Find the games you're looking for
Cocoon
Critics Consensus (Play It)
Game Info
Cocoon is a unique take on the puzzle adventure genre, where each world exists within an orb that you can carry on your back. Wrap your head around the core mechanic of leaping between worlds—and combine, manipulate, and rearrange them to solve intricate puzzles.
Recommended
Average Score
Nom: Best Puzzle/Strategy (2023), Nom: Best Indie Game (2023), Editors' Choice
Gold TIER
38% of scored reviews fell within the range of 86 to 92 / 100
RELEASE DATES:
GENRES:
- Adventure, Puzzle
DEVELOPER(S):
- Geometric Interactive
PUBLISHER(S):
- Annapurna Interactive
SERIES/FRANCHISE:
- n/a
GAME MODES:
- Single player
Where to Play
** VSG may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Ratings & Reviews
54
Critic Reviews
87
Average Critic Score
Where to Play
All reviews are from professional critics. Learn more about the critics VSG aggregates.
High Score
Median Score
Low Score
Every step of the way is littered with details big and small that absolutely sing, from the way that you can see the solution for a problem reflected in a puddle at your feet, to the ways the aphids and fireflies floating through these strange new worlds coalesce into funny little helpers along the way. Even with a phobia of everything this world was made to embody, it’s hard to not become transfixed by the beauty and enormity of it all.
Cocoon is one to remember. This puzzle adventure builds on ideas from Limbo and Inside and creates a mind-bending, world-warping adventure unlike either of them.
I don’t know that I will ever fully understand what transpired during my molecular journey on Cocoon’s alien world, but its imagery and puzzles will stay with me for some time.
Assassin’s Creed Jade Release Likely Delayed to 2025 as Tencent Shifts Focus
PlayStation 5 Pro: Leaked Specs Reveal a Major Upgrade, Release Hinted for Holiday 2024
Xbox Games Hit New Platforms: Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded Coming to Other Platforms
Xbox Reaches Beyond Consoles: 4 Games to Rival Platforms, and What It Means
Silent Hill 2 Remake Developer Unhappy With Trailer Released by Konami
Outlet | Author | Score | Date | Quote | Read |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3DNews | Алексей Лихачев | 9 / 10 | 10-08-2023 | One of the best puzzle-adventure games with tons of cool ideas and their flawless execution. We didn’t expect less from the game designer of Limbo and Inside. | Read review |
Atomix | Alberto Desfassiaux | 90 / 100 | 10-20-2023 | One of the greatest indie game of 2023. Cocoon represents perfectly the idea of a simple gameplay, with wonderful ideas. A pure elegant video game design. | Read review |
But Why Tho? | Mick Abrahamson | 9.5 / 10 | 09-30-2023 | Where Cocoon shines is in its creativity. Bosses, level design, and use of puzzles, all through its use of orbs, are extremely fun. Plus, every section ends without overstaying its welcome. | Read review |
COGconnected | Lou Sytsma | 90 / 100 | 10-07-2023 | If you enjoy exploration, puzzler games like Journey, then Cocoon is the closest cousin yet. The game exudes charm and is a joy to play. If you are tired or need a break from games that require full concentration or fast reflexes, then Cocoon is definitely worth a look. We all need palette cleansers from time to time, and Cocoon is a splendid choice to do so. | Read review |
Digital Chumps | Ben Sheene | 9.5 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon’s core premise is an evocative meditation on puzzle mechanics. A player’s thought process should never come unraveled in this mysterious universe of overlapping worlds and expertly crafted “a ha!” moments that propel to new reveals and deeper brain teasers. | Read review |
Digital Trends | Giovanni Colantonio | 4 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon is a mesmerizing debut for Geometric Interactive that’s filled with ingenious puzzles that will unlock your animal instincts. | Read review |
Easy Allies | Daniel Bloodworth | 4.5 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | Video Review | Read review |
Echo Boomer | João Canelo | Recommended | 11-01-2023 | Geometric Interactive brings us one of the best titles of the year by managing to balance an excellent concept with accessible puzzles and enviable level design. | Read review |
