The mind behind Limbo and Inside returns with a puzzler where you leap inside worlds held within orbs. This nested-worlds idea spawns dizzying puzzles, wrapped in an organic, strange atmosphere that is masterfully controlled.
Your verdict
Category
Puzzle1 player7+
Description
You travel between worlds held inside orbs you carry on your back to solve puzzles. Published by Annapurna, released worldwide in 2023. Worlds nested within spheres, inventive puzzles built on that idea, strange creatures and a fascinating organic atmosphere.
Cocoon review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
A biomechanical universe of mesmerising strangeness: translucent orb-worlds, pulsing organic structures and an alien palette unlike anything else. This abstract aesthetic, surgically clean, keeps even vertiginously complex puzzles perfectly readable.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Leaping into a world held inside an orb you carry on your back is enough to upset your bearings, and from that dizzying nesting comes a puzzle where each sphere is at once place and tool. Jeppe Carlsen, already behind Limbo and Inside, crafts a chain of exemplary fluidity, without a single line of text or dead time. The organic mood and sound design wrap you in a fascinating strangeness. Short but rare in its precision, it has no reason to age.
Born from the minds behind Limbo and Inside, this puzzler builds everything on one idea, nesting worlds, and pushes it to a dizzying place: you step into a sphere that just held the one you carried. Launched in a crowded autumn, it quickly slid off the radar. Its rare mechanical elegance will delight puzzle fans who like to have their intelligence respected.
Is Cocoon still worth playing in 2026?
Cocoon is a puzzle game of remarkable conceptual elegance. The idea of traveling between worlds held inside orbs you carry on your back leads to dizzying nesting, where each sphere becomes both place and tool. Jeppe Carlsen, already behind Limbo and Inside, crafts a chain of puzzles of exemplary fluidity, without a single line of text or dead time. The organic mood and sound design wrap the player in a fascinating strangeness. Short but of rare precision, it has no reason to age and stands among the best recent brain-teasers.
