World-leaping adventure Cocoon will come out this September

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From the lead gameplay designer behind Limbo and Inside.

The new game from the studio of Limbo and Inside gameplay designer Jeppe Carlsen, Cocoon, has a release date: September 29th, 2023. The adventure game where you can carry a world on your back was first revealed last year, though at the time the trailer was deliberately mysterious.

Cocoon promises to be a game of intricate puzzles and platforming exploration. Geometric Interactive describes it as "a mind-bending sci-fi puzzle adventure inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Portal."

Geometric describes Cocoon as a puzzle adventure game that has a new mechanic: "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," says the description.

Each orb then has powers that can be further unlocked to make it into a tool that does something like uncover secrets, fire projectiles, and the like. Those secrets and world-orbs all contribute to the worlds-within-worlds discovery of an ancient civilization full of biomechanical technologies. Though it focuses more on exploration and puzzles, there will be fights against powerful bosses: "Mighty guardians protect every world, and you must face them in fierce battles. Each fight is unique and requires you to master new and satisfying mechanics," says Geometric.

"You can imagine the gameplay in Cocoon as picking up different Zelda-like dungeons, and bringing these dungeons into each other to solve puzzles inside them," said Carlsen.

Geometric Interactive was founded by Carlsen alongside another former Playdead employee, Jakob Schmid, an audio programmer on Inside who did some award-winning indie work in the early 2010s. Geometric is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and now has employees beyond just those two. Cocoon will be its first game.

Carlsen is clearly more than a little nervous about the launch. "6.5 years of work now has a date. No pressure at all," he Tweeted.

Cocoon will be published by Annapurna Interactive, whose stable of hits is pretty dang impressive at this point: The incomparable Outer Wilds in 2019 of course, but the superb Neon White and Stray in 2022 alone. Annapurna's judgment makes Cocoon all the more attractive.

You can find Cocoon on Steam, where it's scheduled to release on September 29th, 2023. It's developed by Geometric Interactive, which was founded by Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid, both former Playdead employees, and published by Annapurna Interactive. You can learn more on the Cocoon website.

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Biomechanical machines and alien environments in soft light from adventure game Cocoon.
(Image credit: Geometric Interactive)
Jonathan Bolding
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.