For this week’s critical play, I played Monument Valley 2, a puzzle game that follows the journey of a mother and her daughter. I incorrectly read that we could play any version of Monument Valley, but it ended up being a happy accident, as I could compare how the narrative structure and gameplay evolved from the first to the second game! Both games were developed by the indie studio Ustwo Games in 2014 and 2017 respectively. From the supplemental reading “Playing Like a Feminist” by Shira Chess, I approached Monument Valley 2 with an open mind to exploring a narrative that wasn’t necessarily my own. As a straight dude, I’ve had the privilege to play many different games that were designed for me. Therefore, beyond entering this critical play with an open mind, me “playing like a feminist” took the form of learning and appreciating the story being unfolded in Monument Valley 2. As such, while this game wasn’t designed for me, the meditative aesthetics/sound, simple puzzle mechanics, and child-mother-driven narrative created a sense that anyone was welcome which I think beautifully encapsulates the vision for “a feminist game”.
In the beginning level of Monument Valley 2, you’re met with this short narrative that contextualizes the responsibility of mothers within this world but it’s left vauge enough that a player is left to postulate what this means within the game’s narrative and how it’s also true within their own life. The dark color palette also help retain focus on the story being told while reinforcing the somber attitude that’s being cultivated in these narrative “cutscenes”. The beginning level also acts as a tutorial as you learn the controls (which involves tapping on squares to move and swiping to rotate or slide staircases). As such it integrates concepts of playing as learning, something reminiscent of the methods that the Plants vs. Zombies creator utilized to make onboarding to a new game feel seamless with the game itself.
Similar to the first Monument Valley game, you’re tasked with getting from one point on the map to the next doorway or button placed on the floor to proceed to the next level. This often requires reconfiguring the orientation of stairways or rotating the map to join walkable surfaces in a geometrically complex but aesthetically pleasing manner. The difficulty of these puzzles is low to medium difficulty, placing more emphasis on the world and narrative building. At the third level, the mother (who the player controls movement for), is tasked with teaching her daughter how to move within the monument valley. As such, the gameplay becomes more complex as your movements are mirrored by your daughter as you show her where to go on the map through your own movement. This is an effective method for adding an additional dimension to the dynamics of the game while also giving the player a sense of agency in the teaching of the daughter. Creating meaning through agency is yet another concept that Shira discusses as a powerful tool in feminist gaming in Chapter 4: Gaming Feminism. The photo below illustrates the first moment in the game where the mother guides her daughter to mimic her behavior and stand on the button on the other side of the tower.
Another aspect of agency that’s explored in Monument Valley 2 is agency through chaos. In the screenshot below, the mother is separated from the daughter as part of the tower collapses and sends her sliding down the cliff. Similarly, in the screenshot below that is one of the next levels where the mother and daughter are separated and have to work together to progress through the level. Again, the desire for some “women players…for ‘control’ is a primary drive for certain games” (Chess). Monument Valley 2 is an example of a game that incorporates mechanics around agency in a chaotic environment to appeal to this niche.
The creators of Monument Valley 2 take great care to design a world that aligns with feminist perspectives in gaming such as casual gameplay, women-directed narratives and characters, and an introspective playing experience through soft aesthetics and mind-bending but beautiful architecture exploration. Despite these characteristics being potentially catered to a certain niche, it’s not exclusionary towards any other background. It utilizes very human themes that almost anyone can relate to, i.e. beauty, relationship, and exploration which makes this game resonate with a large audience.
