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News COCOON (Geometric Interactive x Annapurna Interactive) coming to PC and consoles on September 29th (out now!)

mazi

picross pundit






From Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of LIMBO and INSIDE — COCOON takes you on an adventure across worlds within worlds. Master world-leaping mechanics to unravel a cosmic mystery.
 
Looks very mind bending, I like it. World inside worlds. This could be my indie game of the year.
 
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Looks very cool, seems like Playdead has lost a lot of key staff since Inside hey? That Somerville last year was from one of their co-founders or something too. Their next game is taking forever.
 
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Reviews look amazing. I never got to INSIDE but it's long been on the list.... but this looks even further up my ally.
 
Yeah reviews for this are looking great, some calling it one of the best puzzle games they've played for a while. Can't wait to play this over the weekend.
 
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Gonna download this soonish. One of my most anticipated games of the year. I'm absolutely obsessed with Limbo, Inside, and puzzle games.
 
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finished this after about an hour last night plus two or three more this morning—excellent game! it’s shorter and much more linear than I expected but incredibly dense, especially in its world design; you’re constantly being whisked from one environment to the next.

at no point are the puzzles particularly difficult or demanding (the main thing is that there’s only two or three interactable elements within range at a given time, so the solution is usually a bit too readily apparent), but they’re still satisfying to solve, and the way the game organically builds up to the more mindblowing implementations of its mechanics is super impressive. and the visuals and designs during certain set pieces are very sick—those might be more of a reason to play the game than some of the brain-bending world-jumping stuff

performance on Switch is fine for the most part—30fps with some hiccups during the world and area transitions, and I ran into an issue toward the end where returning to a certain area tanked the frame rate to literally like 1fps, but other areas ran normally. restarting the game fixed it entirely. there’s also some low-res shadows that caught my eye at points, but everything else on-screen looks crisp and lovely. I think an Annapurna employee said on resetera that another performance patch was already on the way

there’s a dozen or so collectible-esque things to find that I missed three of, so I may go back in to see if I can find them and what effect getting them all has, but as is I’m really happy with this as a concise, unique little puzzle-thing—I recommend it!!
 
finished this after about an hour last night plus two or three more this morning—excellent game! it’s shorter and much more linear than I expected but incredibly dense, especially in its world design; you’re constantly being whisked from one environment to the next.

at no point are the puzzles particularly difficult or demanding (the main thing is that there’s only two or three interactable elements within range at a given time, so the solution is usually a bit too readily apparent), but they’re still satisfying to solve, and the way the game organically builds up to the more mindblowing implementations of its mechanics is super impressive. and the visuals and designs during certain set pieces are very sick—those might be more of a reason to play the game than some of the brain-bending world-jumping stuff

performance on Switch is fine for the most part—30fps with some hiccups during the world and area transitions, and I ran into an issue toward the end where returning to a certain area tanked the frame rate to literally like 1fps, but other areas ran normally. restarting the game fixed it entirely. there’s also some low-res shadows that caught my eye at points, but everything else on-screen looks crisp and lovely. I think an Annapurna employee said on resetera that another performance patch was already on the way

there’s a dozen or so collectible-esque things to find that I missed three of, so I may go back in to see if I can find them and what effect getting them all has, but as is I’m really happy with this as a concise, unique little puzzle-thing—I recommend it!!
Thanks for the impressions! I've been waiting to hear about the Switch performance before deciding which platform to pick, but seems that it's good enough and potentially getting better.
 
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I played on Xbox (Game Pass), so performance was solid throughout, but in terms of puzzle solving Cocoon was closer to Gris or even Journey than to Monument Valley (and those are indeed the kinds of games I would compare it with). It felt like I spent much more time mechanically cycling/packing/unpacking the different orbs than thinking about any solutions, which were usually very obvious and straightforward. A decent game in my book, not particularly noteworthy.
 
I played on Xbox (Game Pass), so performance was solid throughout, but in terms of puzzle solving Cocoon was closer to Gris or even Journey than to Monument Valley (and those are indeed the kinds of games I would compare it with). It felt like I spent much more time mechanically cycling/packing/unpacking the different orbs than thinking about any solutions, which were usually very obvious and straightforward. A decent game in my book, not particularly noteworthy.
I only have played a little bit so far but I would agree with this. Another comparison I thought of was Gorogoa. There's the obvious going in and out of various worlds and perspectives as a comparison, but I also have found (so far at least) that the puzzles often come down to "do essentially the only thing you're able to", which was my experience of Gorogoa for the most part. Still enjoyable, but doesn't reach the heights of Inside for me yet.

Also lol I did not realize this was on Game Pass, I bought it on Steam without even checking
 
This one came out of nowhere for me. I wasn't aware of its existence until it launched and people started talking about it.

Overall, it's pretty good. But it doesn't blow me away.
 
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Finally got around to playing this. Absolutely sublime. I'm a sucker for weird scifi and puzzle games. Atmosphere and world are absolutely top-notch. Fantastic sound design. This is an example of a no-cut camera being done exceptionally well and really adding to the experience. Puzzle design is fantastic with just the right amount of difficulty. Nothing here had me pulling my hair out, while at the same time made me feel really clever for figuring them out. The bosses were a nice touch that I wasn't expecting going into this. They all had cool designs and were fun to fight, and did a good job to change up the pacing a bit and make the world feel more dangerous. One of my top three of this year so far easily.
 
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Finally got around to playing this. One of my top three of this year so far easily.
Wow, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! Really unique little game. I agree that the puzzles strike a good balance; conceptually kind of tough, but they limit where you can go enough to sort of rein it in.

Having had some distance from it at this point, I think the puzzle where you had to stack the orbs so the little energy bullets would cross worlds to activate a switch sticks in my mind the most.
 
Finished it today as well. Rad as hell, definitely one of my favorite games this year. It isn’t overly challenging, but the complexity of what you’re actually doing in-game, combined with how clever the solutions are, more than make up for it.

Best puzzle design I’ve seen in a game since Outer Wilds, they knocked it out of the park. Surprised I liked it so much considering how lukewarm I am towards Inside.
 
Started this to squeeze one last nominated game in before TGA, and god damn is this really good. I'm about 60% in according to the load/start screen, and it's be such a delight at a wonderful pace. You can really tell it's from one of the Limbo/Inside guys despite the much more peaceful tone. They'd have to seriously fuck up the landing for this not the be a top 5 for me this year.
 


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