Cocoon opens with light. It descends from the sky, crashes into a mountain, illuminates a series of runes carved into the rock, then reaches a cocoon, which twists open. A small winged creature pops out. I didn’t know who my new friend was or what he wanted, but I was going to spend the next hour with him. During that hour Cocoon surprised and entertained me.
Cocoon is not easily explained. There’s no story to tell, no spoken or written dialogue, no text to read, and very few cutscenes. But that doesn’t mean stories don’t exist. As I navigated through the craggy rocks and white sand of the start area, I was interacting with ancient technology. Platforms moved, stairs disappeared, even the cocoons in which characters spawned. what was it for? who made it I didn’t know, but I wanted to know.
Cocoon is a puzzle game with limited interaction. I could flip switches, grab and carry things, but at first that was all. Use buttons to open doors, launch platforms, ride elevators, and more. But soon things started to get more complicated. You had to ride a platform briefly, get off another to move it into place, or fumble a series of switches to turn on a circular platform. Cocoon was great before, but the first time I used the platform, I was blown away.
I jumped up to the world I’d lived in, really just an orange sphere. The world I was exploring was supposed to be so big and wonderful, but it was so small that I could carry it around. But doing so upsets the large mechanical moth. More on him later.
Orbs can be used to power platforms and open doors. It used to be that you had to drop it inside the tube and follow it, switching segments of the tube as needed to move it in the right direction. Other times, I had to solve puzzles by leaving orbs behind and turning moving pillars to indicate the answers to puzzles that required activating switches in a specific order. So I got a little drone.
Placing an orb on a switch inside the fountain revealed a puddle that reflected the world inside the orb, and re-entering it with a drone opened up a new area.
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Now seems like a good time to talk about that moth. He was the guardian of the orbs, but he wasn’t happy with me. My fight with him was anything but ordinary. If he caught me, I would be thrown out of the orb and had to start the fight over. Our fight was like an intricate dance. I dodged his attacks and waited my turn to attack with an explosive sphere that I could pull from the ground. I couldn’t lose the game, but I couldn’t make a mistake either.
Winning the battle unlocked the orb’s power. Carrying it creates a bridge of light beneath me, opening the way to new realms. Sometimes I had to leave the orb behind and hit the switch to change the bridge when I couldn’t see it. Other times I had to activate a switch and carry it to a platform where I could stand and move. Cocoon gave me the ability to manipulate the world with my orbs, and it made me laugh out loud while solving puzzles. And then I got the second one.
This sphere was green to my first orange, and overgrown swamp to my first crag. You can take the orange orb into the green orb and use it to create a bridge of light. Alternatively, you can put the green orb into the orange orb to power the platform. Each orb unlocked a new path for the other. You can even leave one inside the other if you need to go back to the outside world and transport it somewhere else. Puzzles can be difficult. It’s easy to use an orange orb to solve a puzzle inside a green orb, but in some cases, to solve a puzzle, take an orange orb from a green orb, place it in the Overworld, and use the green orb You have to move to the next waypoint within and then back. to the outside world to obtain it.
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In Cocoon, I felt like I was always making new discoveries, such as when I noticed the order of switch puzzles placed on a bridge of light made from orange orbs. And each time you gained a new ability, you were able to explore new territories both in the Overworld and with the orbs you already possessed.
Of course, another boss battle awaited me in the green orb. This time it was against squid, but the fight was even more complicated. I had to convince him to break the rock hiding the exploding orb, then launch it into the air while dodging bullet hell attacks, and finally drop it on him. I liked the difference from the moth, but even more liked the ability I got with the green orb.
Now you can climb up and down rocks, making them solid and ethereal. The trial version ended quickly, but it was already addicting enough.
Cocoon excels in that respect. Every time I thought I knew the game was going to zig zig, it zig zig where I never dreamed it would. This is a beautiful game. It excels not only in art and music, but in how to let go of expectations and enjoy a sense of discovery. I can’t wait to discover what happens next and all the orbs we have in mind for the future.
