VIDEO GAME: Cocoon (2023)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Cocoon Year: 2023 Rating: E Time Played: ~5 hours There’s something about a top-down third-person puzzle game that I truly enjoy. Maybe it’s the somewhat cozy feel, but I think it’s more about the ability to view all the pieces of the puzzle at once and control the tiny character that puts the solution into motion. It’s why I like games like Moss and Lego Builder’s Journey, and why I also liked Cocoon. Of course, Cocoon had another game mechanic that blew my mind and also stumped me a few times. Still, after taking a few breaks, I was able to finish this innovative puzzle game. The puzzles in Cocoon revolve around the ability of the player character to jump in and out of worlds that they carry to special spots that allow them to transition between the spaces. Each of the colored orbs has a world that has a certain aesthetic that matches its color, which only partly helped me to track where I...
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VIDEO GAME: The Legend of Zelda – Echoes of Wisdom (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomYear: 2024Rating: E10+Time Played: ~20 hours With the recent successes of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, I started to wonder if the top-down Zelda titles were now a thing of the past. Sure, the remake of Link’s Awakening looked awesome, but it wasn’t really an original idea. Enter Echoes of Wisdom, the first Zelda game to feature the titular princess as the main character (CD-i games notwithstanding). I was glad that Nintendo took a risk here to develop something new, even if the execution sometimes left more to be desired. While Echoes of Wisdom holds the player’s hand perhaps a little more than the recent 3D games, it still feels like the map has the open-world freedom of these larger games in the franchise. There are problems, and as Zelda progresses through the game, she finds “echoes” of enemies and objects to solve those problems. Of course, with so many different things...
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