Eurogamer | Christian Donlan | Recommended | 09-28-2023 | Worlds sit within worlds in this properly magical puzzle adventure. | Read review |
Everyeye.it | Cristina Bona | 8.5 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon offers solid gameplay, which develops along a well-thought-out and challenging learning curve. | Read review |
Forbes | Matt Gardner | Recommended | 09-29-2023 | I’ve reviewed hundreds of games, and this is the first time I can say with confidence that it’s pretty much impossible to find anything bad to say about COCOON. As such, I won’t manufacture criticism. It’s a must-play experience–a real 10/10, if I gave review scores. Which I never have. Even if I just did. | Read review |
Game Informer | Kyle Hilliard | 8.8 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | I don’t know that I will ever fully understand what transpired during my molecular journey on Cocoon’s alien world, but its imagery and puzzles will stay with me for some time. | Read review |
Game Rant | Anthony Taormina | 4.5 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | It has incredible art design and presentation, is so cleverly designed, and has a pace that makes it hard to put down once things get going. The surface-level view of the game is unassuming but digging into the worlds of Cocoon reveals an experience that is unforgettable. | Read review |
Gamefa | mohammad hossein karimi | 9.3 / 10 | 10-07-2023 | COCOON may seem like a small game, but easily proves his greatness through creativity and innovation. COCOON shows once again that when it comes to indie games, creativity is the most important factor. you will definitely be surprised by its subtleness and uniqueness. | Read review |
GameMAG | Unknown | 8 / 10 | 10-31-2023 | If you feel longing for something like INSIDE, Journey or ICO, then drop everything and just buy Cocoon. It’s one of the most important games this year, and one that will be talked about years down the line. | Read review |
GameSpot | Jess Howard | 9 / 10 | 09-29-2023 | From its puzzles to its visuals, Cocoon is a beautiful and superbly designed game that delivers a meaningful message in a subtle way. | Read review |
GamesRadar+ | Rachel Watts | 5 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | It all evokes the same galaxy-brain mind-bending puzzles of Portal, Superliminal, Marquette, and Viewfinder | Read review |
GamingBolt | Shunal Doke | 8 / 10 | 10-01-2023 | COCOON brings together its vibrant visuals, chill vibes, and minimalistic approach to gameplay and storytelling together to create one of the most interesting puzzle games in recent times. | Read review |
Generación Xbox | Luis Falcón | 9 / 10 | 10-13-2023 | Cocoon is the ultimate puzzle game. Lovers of this genre have before them a delivery that is completely mandatory for all players who enjoy solving puzzles. The mechanics of the orbs are really captivating and being able to change worlds as you play is something that is very well implemented. In addition, as we have mentioned, you can introduce one orb inside another, or you can enter three in one. All this not only serves to move the orbs and take them to a new area, but could also unlock some extra mechanics. | Read review |
God is a Geek | Chris White | 9 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon is a beautifully designed puzzler with some fascinating ideas woven throughout the fabric of the world. | Read review |
Hardcore Gamer | Jordan Helm | 3.5 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | Geometric Interactive’s debut in Cocoon, though lacking in the kind of imagination and surreal creativity its premise might entail, still winds up a pleasant and solid-enough first attempt. | Read review |
Hey Poor Player | Andrew Thornton | 5 / 5 stars | 10-10-2023 | The closest to a negative thing I can say about COCOON is that I wish there were more of it. I wish I could forget everything I know about it so that I could experience it again for the first time. That those moments of jaw-dropping awe could hit as hard as they did my first time through. While I can’t have those moments back, though, you can still experience them. If you haven’t played COCOON yet, they’re still waiting for you to find them. | Read review |
