COCOON

If you liked Limbo and INSIDE, you'll also like COCOON. The main difference is the lack of horror elements. The puzzles gave me that satisfying "I'm clever for figuring this out" feeling. Yet, I never felt stuck or frustrated. The game is really good at teaching you mechanics in a "show don't tell" way. The boss fights are all very engaging, and are essentially just puzzles with time pressure. The controls are very simple and hardly require any motor skill. The art is all very creative and intriguing, despite its lo-fi/minimal nature. You're plopped into a strange, abandoned world with no explanation, similar to the game Scorn. So, there's a lot of room to wonder about the purpose or function of things in the world of COCOON. The music is pleasant and unobtrusive. I felt the price was a bit high, given how short the game is. (It took me about 5 hours to finish.) Though, given how much I enjoyed it, I don't regret the purchase at all.

你中有我、我中有你的嵌套世界。一次次震颤眼球的升维与降维，好似在直观感受《维摩诘经》讲述“芥子藏须弥”、王虹提出的三维挂谷猜想。游玩中途一直浮现在脑海里的一句话是“我只是一粒尘埃，但同时，世界握在我的手中。” 无指引，会卡关，但只要顺应制作人“绝不死档”的设计理念，就一定能迎来柳暗花明的那刻。BOSS战虽然沿用一定弹幕射击的玩法，还是难以想象仅凭方向键和空格就能创造出如此强劲的交互感。多个谜题间可能产生联动，下个谜题的解答常以上个谜题的破坏为基础。不同色球不断建立起新的交互机制，又不断将定式思维碾个粉碎。除跳跃中途扔球有点脑筋急转弯的意思，本作就是在美术、氛围、哲学、创意、风格化上表现完美的解谜游戏了，一点都不比Inside差的。

Cocoon — пазл-пригода, яка бере за основу філософію дизайну Фуміто Уеди — та будує доступний вступ у механики бульбашкового всесвіту. У Cocoon є рутинні елементи, що не несуть особливого сенсу і розтягують і так короткий хронометраж — необхідність постійно кудись класти сферу (замість того щоб викинути її на останнє місцерозташування), повільний біг (який неможливо ніяк прискорити), недостатньо швидкі анімації переходів між світами. Фанати Patrick's Parabox не знайдуть тут складних механізмів світів у світах, фанати Recursed не знайдуть тут запаморочливої циклічності — але усі гравці знайдуть тут непогану розвагу на три-чотири години. Якщо ви вже знайомі з концептом у ядрі гри, то нового ви тут нічого не побачите — окрім демонстрації міцного геймдизайну адвенчури. Cocoon є гарним стартом для будь-якої людини, яка хоче досліджувати жанр пазлів.

A bit draggy and tedious. Glimpses of brilliance in some of the recursive-world warping puzzles, but not enough of that and too much other button-platform stuff that somehow managed to feel like it was filler in a 5 hour game. Cute but not recommended.

10/10 Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux “我们必须想象西西弗斯是幸福的。” 这是我最近一个月玩到的最好玩的游戏。优美的画面，流畅的解谜过程，没有任何交互的设计是多余的。操作非常简单，和手柄的适配度极高，让我能够更加沉浸的体验这款游戏。在买它之前，我总能看到有人说它的难度太低。 我认为，这款游戏的解谜部分并不简单，设计可以说是非常巧妙。但说它简单也是合适的，因为它非常友好的设置了[u]“关门”[/u]和[u]“正确音乐”[/u]。如果没有那些门告诉你你所走的这条路是对的，如果没有音乐响起，告诉你你的行为是正确的，我相信不会有人说它简单。它用一部分的难度上限换取了大多数人的游戏体验。 关于游戏性的部分就说到这里，接下来我想聊一聊这部游戏的“哲学”。 世界的球体一层嵌套着一层，旅途重重叠叠，生与死成了循环与轮回。 那只小虫背着不同的石头，无数次重启，无数次折返，结局的最后也变成一个圆。 人类如何看待化茧成蝶？ 我说，成为蝴蝶并没有任何意义，因为生命的本身就是徒劳。我们每去往一个不同的世界，巨石就再一次滚落下山。然而，在新的旅途中，在一次又一次推石上山的过程中，它终于挣脱了命运的桎梏，破茧而出。可我不认为成为蝴蝶就是旅途的最终点，那些它背负着前行的球体，都在它身后的轨道上运转着，还会有更多的小虫走过这段旅，还会有更多的玩家打开这部游戏，那些精巧的机关和动听的旋律，依旧会为下一个旅人上演。 而我们都会奔赴向新的生活，命运的巨石也总会轰然滚落。 游戏没有意义，我们却一次次的认真解谜；世界没有意义，我们却一天天的努力生活。生命的本质，本就裹挟着荒诞与徒劳。正因为看清虚无却依旧前行，我才终于读懂，为何： 我们必须想象，西西弗斯是幸福的。

Very important warning for players who aren't good at fighting bosses: There are bosses in this game and the checkpoints between boss battle phases are absurdly few, so if you're like me who only bought the game for the puzzles and do not give a single s--t about fighting and have very poor fighting expertise and experience, don't buy this game. The puzzles are very good though, what a shame

COCOON is neat and well-made. The game's art direction certainly felt on point to me, if nothing else. Yet, initial excitement of diving into this strange world quickly gave way to tedium. The puzzles, while coherent and perfectly logical, are ultimately nothing much to write home about. Then there are boss fights of sorts, and I'm not sure why they are here in the first place: those who want to experience challenging combat will not find what they seek here, and those who came to solve puzzles and explore the world (hi, it's me) will find them to be visually appealing, yet ultimately annoying roadblocks. In my (admittedly limited) experience, the game isn't more than the sum of its parts, so to say. Maybe there was a killer twist or ending waiting for me down the line, and if I were to reach it, I'd be praising the game to hell and back. And if that's the case, then it's a shame that the process of getting there turned out to be dull enough to put me off this hard... but I think I'll live somehow.

Nice game, cleaver puzzles, just enough challenge to make you think, but don't get stuck for too long. Gorgeous picture, pleasant music. I really liked the mechanic of stacking worlds inside each other. Of course it's not new, but this looked really engaging. Also enjoyed the fact, that the game doesn't explain anything, like that same creature that just woke up and trying to figure out this interesting [strike]little[/strike] massive world. I enjoyed it a lot and have nothing bad to say about this game. Highly recommended!