The 15 Best Indie Games of 2023 - Game Rant
The 15 Best Indie Games of 2023 · Blasphemous 2 · Cassette Beasts · Chants of Sennaar · Cocoon · Dredge · El Paso, Elsewhere · Jusant · The Last ...
Jeppe Carlsen of both Limbo and Inside
The Winner of The Game Awards 2023's Best Debut Indie Game is Geometric Interactive's Cocoon. Much like Chants of Sennaar, Cocoon presents players with a wholly unique take on the puzzle genre, and its mind-bending use of perspective shifts and art style give the game a distinctive visual identity. Cocoon is a game about discovering worlds within worlds, and the pedigree behind the title (which includes <anchor>Jeppe Carlsen of both Limbo and Inside</anchor>) helps to present its signature ideas and mechanics with the kind of polish one would expect of a AAA release. With some truly innovative design and several moments that will make players audibly say "Wow," Cocoon is a standout puzzle game and one of the year's best debut titles.
Jeppe Carlsen Details Puzzle Design Philosophy for Cocoon
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# Jeppe Carlsen Details Puzzle Design Philosophy for Cocoon

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Published Oct 18, 2023

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Cocoon title

In late September, Geometric Interactive's debut game Cocoon was released to critical acclaim and near-universal praise from its players. The indie title, which is available on all major platforms as well as Xbox Game Pass, features a mechanic where game levels are also objects that players can carry, manipulate, and nest within each other like Matryoshka Dolls. It is a strikingly original, surreal, and compelling puzzler that is also accessible to broad audiences.

Game Rant recently spoke with Jeppe Carlsen, Cocoon's lead developer and the mind behind the acclaimed puzzle platformer Limbo,about his approach to designing unique, satisfying, and mentally stimulating puzzles. Cocoon is an accessible and wholly original experience, which speaks volumes of Carlsen's game design acumen.

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## Daydreaming Over Research

Cocoon container creature

Carlsen's first piece of advice is to avoid looking to other puzzle games for inspiration and eschew research in favor of personal contemplation:

Carlsen feels that Geometric Interactive's drive to solve all the design problems by themselves, as opposed to looking for external inspiration, gives the game a powerful internal consistency. Cocoon is a very focused experience with an emphasis on tight pacing and puzzles that are truly meaningful. Puzzles achieve this significance through another of Carlsen's design precepts, which is an emphasis on satisfying pay-offs.

A "pay-off" is not necessarily an achievement, award, or a new gameplay ability: it can be the joy of progression or a satisfying "Aha" moment. These kinds of epiphanies, paired with the joy of exploration, make for an experience that players will not soon forget. Surprisingly, Carlsen revealed that he does not play many difficult puzzlers himself, because the frustration associated with solving a difficult puzzle is not adequately rewarding.

## Accessibility Offsets Complexity

Cocoon world 2A

The core hook of Cocoon and its surprisingly broad gameplay implications are difficult to grasp until players experience them firsthand. But once players get used to interacting with the magical globes that contain new environments and possess distinct traversal abilities, progression through the game feels natural and intuitive:

Cocoon's controls are Atari 2600-simple. Players have a single stick and a single interaction button, which can be used to pick up objects with a tap or occasionally trigger switches and enter worlds with a longer press. By reusing certain design motifs—orbs are always interactive objects that can be held, keys are gained through sequence puzzles with environmental clues, and so on—players can navigate extremely complex interactions without any instructive text or cinematics. It is a great fusion of control minimalism and puzzle complexity.

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The number of mechanics that arise from that relatively simple "control premise" are staggering. By the end of Cocoon, in addition to warping through and packing up entire universes, players will be able to construct matter, teleport, and render select matter solid or intangible with the press of a button. Even the game's boss fights are elaborate, despite the lack of HP or actual character death. Carlsen's hope is that players who are not normally interested in puzzle games will find the game's lean yet conceptually robust gameplay compelling.

## Escaping the Computer

Cocoon world 4-1

Carlsen reiterated that he personally needs time away from a computer to let ideas percolate and refine into something special. It is worth noting that he came up with the concept for Cocoon long before he actually started working on the game, and as he revisited the concept throughout the years, it continued to grow in his mind and excite him. Similarly, Carlsen commented that "it can be very hard" to sit in front of a level editor and produce truly meaningful and memorable puzzle experiences.

This contemplative approach to research has paid major dividends, with Cocoon garnering tons of praise among players and critics alike, and currently enjoying "Overwhelmingly Positive" user reviews on Steam. Despite these successes, Carlsen has no plans to add additional content to Cocoon, though he did note that Geometric Interactive is eager to start on its next project.

Cocoon is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

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