Cocoon(Annapurna's new game with lead developer of Limbo/Inside) is getting great reviews. 89 on Metacritic.

Played it for a few hours and it was..fine, especially the presentation was nice. I wouldn't say "89" by any stretch of the (my) imagination though.

With that said, Cocoon to me feels like a zen, light puzzle game that didn't leave me with the feeling that I completely wasted my time playing it, and that's good enough for me.
 
Last edited:
Ozriel said:
Why would you fall for a Gamerant article?
Click to expand...
Is it Gamerant? Sorry, I just assumed it was MSN and didn't think much about the source. My bad. Still Microsoft did post it on their browser gamer homepage. I am surprised that they let negative articles about Xbox through at times. But I guess it's fair journalism to an extent.
 
Last edited:
Sorcerer said:
Is it Gamerant? Sorry, I just assumed it was MSN and didn't think much about the source. My bad. Still Microsoft did post it on their browser homepage. I am surprised that they let negative articles about Xbox through at times. But I guess it's fair journalism to an extent.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought it was MSN itself until I clicked through. It's such a poor article, even by their standards. Zero proof or screenshots of this 'review bombing', and they say it's still around 4.1/5 stars.

The thought of hordes of gamers raging about indie games after getting Payday 3, Starfield, Lies of P and Forza Motorsport in little over a month never made sense.
 
Only played this for maybe 30 minutes or so, but damn, I'm in love with it already. Looking forward to diving in some more later today.
 
Where was the hype? I don't even realize the sequel to Inside was coming out until like today.

Played for a bit and I'm feeling hopeful.
 
Just finished it. I absolutely loved it. The puzzles towards the end become much more interesting, though never overly hard. In terms of difficulty, it's much closer to something like Portal or The Talos Principle as opposed to Stephen's Sausage Roll or Baba is You. It's definitely going to be in my top 5 for the year.
 
TP6Qtmm.jpg
 
Beat this today and I enjoyed it so much. Only knock is it could've been a little more challenging, but it still had its moments where I was stumped for a little bit. But overall it was a lot of fun. Recommended and agree with the reviews.
 
Last edited:
STARSBarry said:
Thought I might as well give it a go as it's on gamepass...

Damn Microsoft fucked up again, shows as "unavailable" on the store, in the end I had to enable remote play and force it to download remotely through the xbox app.

Never mind it's now asking for a disc... come on Microsoft.
Click to expand...

Microsoft is truly terrible these days. They still can't get the ui and store to even work properly. Where's Redfalls 60 fps mode btw?
 
RPS37 said:
Where was the hype? I don't even realize the sequel to Inside was coming out until like today.

Played for a bit and I'm feeling hopeful.
Click to expand...
It's not made by Playdead, that's why.

AFAIK the guy was a co-founder of Playdead and left the company after INSIDE to make this game.
 
It's a nice concept, I like the idea of being inside an orb while carrying an orb that has another orb within it. Could have been truly mind-bending and impossibly difficult, but the puzzles are basically just put the orb on the correct plinth.

It hasn't grabbed me like Inside and Limbo did. I think that might be due in part to the abstract setting, and quite a lot because of the main character. I mean, what the hell is it? I can't connect with a two-legged no-arms insect-man thing.
 
Sorcerer said:
Sad!!!
Cocoon getting review bombed on Gamepass because it's an indie game.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...1&cvid=02cfe6bf2c074558a281b182d0ffa27e&ei=14
Click to expand...

User reviews were fun for a while but now it seems they don't serve any purpose when it comes to finding out if you might like something.

People used to say that professional reviewers (particularly in film) didn't speak for the public's taste, but now the public have revealed that a lot of the most vocal don't appear to like anything and choose to spend their time shitting on things as a hobby, I'm not sure we need to put those reviews on a pedestal either.

So, sure, if you want to know what someone who hasn't experienced something might think is a reason to dislike something, or even what they want to invent as a reason to dislike something, then jump to the user reviews.
 
