You may remember that strange, slightly muted in sections, but often times colorful and mind-bending puzzle game from this year’s faux-E3 showcases. Particularly the Day of the Devs where Geometric Interactive and Annapurna Interactive showed off the stunning Cocoon from designer Jeppe Carlsen, designer of Limbo and Inside.

To say the “story” of Cocoon is obvious from the word go is a lie. I think anyone with pattern recognition as one of the skills they picked up from being a pre-schooler can tell that from Annapurna Interactive’s publishing record as well as the mention of Limbo and Inside. Being vague but grand in the story is Cocoon’s MO.

What Cocoon is also rather good at doing is making you stop for a second and cosplay as Charles Leclerc: “I am stupid. I am stupid.” It is quite short too. Cocoon can be played in an afternoon, maybe two sessions if you want to savor your time.

Jumping between worlds is sort of the “gimmick” Cocoon has going for it, as you play as a little bug-like creator with a penchant for adventure via these orbs you’ll find around the place. Depending on their state, you’ll be able to unlock further parts of the worlds. When they rest on some sort of holder they can power otherworldly bridges, doors, or other puzzle mechanisms.

The thing is, once you’ve beaten the first boss, you are no longer juggling the one orb. Instead, you are jumping in and out of two or three to solve puzzles. Sometimes that’s obvious, and you understand how to juggle both the red and green world, or if you’re smart enough, you’ll think you broke Cocoon so much that you’ll do what I did. I thought this resulted in having to reload, and that’s something else unique about Cocoon as it doesn’t really save, auto-save, or ask you to do so at all. You simply hit checkpoints and unlock a percentage to go back to quickly.

However, you don’t need to reload as Cocoon doesn’t tell you to swap out the orb that is powering a mechanism for the one in your hand. Like the hints of the story, you are meant to figure it out yourself, as I guess the simple font floating on the screen would “ruin the aesthetics.” Despite being simple and easy to understand for the most part, there are still accessibility options that I think are worth talking about. Instead of remapping for controllers, the accessibility option allows you to move with either stick and direction buttons as well as all other buttons (aside from pause) being your action button.

Options themselves aren’t detailed and if you are having performance issues, I’d say Cocoon doesn’t offer any help in that regard. I’ve not seen massive dips in performance, though I think lower-end hardware could easily find issues among the stunning rock album covers of Cocoon. It is still worth saying that there is only a single volume slider and little in the way of other accessibility than what I’ve mentioned. The only graphical options are resolution, frame cap, brightness, and a fullscreen toggle. I might not understand color blindness, but I’m surprised Cocoon doesn’t do more there.

While I’m on what could be understood as “tiny issues,” I think the design of the bosses you fight to power the orbs (the worlds) could have been done better. I’ve said this a thousand times over things like Kingdom Hearts and countless other titles, but I need to know my progression, I need to know the thing I’m fighting is taking damage. Each boss has these sorts of stages, ramping up how difficult it might be to do something. This is showcased in ways such as the purple boss initially breaking one of the six hexagons you are fighting on, later breaking two or three, and putting down a fleshy coating to slow you down.

The starfish boss (as I’d taken to calling it) from the green (water) world progressively made things more difficult too. Also, the first boss tries to be a typical isometric Souls-like boss. Before someone misunderstands, no I don’t think Cocoon is a Souls-like, it just used a boss design I’ve seen before in the likes of Death’s Door. It isn’t until the fourth and final boss which looks like a four-legged crustacean that it becomes easily apparent to see your progress against a boss. In hindsight, you’ll notice something about the third changing its design more overtly than the other two.

I think it is apparent from the word go what I think of Cocoon, as I’ve heaped on praise left, right, and center. I do think Cocoon is beautiful, sometimes poking my brain in that fun puzzle game sort of way, but also has its (minor) flaws. When you understand the orb-swapping mechanic and each world is bestowed with its powers which allow you to solve more puzzles, such as the red/orange (sandy) one making paths appear, Cocoon works beautifully. Though as I’ve said, it is easy enough not to know that’s a mechanic in the first place.

Ultimately, Cocoon is stunning, not only visually but its puzzle design too. It rarely stumps you for long in its short but beautiful run time. When it does, it does so in just the right way to make it satisfying to solve. Its simple controls but satisfying approach make even the most rudimentary of solutions enjoyable to solve, particularly with its somewhat Giger visual inspirations contrasted with natural water or rocky areas or industrial sections. Cocoon makes a puzzle out of worlds, then asks you to simply use that world as nothing but a tool, and it is oh-so-satisfying.

A PC review copy of Cocoon was provided by Annapurna Interactive for the purposes of this review.

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Cocoon

$24.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful worlds.
• Great puzzle design that pokes your brain.

Cons

• Boss design could greater reflect your progress.
• Some things could be explained or highlighted better.