocoon does with its metre-thick atmosphere and reality-distorting challenges. It's an alien among its earthly peers, and even when it draws on a classic series like The Legend of Zelda, it twists the concepts we know so well, such as requiring you to diligently travel between worlds in a split-second. Some games mesmerise you with their breadth and almost hubristic level of ambition. Cocoon does this by perfectly executing its tight focus - just as its role model Portal did twice more than a decade ago.

Not to get too lofty, but you know how a musician's ears have been trained to pick up elements in music – I honestly felt like that during the last stretch of Cocoon's puzzles. I knew what the game wanted from me and I followed. It's a silent language that you learn to translate. Cocoon cuts out all the noise, and the result is one of the best puzzle adventure games of 2023. I've learned to pick up Cocoon's silent harmonies, and they're beautiful.

It's a short game, and quite a painless one, then, but it feels dense: rich and imaginative and the result of some insatiable curiosity for putting things together in new ways. Even at the end of the adventure, five or six hours in, Cocoon was happy to introduce a new mechanic. By which I mean, of course, it was happy to wordlessly teach it, complicate it, turn it inside out and then twist it into something almost unimaginable. I'm sorry to be vague, but you need to see this for yourself. There are no easy words, but also seeing it, witnessing such clarity and ingenuity, is where the pleasure lies.

Cocoon is one of this year’s brightest gems — both form and function dazzle. I can only begin to guess at what its conclusion means, but that didn’t hinder my appreciation in the slightest. Masterful design, stunning environments, brilliant concepts, intuitive gameplay, it all adds up to an unmissable experience.

Cocoon is a deeply special game that gushes with expertise from the talented minds that programmed it. By constantly expanding upon the unique mechanic of layered world-hopping, players are gifted with an absolute darling of a puzzle game. Cocoon is one that is rarely meant to stump with obtuse solutions, instead becoming a constantly evolving challenge that travels through spectacular alien worlds and rewarding moments. I never wish to be lost in puzzle games, merely wrapped up. Cocoon is a metamorphosis, one to be gladly wrapped in.

Cocoon is a confidently crafted and impressively detailed puzzle game. It isn't afraid to let you explore and figure things out, rewarding your efforts with unparalleled satisfaction. The fantastic visual design and beautiful soundtrack complement the experience. While you might not be left gaping at plot twists during the credits, you'll undoubtedly sit back with a profoundly content feeling, knowing you've cleverly solved it all. That's precisely what I expect from a puzzle-centric game.

The puzzle experience that Cocoon delivers is truly one of kind, thanks to the concept of worlds within worlds which is used for a diverse selection of clever puzzles that are a joy to solve.

If you enjoy exploration, puzzler games like Journey, then Cocoon is the closest cousin yet. The game exudes charm and is a joy to play. If you are tired or need a break from games that require full concentration or fast reflexes, then Cocoon is definitely worth a look. We all need palette cleansers from time to time, and Cocoon is a splendid choice to do so.

Mastery and good ideas lead to excellence for Cocoon.

Crucially, though, it understands that such grandeur means little if what lies beyond doesn't reward both your curiosity and the lengths to which you've gone to unlock it. On that front, Cocoon is a triumph. [Issue#390, p.116]

A puzzle adventure of rare ingenuity that thrives on its tactility as much as its design.

Cocoon, as the name suggests, is a game about self-evolution. From the moment you emerge from the womb-like structure at the game's beginning, pushing forward and learning are your primary focuses--even if what you're ultimately accomplishing feels a bit unclear. But it's also about how the self is but a small part of life--how entire worlds can fit in an insect's tarsal segments. From its puzzles to its visuals, Cocoon is a beautiful game filled with brilliance and meaning, delivered in a subtle yet unforgettable way.

COCOON is a demonstration of how elegance always passes from simplicity, stemming from a clear idea of what you are. COCOON is not an adventure with strong narrative traction; it does not want to put violent dynamics at the center of the gameplay; it does not push the player to lap his brain for hours on seemingly unsolvable puzzles. COCOON is a work that is reduced to bone and, for this reason, wins; it is an elegant dance between worlds, capable of never being cloying; is an experience that focuses on the purely animal ability to analyze the environment and the available resources to find an efficient solution in any given situation.

It has incredible art design and presentation, is so cleverly designed, and has a pace that makes it hard to put down once things get going. The surface-level view of the game is unassuming but digging into the worlds of Cocoon reveals an experience that is unforgettable.

Cocoon is an impeccably designed game that stands as a shining example of how this medium alone can teach mechanics and intent without saying or displaying a single word. Any players who prefer to solve problems with their brain and not a gun, should without delay, go forth and discover the many beautiful worlds of Cocoon. The choice, and indeed, the world(s), is in your hands.

In all, Cocoon lasts about four to five hours, and it twists your brain up in knots the further you go. Despite its heady concepts, puzzle solutions never feel too frustrating or obscure, and interacting with different objects feels tangible and tactile. It’s mesmerizing from beginning to end, tightly crafted and wonderfully creative. If anything, the succinct length just means that there’s no excuse to let this one pass you by.

Cocoon is a beautifully designed puzzler with some fascinating ideas woven throughout the fabric of the world.

Cocoon is one to remember. This puzzle adventure builds on ideas from Limbo and Inside and creates a mind-bending, world-warping adventure unlike either of them.

