I’ve all the time been equal components fascinated and terrified by bugs. These seemingly contradictory sentiments most definitely stem from them being a bit contradictory themselves. They’re in every single place but really feel overseas, important to our world’s operations but seemingly insignificant, and small but able to unbelievable feats, whether or not that be carrying objects 50 occasions their weight or rendering houses inhospitable. They’re disarmingly complicated creatures–and it makes them the proper topic for a sport simply as intricate as they’re.
Cocoon, the debut sport from Geometric Interactive, is a surreal and intimate puzzle sport that can also be superbly complicated. Contemplating the pedigree of its gameplay designer–Jeppe Carlsen of Limbo and Inside fame–perhaps this should not be too shocking, nevertheless it did not cease me from repeatedly being in awe of simply how tight and clever the general expertise was. This, paired with incredible sound design and artwork, each artificial and organic–lush but scarce–makes for a memorable expertise.
Cocoon sees you tackle the function of a cicada-like creature moments after it emerges from a womb of petals. With out fanfare, exposition, or any steerage, this creature is thrust into an orange, arid, and largely desolate world. There are few enemies to be present in Cocoon, to make certain, however all of them are relegated to closed off arenas, the place you could use fast considering and evasion to get the perfect of them. Whereas a few of these boss battles are extremely participating (and others, not fairly as a lot), fight just isn’t the main focus in Cocoon–it’s exploration.
Within the sport’s open world, solely ancient-looking constructions that pulse with unusual energy maintain you firm. Your mission, then, is easy: Use these constructions to maintain pushing ahead. Why you are supposed to push ahead is rarely made specific, nevertheless it additionally does not really feel prefer it must be. There appears to be this intangible power that compels you to–this notion that transferring ahead is each benevolent and a part of the journey you could take.
The way in which you progress is, on paper, fairly easy. The sport makes use of simply 5 buttons–one for every of the 4 cardinal instructions and one to interact–and most constructions you encounter are powered on by inserting an orb into the right place. Nonetheless, what’s theoretically easy can shortly develop complicated.
Inside these orbs are whole worlds which you’ll be able to enter by inserting them in the midst of a mechanical construction that then displays the surroundings in a shallow pool of water. You’ll be able to seamlessly transition between worlds, and fixing puzzles in a single will, in flip, aid you progress by means of others. The place it actually will get complicated is how typically you might be required to put worlds inside worlds in order that conditions play out exactly as they should so that you can advance. Moreover, holding on to those world orbs grants you distinctive powers. When clutching the orange orb, for instance, your cicada can reveal paths it would not in any other case have the ability to stroll on, whereas the seafoam inexperienced orb permits you to use what I can solely greatest describe as water elevators.
Timing, using these powers in the appropriate order, and summary considering turns into key to development. There is a logic the sport silently teaches you as you resolve these puzzles–a algorithm that you simply study pretty shortly. However whereas Cocoon’s basic mechanics hardly ever change, the methods through which you utilize them proceed to broaden all through the sport. I discovered myself considering, “Wait, can I do that?” solely to be met with a convincing sure time and time once more. It is superb how one thing so simplistic may be brilliant–and not solely that, nevertheless it makes you really feel sensible. Piecing collectively how the legal guidelines of this universe work, and testing to see simply how far they lengthen, is a rare experience–one that retains your thoughts engaged and your curiosity piqued.
And whereas all this would possibly sound sophisticated (and do not get me mistaken, a number of the puzzles may be head-scratchers), none of it’s overwhelming because of the sport isolating what it’s worthwhile to be centered on to progress. If an space does not relate to the present puzzle you are attempting to resolve, will probably be inconspicuously closed off. This prevents the frustration that may happen in puzzle video games the place you might be frantically backtracking, questioning what small element you missed or if there was one thing you probably did beforehand that was incorrect. It subtly informs you that you’re precisely the place it’s worthwhile to be, thus narrowing down all of the potential variables to a manageable quantity.
Subtlety can also be an idea that works its method into the sport’s sound design. Whereas your journey by means of Cocoon is commonly quiet, it is a very purposeful silence that builds into swelling compositions, just like the bass-heavy observe that accompanies boss battles or the mild motif that performs once you resolve a puzzle appropriately. However general, there’s an eeriness to Cocoon’s sound that’s not unsettling, however atmospheric.
That is heightened by the sport’s artwork path, which is stuffed with juxtaposing visuals that create each unease and surprise. Whereas the world is stuffed with metallic constructions and ideal geometry, there may be additionally an natural really feel to it–this sense that you’re inside a dwelling organism, brushing up towards Golgi our bodies, vessels, vesicles, and different apparatuses. But these imperfect and bulbous creations handle to really feel intricate and intentional as you take into account the features they serve in dwelling issues. One other clever design alternative was assigning a definite shade palette to every of the sport’s worlds. Contemplating all of the juggling, touring, and the way in which Cocoon embraces this concept of recursion, it helps maintain you conscious of the place you might be. However whereas there may be an array of various colours, all of them are gently muted, as to create concord between all these disparate worlds.
It’s because of its inventive subtlety and lack of an specific narrative that Cocoon encourages your thoughts to wander and extract what I imagine to be its greatest takeaway and a harsh reality: Our biggest journeys–the ones that give us function and information our private evolution–are insignificant within the grand scheme of issues. And certain, there is a sure sense of powerlessness that sinks in once you attempt to course of that info; it is the identical gut-punch feeling that comes once you start to contemplate the sheer measurement of our ever-expanding universe. However there’s additionally liberation. And maybe most significantly, it does not make what we endure and what we develop into any much less useful to the world we’re creating for ourselves. Whereas the sport’s barely abrupt ending detracts from this message considerably, it nonetheless manages to return by means of.
Cocoon, because the title suggests, is a sport about self-evolution. From the second you emerge from the womb-like construction on the sport’s starting, pushing ahead and studying are your main focuses–even if what you are in the end engaging in feels a bit unclear. But it surely’s additionally about how the self is however a small a part of life–how whole worlds can slot in an insect’s tarsal segments. From its puzzles to its visuals, Cocoon is a gorgeous sport stuffed with brilliance and which means, delivered in a delicate but unforgettable method.