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| Cocoon is GOOD by Rafiki 04/17/2024, 9:36pm PDT | ||||
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From Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of LIMBO and INSIDE Ok, don't be scared off by "the lead gameplay designer of LIMBO." This game is actually good. (Side note: Inside is $1.99 on Steam until tomorrow afternoon, so I can finally let FABIO know if it's any good or not.) The controls are entirely comprised of the control stick and one button. You only ever need to tap or hold down the button. You will never accidentally perform the wrong action. It's not "minimalist," it provides only exactly what you need. The game is primarily about solving puzzles but it contains a few boss fights and they do not feel out of place at all. The boss fights are essentially puzzles as well, and losing one just punts you out of the world and you can jump right back in and try again. 
The main puzzle solving gimmick is like Inception. You can jump in and out of worlds, and when you jump out of a world it becomes an orb you can pick up and carry around. You eventually start jumping in and out several levels deep. This could have been a very, very lame game had the designers pussed out and made the Inception puzzles too simple so as not to alienate children and stupid people, like Owen460: A very special negative review from Owen460. He's trying, you guys! wrote: But thankfully they respected the fact that normal people might play this game and didn't try to dumb it down. The puzzle solutions follow a decent learning curve. Sure, the early ones are relatively easy as they teach you the basics, but eventually they get really clever and have those gratifying light bulb moments where you figure out the solution and they never dip into frustrating trial and error bullshit. The game also does a really good job of blocking off routes and disabling things you can interact with once they're no longer necessary. This prevents what could have been a lot of confusion and frustration over puzzle solutions. It nicely boxes you in so that the only things you can interact with are related to the current puzzle you're solving, and you can't go meandering off into unrelated earlier parts of a level. The game also adopts the Gabe Newell Principle; ie. you can't show the player a big bomb and not let them blow it up. The game doesn't show you a novel concept and then decide to be too lazy and uninspired to address the really obvious question of, "So, what would happen if..." I would describe the art style as "pleasantly alien." It's not going to win awards, and the level themes have some old staples like desert, swamp, and volcano, but the details are weird and different enough that you don't really think about it. There's also occasionally some neat details like little tiki masks and beads and whatnot suggesting some kind of worship of whatever inhabits the world, or some pink wormy ground I would describe as "gross." The story is just some abstract whatever. At one point I thought it was going to be another "you were the bad guy all along!" fakeout, but thankfully no. It doesn't really mean anything, but it's inoffensive and a break from Aliens, Lord of the Rings, and a post- or zombie apocalypse. I finished it in about 4 and a half hours and there's not really a reason to play it again, but I feel like I got my money's worth. |
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Cocoon is GOOD by 04/17/2024, 9:36pm PDT  posting your IQ in a game review is always a winning move. Good work Owen NT by 04/18/2024, 6:09am PDT |