Cocoon’s focus on recursive exploration, which sees you peel back the filmic overlay of several coexisting realities to writhe in the depth of their fathoms-deep trickery, is incredibly intelligent in its design and is truly the most technically impressive puzzle game I’ve played since perhaps Portal. And it achieves all of this whilst sharing clear genetics with its forerunners.

Like Jeppe Carlsen's previous games, Cocoon is a special title, a wonderful little puzzle adventure that plays with original concepts and ideas. It may be short, it may leave you wanting more... but it is one of those indie games that, as soon as you are attracted to the genre, you have to play it no matter what.

Perhaps Cocoon’s biggest triumph is its pace and how well it hands out new globe-based abilities all the way up to the end. The game excels at making you an expert on how to use a specific ability to solve a puzzle and then continue to use that ability in tandem with the new ones you’ve discovered. World-hopping certainly has the potential to get over-complicated, but Cocoon shows restraint in the interest of creating a better puzzle game, and it pays off. I don’t know that I will ever fully understand what transpired during my molecular journey on Cocoon’s alien world, but its imagery and puzzles will stay with me for some time.

Cocoon offers solid gameplay, which develops along a well-thought-out and stimulating learning curve. A system capable of quickly gaining the player's attention, who ends up effortlessly entangled in this unusual tangle of worlds. However, a commendable game design is counterbalanced by a narrative section that fails to captivate the public with equal force. The protagonist's motivations and the epilogue of his adventure struggle to leave their mark at the end of the journey proposed by Cocoon. A dichotomy that will find admirers in lovers of deliberately cryptic stories, but which could generate slight disappointment in players looking for intense emotions. At its core, we would like to reiterate, it remains in any case a gaming experience of absolute value.

While not reinventing genre mechanics, Cocoon is an intriguing puzzle game that immerses the player in an introspective journey through spheres that encompass entire worlds within them. Despite being notably simple, it offers well-constructed enigmas and a remarkably well-balanced learning curve. It doesn't reach the expressive heights of titles like Journey but represents a significant advancement in Carlsen's games, inviting the players to reflect on themselves and the worlds they've created. Highly recommended.

If you feel longing for something like INSIDE, Journey or ICO, then drop everything and just buy Cocoon. It's one of the most important games this year, and one that will be talked about years down the line.

LIMBO and INSIDE creator Jeppe Carlsen has done it again. With its unique world, successful puzzles and visuals reminiscent of Giger's style, COCOON manages to be one of the best indies of this year. The puzzles could have been a bit more challenging, though.

Quotation forthcoming.

COCOON brings together its vibrant visuals, chill vibes, and minimalistic approach to gameplay and storytelling together to create one of the most interesting puzzle games in recent times.

The nature of Cocoon means this isn’t going to be a game for everyone. Some players will need narrative, will need dialogue or character motivations to hook them into an experience. There’s nothing wrong with that, really, but if that is you, you’re missing out on a treat here. Cocoon is both simple and infinitely complex; it presents a beautiful, visceral world that requires no explanation. Thrown into it without even the slightest hint of an introduction, it’s your own curious mind that will carry you through this interwoven web of puzzles, and solving each one is an enriching experience that’s likely to stick with you for some time.

While Cocoon didn’t connect with me on the same level as other indie puzzlers, I had a great time venturing through orbs to solve mind-bending puzzles and explore alien worlds. The game also succeeds when it comes to giving you a great WTF ending, which is a requirement for this genre. It’s nice to see that even after leaving Playdead these developers are still able to deliver another fun albeit utterly baffling experience. All that's keeping it from being a true masterpiece is a little more child danger and an appearance from the Quaker Oats man himself.

Cocoon is a strange game but one that’s worth the experience for those willing to accept that. The visual design is a treat of surreal imagery, and the puzzle design is superb. If you like unfathomable narratives and journeys through alien worlds, it’s highly recommended.

Despite the stumbles of show, don’t tell making Cocoon’s story harder to get invested in as a whole, what kept me hooked was its incredible gameplay and visuals. With every new game mechanic or world I explored, it just kept impressing me to the point I was able to overlook its weaker story.

Cocoon is a simple game, but for a game that amounts to shuffling orbs around, it does a fantastic job of providing a sense of progression and advancement. The strong visuals give the game a solid sense of identity, and similar to Limbo, it's the basic design that helps it shine. Overall, it's a solid indie puzzle title, and while there's certainly no shortage of those, Cocoon is one that's well worth playing.

Cocoon is a mesmerizing debut for Geometric Interactive that's filled with ingenious puzzles that will unlock your animal instincts.

Cocoon is a fantastic puzzle game. Its core gimmick of world-jumping is implemented expertly, building a cohesive in-game logic that will keep players hooked to the end. It's a world full of secrets, many of then unknown, and it's all the better for it.

The team at Geometric Interactive made something truly compelling, mind-bending, and immersive in Cocoon, and though it can prove difficult to handle all its tools, solving its mysteries is an absolute delight.

Cocoon is a clever and original world-stacking puzzler with complex mechanics that are kept in check by limiting how players arrange and explore worlds. While it's possible to stumble upon solutions through a confusing haze, the game's few moments of brilliance make it worth checking out.