For my Puzzles Critical play, I played Monument Valley, created by the gaming studio Ustwo Games. I played it on my iPad through the App Store, but it can also be played on Android through the Google Play Store and on Windows PC via Steam. The mechanics are so simple that you really only need to be able to tap and drag to play, hence why it can be played on an iPad. This is a calming puzzle game with beautiful aesthetics, so I would argue that its audience is anyone who likes laid back and visually pleasing games that require spatial reasoning. All in all, the mechanics of the puzzle influence the experience of the game by creating a sense of relaxation and discovery while challenging the player’s assumptions about space and perspective.
To start off, the game has extremely simple touch based mechanics. The interactions all feel intuitive, so I was able to spend more time enjoying the visuals and getting into the story rather than having a lot of my mental space taken up by controls. On a similar note, I was able to spend more time getting to understand how the architecture and physics work. To clarify, this game is heavily inspired by Escher’s architectural optical illusions. For example, compare the two images below. In the lower image, you can see archways, stairwells, waterfalls, and domes that are reminiscent of Escher’s style.
An example of Escher’s style and iconic architecture
An early level in Monument Valley that demonstrates the inspiration from Escher
From an MDA perspective, the mechanics include rotating structures, platforms you can shift back and forth, and navigating impossible geometry. All these come together to create dynamics where players experiment with their visual perception and reinterpret the environment from different angles. This creates an experience of wonder and curiosity that intrinsically motivates the player as each puzzle builds on the mechanics of the last, always giving you something new to puzzle through. The players aren’t given points, collectibles, or any other external motivators. They are simply motivated by curiosity and the satisfaction of understanding the rules of the new world they’re in.
It’s also important to note that the game doesn’t motivate you through stressful situations. There are no enemies and no timer. The player can go at their own pace and enjoy the experience. At one point, the character encounters little bird people that wander around aimlessly or sit atop the architecture. You can see an example of this below. While they at times are in the player’s way, they are never harmful to them. Instead, they act as a large part of the narrative of the game. Their lack of aggression ensures that the player isn’t antagonized by them, which allows their role at the end of the game to make more sense.
An example of the bird people that are not violent
Often when I play puzzle games, I feel that I don’t have much agency, as I’m simply accomplishing task after task linearly. While Monument Valley is a linear game, I felt that I had a lot more agency in this game. The fact that puzzles are directly solved by your movement through the world and interaction with the environment allows you to feel connected to the world and feel like an active participant in the game. I also felt that since the player changes the perspective of the game with the rotational mechanic, I was able to feel like I was figuring out the puzzles on my own, despite their relatively straightforward nature.
Most importantly, this game demonstrates puzzles as narrative by using a narrative architecture that is told through actual architecture. The environments feel mysterious at first, but as you progress through the story, more and more clues are revealed about your history as a player and the history of the world around you. The architecture controls this pacing as you have to advance past certain levels to talk to the character revealing the story. You can see this character below. Note that she only appears occasionally and speaks very cryptically, which further engages and motivates the player to find out more by continuing forward in the game. The cryptic nature of the narrative contributes to the overall tone of the game as it serves as another puzzle for the player to interpret and figure out as they move through the game. Overall, I feel that the individual levels serve as loops but the narrative being told serves as the arc of the game.
The character that guides you through the narrative with cryptic dialogue
Ethics
This game deals directly with Ida’s (the main character) theft, or more broadly her people’s theft, of the sacred geometry of Monument Valley. This theft disrupted the balance and caused harm to the people. At first, the player doesn’t know this and can freely enjoy and explore the architecture. However, after this is revealed the experience is reframed. You’re exploring monuments and sacred places that aren’t yours and that you actively harmed in the past. After, her journey through the game becomes an act of seeking forgiveness and setting things right. One thing I want to note is that in the end, once the curse is lifted and Ida turns into a bird, we see that Ida has saved her own people. However, I felt that there wasn’t much resolution for the world of Monument Valley. Since the curse is lifted, it is implied that the sacred geometry has been restored, but I would have liked to see that onscreen. I felt that this approach (focusing on Ida and only showing her side of the curse being lifted) centered the perpetrator and their “atonement” rather than centering the people that were harmed. I think this story has a lot of parallels in real life, most related to colonialism or appropriation, and I feel that with both these issues we often center the people doing the harm and focus on making them feel better rather than centering the communities that were impacted.