Hobby Consolas | Alberto Lloret | 89 / 100 | 09-28-2023 | Like the previous Jeppe Carlsen games, Cocoon is a special title, a wonderful little puzzle adventure that plays with original concepts and ideas. It may be brief, leaving you wanting more… But it is one of those indie games that, as soon as you are attracted to the genre, you have to play yes or yes. | Read review |
IGN | Hana Kim | 9 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon is one to remember. This puzzle adventure builds on ideas from Limbo and Inside and creates a mind-bending, world-warping adventure unlike either of them. | Read review |
IGN Italy | Damaso Scibetta | 8.2 / 10 | 10-10-2023 | While not reinventing genre mechanics, Cocoon is an intriguing puzzle game that immerses the player in an introspective journey through spheres that encompass entire worlds within them. Despite being notably simple, it offers well-constructed enigmas and a remarkably well-balanced learning curve. It doesn’t reach the expressive heights of titles like Journey but represents a significant advancement in Carlsen’s games, inviting the players to reflect on themselves and the worlds they’ve created. Highly recommended. | Read review |
Kotaku | Ethan Gach | Recommended | 09-28-2023 | The thing I loved most about playing Cocoon is how often I found answers without even seeking them. It’s so keen to share its secrets with you that it works harder at creating the illusion of being lost or stuck than it does at actually trying to stump the player or leave them feeling stranded. Like a complex sequence of sleight-of-hand coin tricks, its overwhelming layers are only there to disorient you long enough that you feel surprised and delighted when the object is revealed again. And Cocoon’s tricks are ones I won’t soon forget. | Read review |
Metro GameCentral | Nick Gillett | 9 / 10 | 10-02-2023 | A wordless and atmospheric puzzle game that’s just as ingenious and inventive as Limbo and Inside, but with more substantial gameplay and perfect pacing. | Read review |
New Game Network | Ben Thomas | 74 / 100 | 10-06-2023 | Cocoon is a clever and original world-stacking puzzler with complex mechanics that are kept in check by limiting how players arrange and explore worlds. While it’s possible to stumble upon solutions through a confusing haze, the game’s few moments of brilliance make it worth checking out. | Read review |
Nintendo Life | Michelle See-Tho | 8 / 10 | 10-05-2023 | Cocoon is a fun and addictive puzzler. Its unique mechanics and gameplay had us glued to our screens, and it’s gorgeous to boot. Its lack of story is a minor disappointment, but if you love puzzles and aren’t bugged by fast-paced combat, this game will be an easy favourite — even if it flies by all too quickly. | Read review |
NintendoWorldReport | Alex Orona | 9.5 / 10 | 10-02-2023 | The environmental details were beautifully hypnotic. Crafting such a fantastically curious world of psychedelic shapes and inorganic life is a feat of its own but with this combination as a full package, I can’t recommend this game to enough people. It’s greater than the sum of its parts and at the end of my time with Cocoon, my journey had felt meaningful. | Read review |
Oyungezer Online | M.İhsan Tatari | 8 / 10 | 10-26-2023 | LIMBO and INSIDE creator Jeppe Carlsen has done it again. With its unique world, successful puzzles and visuals reminiscent of Giger’s style, COCOON manages to be one of the best indies of this year. The puzzles could have been a bit more challenging, though. | Read review |
Paste Magazine | Elijah Gonzalez | 8.3 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | If I have a major issue, it’s that just as this sensation is fully kicking in, this relatively brief journey comes to a close. The problem isn’t so much the game’s length but that it only reaches its full potential in this last hour or so as it bounds towards its climax. Also, while the ultimate conclusion doesn’t necessarily undermine what came before, it doesn’t quite elevate it either, as its fairly straightforward demonstration of what it’s all “about” is somewhat clumsy compared to what it more elegantly achieves through its mechanics. Still, even if it doesn’t entirely stick the landing, Cocoon’s mind-warping puzzles and well-realized setting make for an out-of-this-world experience. | Read review |
PC Gamer | Jon Bailes | 90 / 100 | 10-02-2023 | A puzzle adventure of rare ingenuity that thrives on its tactility as much as its design. | Read review |