Last edited:
Well that one was one batshit crazy but superbly entertaining game. The puzzles were just about the perfect difficulty for me. I might have been stumped for a few minutes but every situation was solvable without my having to consult a guide. I couldn't get my head around the game at 94%, it was just totally fried as to what was going on with the orbs. Ingenious puzzle design though. Highly recommend it, played it on Game Pass but I'll be looking to add it to my Steam library.
 
Just finished it. Three sessions, around two hours each.

Enjoyed every second of it, puzzle design is brilliant. It's very intuitive - two puzzles gave me temp headache but for the most part you look at your surroundings and its clear what you need to do even if you don't exactly know how to yet.

Missed one Moon Ancestor somewhere.
 
Just finished the game and I loved it. It's interesting that despite being a completely different genre you can feel the Playdead heritage in every element of its design. The game is beautiful and the puzzles and world are engaging. I'll say my one (minor) knock against it is that it may be too easy. I don't think there were more than 2 or 3 puzzles that I didn't immediately understand what I needed to do, but the late game puzzles are more complex and conceptually interesting for sure.

I got all the moon ancestors on the first go which was nice. Looked up what you have to do for the secret ending and immediately decided I wouldn't have the patience for that, looked it up and don't understand it at all lol.

Highly recommend this one. It's a good palette cleanser in-between all the heavy hitters this year. This feels like the true successor to Playdead game design, especially compared to last year's Somerville (also from former Playdead) which felt more like a cheap knockoff.
 
I'm only three achievements into the game. It seems fine so far and maybe a little too straight forward for a puzzle game. Certainly better than the other Playdead spinoff, Somerville.
 
jorgejjvr said:
This game is so good
Click to expand...
It is but puzzle games really stump me and I've needed assistance a few times. The farther you go the more complex the puzzles get. I walked away around the 83% mark. Beautiful and well thought out game. Wish I was better at these type of games.
 
Finished this today, and I loved every minute. This game is just fucking genius mechanically. It's so well-thought-out that I cannot begin to imagine the time it must've taken the dev team to consider every variable to enable you to seamlessly hoop through orbs without losing them. Simultaneously, allowing you to use all orbs in various worlds to solve a single puzzle. Like, WTF. The puzzles were neither difficult nor easy, but it still felt satisfying to clear a section. The game does a brilliant job in teaching you how to navigate the world(s) without actually telling you anything. The lore, art, and sound direction really gives Cocoon a unique ambiance in its game design that I will appreciate for years to come. I cannot recommend this game enough, it respects your time and intelligence for a puzzler, offering so much more value than it probably should. It's a shame, there isn't even an OT for this. :(
 
Imo Annapurna is arguably the best publisher around. I have had more varied and more memorable moments in their games in recent years than any of the AAA big boys. So I'll prob give this one a shot.
 
Question for those that finished this and said it was too easy.

Do you always play, enjoy and excel at puzzle games?

Such a beautiful game but some of the puzzles went right over my head. Any tips for a puzzle novice?

Happened to my playing Limbo and Inside as well. Hit a wall and couldn't move forward despite being really interested to see how things progress.
 
SteadyEvo said:
Question for those that finished this and said it was too easy.

Do you always play, enjoy and excel at puzzle games?

Such a beautiful game but some of the puzzles went right over my head. Any tips for a puzzle novice?

Happened to my playing Limbo and Inside as well. Hit a wall and couldn't move forward despite being really interested to see how things progress.
Click to expand...
Don't be afraid to leave an orb and jump into another one, the solution might actually be somewhere else. Use the environment to give you clues as how to solve the obstacle in front of you. Every world teaches you a new way to solve puzzles, carry those lessons into the next world. Beating the boss of a world will give you an ability while carrying the orb it was in, don't underestimate the value of the ability and how you can use it within other worlds. Once you begin to realize how to effectively make use of the orbs, you'll work things out much quicker. I do play puzzle games often, but I wouldn't say I'm good at them or very smart. In Cocoon I found that the solutions are typically very simple, but the environment and not really understand the mechanics of the game can slow you down.
 
