Cocoon. The best games of 2023 – the ultimate list

Cocoon, Annapurna Interactive, 2023

The publisher Annapurna Interactive usually provides low-profile, but really good games among the slew of independent releases. We should also add that none other than the creator of Limbo and Inside is behind Cocoon – so, a successful production was almost guaranteed. And what is Cocoon about? This is a top-down logic-adventure game in which we play as a strange character, a hybrid of human and an insect. Our task is to solve some incredible, ingenious environmental puzzles using orbs with magical abilities.

It's precisely these challenges and the way we use the mentioned objects that are the biggest advantage of the game. An amazing feature is that each of the colorful orbs hides its own micro-world, which we can – and often have to – enter. In addition to this, they activate some standard abilities, necessary for opening subsequent paths. So, we have here an original concept of enclosing worlds within worlds and the challenge derives from moving between them and using specific powers. It's provides a really engaging logic game, in a pleasant artistic style. Cocoon is certainly one of this year's gems of Game Pass.

1. Cocoon in our encyclopedia