PlayStation Universe | Tony Colton | 10 / 10 | 09-29-2023 | Cocoon is an exceptionally crafted, perfectly paced and highly polished experience that hits every beat. It’s gaming perfection. | Read review |
Polygon | Grayson Morley | Recommended | 09-28-2023 | Geometric Interactive has created an impossibility with Cocoon. It’s a joyful, improbable experience that will leave you transformed. | Read review |
Press Start | Brodie Gibbons | 9 / 10 | 09-29-2023 | Cocoon’s focus on recursive exploration, which sees you peel back the filmic overlay of several coexisting realities to writhe in the depth of their fathoms-deep trickery, is incredibly intelligent in its design and is truly the most technically impressive puzzle game I’ve played since perhaps Portal. And it achieves all of this whilst sharing clear genetics with its forerunners. | Read review |
PSX Brasil | Victor Vitório | 80 / 100 | 10-11-2023 | In Cocoon, the strangely beautiful alien setting is a meticulously well-done job that, in general, compensates for the minimalism of the almost non-existent narrative structure. The journey is filled with puzzles that work with the elegant cohesion of a living organism, flowing into an experience that, on the one hand, is harmonious and rich, but on the other, is simpler and more restrained than it should be. | Read review |
Push Square | Stephen Tailby | 9 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | In a year packed with brilliant games, Cocoon manages to stand out thanks to its unique mechanics and some of the best level and puzzle design we’ve seen in years. It holds your attention with an intriguing sci-fi world, challenges you with puzzles spanning multiple worlds, and keeps you hooked with accessible controls and minimalist presentation. With only the most minor grievances holding it back, we’re confident in saying this is up there with 2023’s best. | Read review |
Rock, Paper, Shotgun | Ed Thorn | Recommended | 09-28-2023 | Masterful geography makes this world-hopping puzzler not only a series of clever problems, but a grand exploration of a wonderfully realised cosmic universe. | Read review |
Screen Rant | Rob Gordon | 4 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | Overall, Cocoon is a fantastic puzzle game. Its core gimmick of world-jumping is implemented expertly, building a cohesive in-game logic that will keep players hooked to the end. It’s a world full of secrets, many of then unknown, and it’s all the better for it. | Read review |
Shacknews | TJ Denzer | 8 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | What impressed me the most about Cocoon throughout much of the adventure was the sheer intuitive nature of its puzzle-solving. You might think that with no dialogue or hints, jumping into worlds within worlds and carrying them around would be hard to wrap your head around, but this game does an incredible job in its presentation, making you aware of what you can do and what you want to accomplish. Just as well, it’s a beautiful and ambient game that drew me into its mystery and made me want to unravel more through the sheer joy of cracking each layer and digging into another. The team at Geometric Interactive made something truly compelling, mind-bending, and immersive in Cocoon, and though it can prove difficult to handle all its tools, solving its mysteries is an absolute delight. | Read review |
Siliconera | Leigh Price | 8 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | If you like games with unfathomable narratives and journeys through alien worlds, I highly recommend Cocoon. | Read review |
Slant Magazine | Justin Clark | 4.5 / 5 stars | 10-03-2023 | Every step of the way is littered with details big and small that absolutely sing, from the way that you can see the solution for a problem reflected in a puddle at your feet, to the ways the aphids and fireflies floating through these strange new worlds coalesce into funny little helpers along the way. Even with a phobia of everything this world was made to embody, it’s hard to not become transfixed by the beauty and enormity of it all. | Read review |
SpazioGames | Nicolò Bicego | 8.8 / 10 | 10-05-2023 | Cocoon is a beautiful puzzle-adventure game that excels in creating a captivating atmosphere. Playing as the tiny insect protagonist on this adventure and guiding it through interconnected worlds provides an incredibly satisfying experience, setting it apart from the creator’s previous works. It may not redefine the genre, but it’s a title worth trying out for any gamer. | Read review |