Finished today and I'm pretty mixed on it. The concept is wonderful and there are some really interesting design choices that are equal parts brilliant but at the same time rob the game of any form of challenge. Having the areas lock themselves off once their role in the puzzle is completed will certainly prevent frustration from players, but it also limits the complexity of any given puzzle. At times it feels like you are manually kicking off each step of an intricate Rube Goldberg machine rather than solving a headscratcher. There is so much potential to the concept, especially when you have the orbs, but the lack of challenge robs you of any "ah ha" moments. Maybe the intention was it to be more of journey and less about stumping players, but I do think it lacks any sense of place. In the end, I think the design of game is far more interesting than playing it, but I'd still recommend playing it just to see the design given how short the experience is.
 
Deerock71 said:
Guy's voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Click to expand...
The Cocoon Dunkview
SteadyEvo said:
It is but puzzle games really stump me and I've needed assistance a few times. The farther you go the more complex the puzzles get. I walked away around the 83% mark. Beautiful and well thought out game. Wish I was better at these type of games.
Click to expand...
don't give up
near said:
Finished this today, and I loved every minute. This game is just fucking genius mechanically. It's so well-thought-out that I cannot begin to imagine the time it must've taken the dev team to consider every variable to enable you to seamlessly hoop through orbs without losing them. Simultaneously, allowing you to use all orbs in various worlds to solve a single puzzle. Like, WTF. The puzzles were neither difficult nor easy, but it still felt satisfying to clear a section. The game does a brilliant job in teaching you how to navigate the world(s) without actually telling you anything. The lore, art, and sound direction really gives Cocoon a unique ambiance in its game design that I will appreciate for years to come. I cannot recommend this game enough, it respects your time and intelligence for a puzzler, offering so much more value than it probably should. It's a shame, there isn't even an OT for this. :(
Click to expand...
This is the OT!
SenkiDala said:
Finished at launch and it was great. Great game design, graphics, puzzles, sound ambiance. Indie goty for me.
Click to expand...
I wish more indies were this impressive. Did you try Tinykin?
 
I thought it was another overrated indie game at first (like Sea of Stars) but as it turns out it's really good. The concept alone is brilliant and aesthetically it's also very interesting.
 
It's 3:30am and I just scrolled the credits.
I had to cheat quite a bit toward the end.
I would watch a bit of a YouTube video then go back and solve a couple puzzles and get annoyed and stuck and go back to YouTube.
The last puzzle specifically I don't know if I could've figured it out by myself. I had the right idea but not the full concept.
Damn good game and the first game I've finished in a while.
 
I saw Shinobi on twitter not really feeling it, describing it as a pure puzzle game with no story. I think there is a story in it with a great emotional payoff. It's just that it is not spelled out for you.
 
SteadyEvo said:
Question for those that finished this and said it was too easy.

Do you always play, enjoy and excel at puzzle games?

Such a beautiful game but some of the puzzles went right over my head. Any tips for a puzzle novice?

Happened to my playing Limbo and Inside as well. Hit a wall and couldn't move forward despite being really interested to see how things progress.
Click to expand...

I mean I play puzzle games if they interest me but I don't go out of my way to seek them out or anything. I did find this game very simple and pretty short because or that.

I enjoy Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, Rain Code etc. As for advice, it's not always about immediately seeing the big picture but failing and retracing your steps.

So for example you do a thing that doesn't work, go back one step and see if the other action you can take works, if that fails go back anouther step and so on and so on.

When I see a puzzle my head naturally trys to work out the solution immediately, sometimes it comes to the correct conclusion and therefore the above is not necessary but if not I work the above step by step. Sometimes you will get a flash and immediately know where you went wrong several steps before, because something just "clicks" and jump back there.

