You know, I missed playing Portal games. I finished both 1 and 2. Still adore the characters to this day. But very few puzzle titles could recreate the similar charm, brilliant design, and engagement. Then again, could be different when you've made two popular ones like Limbo, and Inside.
Jeppe Carlsen comes out of Playdead and creates his own studio to work on various projects, his third one, Cocoon is this mechanical oddity of a puzzle game only provides subtextual visual information while having me follow the pathway designed using what my imagination and intelligence could take me. Largely different from what others before it has done.
It doesn't have rememberable characters, but Cocoon in and of itself is such a high concept that is so well created to take my mind for a spiral into what I think Cicadas, and other insects would be if they had tech and structures that transcends reality itself.
The starting menu of the game that shows a background of canyons, and mountain tops. There was something that dropped from the sky, and just landed in this "cocoon" filled with mucus and some black wire before the character wrangles out, and lands on their feet. Literally.
Transitioning to the 3D platformer camera angle, and I had control. Making my way through under hills, the animation of this guy is like a 5 year old fast running while wearing a beetle costume. But this is also where a lot of suspending of disbelief happens. Because it needs me to be invested in where it takes me next. Like, am even pounding on stuff, and things open.
The various structures in the game are connected, and also intertwined in such unique ways. At first, it seems easy but in the just 10 minutes of doing the puzzles, it throws me off, few odds I did to get out of it, and when I did, I was quite amazed. Really does put me in a position to think out of the box.
There's only one button to press, the rest is easy to figure out by looking at the structures in the game, and drawing a reference and blueprint. Which I did a lot of the times. And it's the transitions is what really draws me all the time. Like I was glued to the screen, I wanted to see more, my brain was combating against the logistics to solve, the visual showcase is awe-striking, like out of this world.
A bunch of stuff I've said sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but just get this. It already plays like Inside, but instead of looking at the background all the time, while the puzzles juxtaposes with the themes of the background, it sprouts these architectural wonders. That are interactable in unique ways.
Of course, though, the first hour doesn't really show the good stuff till later on, and that's because it uses that time to help establish a baseline what am supposed to be thinking of. And even with all I saw, it still surprises and astounds me. The next gets even better.
My minds is slowly getting attuned to it, as I keep climbing up cliffs, moving through platforms, putting one thing on another, touching some ground stuff. All of a sudden, I am above, and then fly off to this mainframe, as if the ball I was in was just another world to trek. This mechanic is often done later as the puzzles become much more elevated, and cleverly put together.
The next level I went to is a facility of sorts, with lots of factory like constructs connect with pipes, gates, and stairs. The puzzles to solve become more expanded upon, like trying to change pipe junctions in time for the ball to reach its place. Yes, that ball the bee was chanting on.
I like how I can use something as industrialized as this can tell a story, it's not something that cuts deep but what follows really articulates what happened prior. It all has to do with that ball, it's important cargo.
So yeah, I got back to the old grand canyon area but there was a blockage, so I left back to factory. I decided to take the ball, as I needed also highlight the connected walkways, then found this different puzzle I needed to solve. That involves you know, a bit of brain power, and memory skills. These are mostly time consuming, and don't say anything, but I like what happens next.
I have a drone following me later on, and that blockade, oh that nasty blockade? Gone. And this refreshing sense of release for me to go somewhere. Not that I hated the factory, but the area I've explored before opens to new avenues.
After 2hrs, I got to a gate, the new area in the old grand canyon now basically has walkways, pipes, lasers, and more symbolic puzzles like before to solve represented in variables ways. Again, the puzzles are very intriguing as it progresses, but this is also where it goes much beyond that.
The lighting gets a little darker, but the tone is still late afternoon. I had to pull a ball that uses goop to stick to a walking tank, before said tank uses the above structure as a connection to a pathway. I also go to a trampoline that launches me over the ledge, and to another ball stuck on goop. Pull again, and then this mechanical ball goes into a suction hole.
I return to a junction where the gate I came to, was. The shining orange ball is still in place somewhere, so I'll have to get it back when am done with this place. But as I continued, it lead me to a more secluded place, and ah, boss battle?
Yeah, that bee was foreshadowing for a boss battle. Now, this game has no concept of dead. So I don't die, I just have to do certain things again. But this boss, he was pooping crystals, summoning his bee minions to slow me down before trying again. It took 5 tries to beat him, but always using a slimy ball to beat him. The balls, it's always the balls.
These concepts are repeated in the next level, which is kind of based on a swamp, and needed another shiny ball, but this one was green. So I had to juggle between two shiny dimension balls to use for opening pathways, and solving puzzles.
This reminds of old games that are so unorthodox in its visual and art style, level design, and gameplay. It tells you to do weird things to go to places. The game designer is obviously using puzzles to evoke something different. Even if this feels similar to Limbo and Inside, its world building is much different.
I mean, you could turn your brain off for a bit, and just do the stuff till something clicks. It's probably just a synapsis exercise. But where's the fun in that? Games have come so far to stretch where our imagination goes. This one intertwines concept and gameplay really well.
The bosses represents some kind of trial to go through, in order for the beetle guy to do something important in the end. The journey is paved with so much history, interesting experiences, and constant stretch of the imagination. That thing again, I said it.
There's even stuff like this. Like, one of the drones can't cross this laser because it gets crystallized, but in-between there's a portal. Before I could get it across, I enter the portal, and from there, I see the laser crossing past it. Which meant it was ok to get out, and get the orange ball, and move forward. Neat right? Totally radical.
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