Monument Valley is a great puzzle game created by ustwo games that takes players on an adventure of discovery through a world of architecture and art. I love the way that Monument Valley stimulates the minds of the players through the use of puzzles in addition to enticing players through gorgeous visuals.
The rules governing the world are simple, but the puzzles provide challenges that engage the mind and require some mental work. Players manipulate architectural structures to guide the little character, Princess Ida, through various levels that are set out as “chapters” in the game. In each level, Ida has to reach a specific spot within the landscape to unlock the next chapter. Players have a hands-on role of interacting with the environment by twisting and turning monuments and landscapes to alter perspectives, overcome optical illusions, and give Ida the necessary path to reach the demarcated spot that unlocks the next level.
As I traveled through the different levels that each had new visuals and increasingly difficult puzzles, I remained curious about what would be next and couldn’t wait to see the next chapter. In this way, exploring the world through solving puzzles facilitated the fun of discovery. Solving the various puzzles required good spatial reasoning skills. At first, I was intimidated because spacial reasoning skills are not my strong suit, but I found that the combination of the graphics, audio, and integrated puzzles created the fun of challenge but in way that was calming and almost meditative. I also felt that solving the puzzles led to a lot gratification through beautiful visuals – seeing how my manipulation of the architecture led to the correct path gave me a little kick each time. All of the audio and visual feedback leads to the fun of sensation. These small “rewards” built into each chapter and given through various modalities kept me hooked and wanting to continue play and exploration.
Honestly, when I first started, I didn’t know how the puzzles would fit into the game environment, but I quickly became impressed by the seamless integration of puzzles into the aesthetic. My success rested on my ability to detect optical illusions, and as time went on, my ability to quickly recognize the illusion and perform the correct spatial manipulation increased. Playing Monument Valley has left me wanting to play again soon so that I can continue exploring the beautiful landscapes and solving new puzzles.
Some screenshots:
