Cocoon dev shows off before and after that demonstrates just how far one of 2023's best puzzle games has come

One of 2023's most notable sleeper hits is the action-puzzle game Cocoon. It's a type of puzzle game that showcases dense and detailed environments and a particularly clever take on traversing multiple worlds, blending exploration with puzzle-solving.

As more attention has been given to the game post-launch, the developer behind Cocoon recently shared on social media a never-before-seen look at an early prototype, showcasing what the game looked like in its early stages and how it got to where it is today.

The developer video really shows the strong contrast between prototype and final product. Although, even without the fantastic art and gameplay touches of the final game, you can still see the bones of what Cocoon is all about in the prototype. It's a great opportunity to see where games often come from.

Developed by Geometric Interactive, Cocoon was conceived by developer Jeppe Carlsen, who previously worked as a designer for PlayDead's Limbo and Inside. Cocoon has a similar type of vibe and energy to those games, focusing on a character that is caught up in the mysterious and larger world around them and having to use their wits and quick thinking to overcome the puzzles.

Carlsen shared this never-before-seen video following the publication of an interview with Game Developer, which went into the history of Cocoon and what his larger goals were for the game.

"At some point, I realized I don't need to do anything to trick the player here," he said when explaining designer intent for puzzle gameplay. "Maybe the 'puzzle' is to just look at the landscape and take it in. We've noticed that people love the pipe puzzles. It's super satisfying for them, even though in principle there's no real puzzle."

Most games have humble beginnings, and Cocoon is no different. It's a game that plays with scope and how the protagonist fits into the many "worlds" of the game. As they overcome puzzles and travel to different and more elaborate worlds, it gradually shows the larger picture of Cocoon and its many interconnected zones, revealing that all the settings and puzzles are connected in a surprisingly profound way.

In GamesRadar+'s Cocoon review, Rachel Watts said: "Cocoon's world-hopping puzzle design is smart, compelling, and effortlessly seamless. Together with a strange biomechanical world of rich environments and soundscapes, Geometric Interactive's mind-bending adventure may very well be the best puzzle game of 2023."

Speaking of great puzzle games, check out our The Talos Principle 2 review to see why we called it "one of the best puzzle games of all time."