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In 2010, developer Playdead revolutionized the puzzle-platform genre with their outstanding game Limbo. Six years later, they somehow outdid themselves even more by releasing Inside, a game that is as classic as they come. A big part of what made those games special was their dreary and depressive atmospheres and super-slick puzzles which were designed immaculately. Lead gameplay designer on both Limbo and Inside Jeppe Carlsen is back with a new studio, and a new work of art.
Cocooned Worlds
Geometric Interactive is the new studio from Jeppe Carlsen, and their first game out is Cocoon. Cocoon borrows a lot of elements from Limbo and Inside, but does it in new and interesting ways. You play as a little bug-beetle-guy? Sorry, that’s the best I can do. You solve puzzles by traveling in and out of worlds which are little orbs you carry on your back. Traveling through these worlds is as seamless as standing up or petting your dog. No seriously, it’s sensational. As the great Todd Howard once said, “It just works.”
The way Geometric handles puzzle solving as a result of the worlds-within-worlds concept is nothing short of masterful. I had a smile on my face throughout every minute of my play-through of Cocoon because the puzzle solving is just that good. It doesn’t take these concepts and overuse them either because they constantly throw new ideas at you. Every hour you learn more about these little strange worlds and how they work, and the more you learn, the more you think.
I challenged myself to play this game without looking up hints, and i suggest you do the same. Of course, you can look up hints if you need, but Cocoon is much more rewarding when you challenge your brain to understand the rules and logic of these orbs and the puzzles before you. Going in to Cocoon having loved both Limbo and Inside, I didn’t think puzzle-solving could get better than it was in those games, but I’m happy to say, it’s done even better here.
A Cocoon of Mystery
In terms of story and setting, it’s just as vague as you’d expect from Playdead developers. That’s not a slight towards them, I love vague storytelling, which is a big reason why I love those games. Just saying, don’t go into Cocoon expecting the story to be spelled out for you on a neon signboard, or to even understand what’s going on. On the contrary, I think that’s the beauty of what Playdead, and now Geometric do. If Cocoon or Inside reminded you every moment in audio, notes, or lore drops what was going on, the magic would be lost.
As you wander Cocoon’s vast and imaginative world’s you will be hungering to understand more. This Dystopian-Sci-fi world or worlds, sparks your curiosity, leaving you with a simple question lingering in your mind… Why? That absence of an answer makes you thirst for understanding even more. The vagueness leaves you with so many questions, and somewhere out there, lies the answer.
That’s the magic of that Playdead DNA, and I’m glad to see Geometric did it so well here. The world is so bizarre, so ineffable, and in some ways grotesque. It’s familiar, yet so far out of reach. In so many strange and obvious ways, it’s beautiful.
Cocoon and all It’s Glory
Cocoon was everything I wanted it to be and more. It takes so many of those concepts from Inside and Limbo and does them even better. From puzzles to world-design, or mechanics to the incredible soundtrack, everything here is gaming perfection. I’ll save you the suspense of what I’m going to score this game and just tell you that this is the first perfect review score I’ve given a game in my young journalist career. I seriously have no complaints. There wasn’t a single moment that I said “that could have been better,” or “that wasn’t engaging.”
I was consistently blown away and left with a big smile on my face. From the moment I started the game, I felt as if I was playing something created by developers at the top of their game, and I was right. This is Geometric‘s first game, and man, they knocked it out of the park.