I think in this game there where only 2 puzzles I needed to do step by step to figure out where I went wrong, everything else was either right first time or I knew where I messed up. Oh before I forget one last thing, if you are moving on from an area but a portion of the map has something you did not use to complete that section, make a mental note of it 90% of the time it's going to be something you use later on when your jumping around worlds to resolve an issue there. Quite often a solution would become immediately apparent because the trick was that I already knew in the back of my head I still needed to use a prior part of the map for a puzzle. You will over time naturally get a feel for the sort of logic the person who designed these was going for, I would be surprised if more that one person designed them in this for example, they felt very similair in their design


Not the best description I know but it's how I got through it.
 
Last edited:
At 40% completion. Finally experienced the true "layering" that makes these genius puzzles. Game is awesome.
 
I think the guy that designed this is probably a genius in terms of spatial awareness. Being able to layer puzzles like this in such an interesting and unique way, but having it remain relatively intuitive and easy for a new player to grasp is no small feat. Add on top of that some of the best art design of the year. Add on top of that 3 boss fights in a row that are some of the smoothest and best I've ever played.

At 60%.
 
Man ... some of these puzzles at the end. If you guys figured this out without a guide I am definitely impressed. I didnt.
 
Punished Miku said:
Man ... some of these puzzles at the end. If you guys figured this out without a guide I am definitely impressed. I didnt.
Click to expand...

I can be dumb as a rock when it comes to puzzle games but somehow this one was a breeze for me. Or at least the rules set up by the game felt very intuitive and only once or twice I was like: "ok, what the hell do I have to do now?"
 
Roberts said:
I can be dumb as a rock when it comes to puzzle games but somehow this one was a breeze for me. Or at least the rules set up by the game felt very intuitive and only once or twice I was like: "ok, what the hell do I have to do now?"
Click to expand...

It smartly prevents you from backtracking. I'm with you in that I found this game a breeze when the likes of The Witness (later stages), Stephen's Sausage Roll, and Baba is You broke my brain. Cocoon's design is far more interesting than the execution and that's not me trying to insult it.
 
Roberts said:
I can be dumb as a rock when it comes to puzzle games but somehow this one was a breeze for me. Or at least the rules set up by the game felt very intuitive and only once or twice I was like: "ok, what the hell do I have to do now?"
Click to expand...
I can see that. Its insanely polished. Every solution is right there in one or two simple steps as long as you can stretch your brain a bit further and imagine it.

I'm at 92%. Just finished:
shooting the light into 2 worlds in a row while carrying it.

Very fun indeed. I figured out that part and felt like a genius.

4do5gSf.gif
 
Been playing this on gamepass. Pleasantly surprised to see it mentioned on the gaf because I think it's a good game.


I know some people will not give a shit about this game because it's not some third person, story driven linear experience trying to be woke and full of messages about the real world ….. but I don't give to shits. I don't care if this game don't get 10s all round. This is what a game is supposed to be. Challenging, well designed and unpretentious.



Thank god for a few weeks Indie devs. For real…..everybody should play this game. It's been a good year for good games that dont try to be any thing other than good games.
 
This game is brilliant. Loving it more than Inside or Limbo.

Puzzle design and mechanics are absolutely brilliant and elegant. I'd really like to see this team do a larger production married with more traditional action/rpg mechanics.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Monster Train 2 is getting great reviews
41
989
MagnesD3 replied
[Insider Gaming] Ubisoft Confirms a New First-Person Ghost Recon Game is in Development
35
337
IbizaPocholo replied
What's with subscription included games and games leaving early access not getting many reviews?
30
74
poppabk replied
Limbo and Inside being pulled from GoG next week. Likely Steam and consoles too.
29
404
Shubh_C63 replied
  • Locked
Prince Blue Review Thread - New Puzzle game getting amazing reviews. Out April 10th
3
416
AJUMP23 replied
Top Bottom