Next up on my backlog games journey is Cocoon, a short puzzle/sci-fi game. This game pulled me in shortly after beginning due to its fun puzzles and sense of mystery. With very simple controls – only one button for interacting with puzzles – and no dialogue, the game creates an interesting atmosphere to uncover the story through progress and the environment.
There are four levels in Cocoon, each with their own boss encounters. The twist is that each level is a self-contained world that’s accessible through a total of four different orbs – each level corresponds to an orb – that the player will use to complete increasingly complex puzzles. To make things even more interesting, defeating the boss inhabiting each orb will unlock a special ability the player will use to navigate new sections of the game.
Since each orb is a world, you can place orbs within other orbs. While this gets confusing at times, it becomes an important aspect of gameplay especially near the end of the game when players will need to manage four different orbs. Speaking of the orbs, I loved the idea of worlds within worlds and even using the orb itself as a way to progress through puzzles. The abilities gained from each orb were each mostly useful. The first orb grants traversal over bridges that were otherwise invisible. The second orb allows you to navigate certain vertical platforms. I’m a little fuzzy on the third orb’s usage since there were so little puzzles that required its use, but I believe it granted teleportation. The last orb allows players to shoot projectiles. While I would have liked to use the third orb’s ability more, I found each ability pretty fun and useful.
Like the rest of the game, the ending was subtle but still really, really cool. At the end of the game, a cinematic reveals that each orb the player so diligently shepherds to the end results in the creation of either a new solar system or new universe. Each of the orbs is transformed into an actual planet revolving around a bright yellow sun, and the player character evolves from a moth-like insect to a more powerful being. In fact, the player now looks pretty much identical to the first boss, and the cycle continues…
I really liked this kind of storytelling, and I love how even the game’s story is a puzzle where the pieces finally fall into place right at the end. I loved the ending and how it seemed like each creature the player encountered along the way seemed to be testing it, to make sure it was strong enough to carry out its task. Knowing now that the player evolved only after completing its task, each boss must also have aided in the creation of a new universe at some point! And now those same beings are challenging you, the player, to make sure that you’re ready. Even though it was a short game, taking me about six hours to complete, I enjoyed every minute.