Cocoon

Meh.

The visual and sound design are captivating, coherently portraying a weird world combining squishy organics with machine-precision transports. There's no story, though there are cut scenes that seem to say something, environmentally, but perhaps it's not intended to be specific. Think of it as an impressionistic or conceptual play or dance. Or maybe I just missed an obvious message.

And I must also commend the controls. A lot of work seems to have gone into calibrating them to feel properly responsive and fluid. Leaping between worlds, picking up spheres, and even just pattering around are all good.

OK. But this is a puzzle game. Indeed it's only a puzzle game. There are a few boss fights, but they are actually just real-time puzzles. And the puzzles are: meh. If you play puzzle games then you will find Cocoon's to be quite easy, with the addition of some optional collectibles, some of which are just a bit hard to find. But the level of difficulty is not, in itself, a problem. The problem is that the solutions become more and more annoying. New mechanics get introduced as the game unfolds (literally!), but they just add more busywork for you. There's no sense of progress or direction. No map, no indication that you're going deeper, farther, or anywhere really. The lack of a story is surely part of the problem, too: it feels like from beginning to end it's just you moving spheres around.

The world design wants you to be delighted. But the gameplay, instead, is relentless and even tedious. Especially the late game puzzles involve a lot of back and forth. For a game this short, that's a fatal flaw.

Pretty! But there are much more satisfying puzzle games out there. Sorry, but have to give this one a thumbs down.