Xbox Game Pass Users Praise New Game: "Biggest Surprise of the Year"

Between Starfield, Forza Motorsport, Payday 3, and Gotham Knights, Xbox Game Pass subscribers are quite busy. If you're one of these subscribers drowning in new additions, the last thing you need is to add another game to pile onto the backlog, but according to Xbox Game Pass subscribers over on Reddit, there's another new addition that is also "the biggest surprise of the year." Echoing this, the game has been earning rave review scores over on Metacritic, currently sitting at an 89 on the review aggregator. The game in question is Cocoon. And one of the top posts calls it not just the biggest surprise of the year, but suggests it may be "the best puzzle game" they have ever played. 

Right now, the post is one of the most popular posts of the week on the page so it's clearly resonating. Meanwhile, not everyone agrees in the comments, but there are comments that echo the claim. For example, one notes that they "don't usually play puzzles" but are "surprised by how much" they are enjoying the game. 

For those unfamiliar with the game, it was released on September 29, 2023 by developer Geometric Interactive and publisher Annapurna Interactive. Notably, it's the product of the mind of Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of critical hits Inside and Limbo.

"From Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of Limbo and Inside - Cocoon takes you on an adventure across worlds within worlds. Master world-leaping mechanics to unravel a cosmic mystery," reads an official blurb about the game. 

The game's official pitch continues: "Cocoon is a unique take on the puzzle adventure genre, where 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."

If you do opt to check out Cocoon as a result of its glowing critical reviews and praise from Xbox Game Pass subscribers, you'll get a game that is roughly four to five hours long. Unfortunately, it does not offer much replayability. In other words, you're not going to get much more out of the game than these four to five hours.