TechRaptor | Robert Scarpinito | 9.5 / 10 | 10-10-2023 | Cocoon is an approachable, clever, and consistently satisfying puzzle game that respects your intelligence and never leaves you stranded. If you have Xbox Game Pass, it’s an essential title that’s worth experiencing. (Review Policy) | Read review |
The Escapist | KC Nwosu | Recommended | 10-03-2023 | Video Review | Read review |
The Games Machine | Stefano Calzati | 9.5 / 10 | 10-06-2023 | Instant classic, without mincing words. Cocoon is a magnetic, sneaky work, of those that you just do not know when to stop playing with it, so organic, fluid, stimulating, absolutely determined not to give brain breaks. A puzzle adventure that constantly seeks the new, the amazement, with the virtuous reuse of known design elements that, used with wisdom, support and allow the explosion of ideas of pure videogame genius. Shots of champions, which have often led me to relive the impact of Fez and the first, surprising indie masterpieces of the past decade. A special video game, one that is not easily forgotten and of which we will find the geniuses in many other titles in the years to come. | Read review |
TheGamer | Jamie Latour | 4 / 5 stars | 09-28-2023 | While Cocoon didn’t connect with me on the same level as other indie puzzlers, I had a great time venturing through orbs to solve mind-bending puzzles and explore alien worlds. The game also succeeds when it comes to giving you a great WTF ending, which is a requirement for this genre. It’s nice to see that even after leaving Playdead these developers are still able to deliver another fun albeit utterly baffling experience. All that’s keeping it from being a true masterpiece is a little more child danger and an appearance from the Quaker Oats man himself. | Read review |
TheSixthAxis | Steve C | 8 / 10 | 10-13-2023 | Cocoon is a beautiful experience that marries a gorgeous aesthetic with increasingly complex puzzles that really push you to experiment with the game’s mechanics. Whilst it isn’t a long or excessively challenging game, I would urge you to absorb yourselves in its dimension-hopping delights. | Read review |
Video Chums | A.J. Maciejewski | 8 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | If you’re in the mood for an abstract fast-paced puzzle-filled boss-slaying adventure then you really can’t do much better than Cocoon. | Read review |
WayTooManyGames | Jordan Hawes | 10 / 10 | 10-10-2023 | Cocoon was an utter delight to play and a shining example of what the indie scene can provide in creativity. While it didn’t have the level driven purpose of LIMBO or Inside, it more than made up for it with its smart puzzle design. It doesn’t treat you like you’re stupid, and expects you to have to really think, but it also doesn’t throw obtuse puzzles at you. This is absolutely a must-play game for anyone looking for a unique puzzle experience. | Read review |
WellPlayed | Adam Ryan | 9.5 / 10 | 10-05-2023 | With nothing more than a thumbstick and a face button, Cocoon demonstrates an elite level of game design and mechanical proficiency that few others in the genre could ever hope to achieve. | Read review |
Windows Central | Zachary Boddy | 4.5 / 5 stars | 10-13-2023 | COCOON captured my interest from its first reveal trailer, and now it’s one of my favorite games of the year. This unique, beautiful, mysterious puzzle-adventure game enraptures you from the first few seconds of gameplay, and keeps you entranced for its short runtime with fascinating world design, genuinely clever and engaging puzzles, and some of best visuals in gaming this year. | Read review |
Worth Playing | Chris “Atom” DeAngelus | 8 / 10 | 09-28-2023 | Cocoon is a simple game, but for a game that amounts to shuffling orbs around, it does a fantastic job of providing a sense of progression and advancement. The strong visuals give the game a solid sense of identity, and similar to Limbo, it’s the basic design that helps it shine. Overall, it’s a solid indie puzzle title, and while there’s certainly no shortage of those, Cocoon is one that’s well worth playing. | Read review |
Awards & Recognition
Time to Beat
MAIN STORY
MAIN + EXTRAS
COMPLETIONIST
ALL PLAYSTYLES
* VSG’s best estimate for how long it will take you to complete the game. Learn more.