“How is narrative woven into the game through its mechanics? What role did puzzles play in the game, and in what ways do they impact player experience?“
As I played Monument Valley, I found that the narrative is woven into the gameplay through Princess Ida’s silent journey. Rather than relying on dialogue, as most games do, the story is experienced through the game’s puzzle mechanics. This is shown through each level which represents another step in Ida’s quest to seek forgiveness after stealing the Sacred Geometry, meaning that progression through the puzzle is also progression through the story. This means that the narrative is woven within the puzzles which in turn allows players to actively participate in her journey rather than observing it. Furthermore, the narrative is shown at the beginning through occasional text on the screen indicating to the player what the objective is as well as introducing new characters. I found that this silent storytelling allowed for its environment to tell the story as well as allowing the user to interpret it the way that they want to. The game’s architecture appears to draw inspiration from styles associated with Moroccan and Indian architecture, adding depth to the world and strengthening its atmosphere.
The puzzles are not simply obstacles they act as the primary storytelling device, requiring players to interact with the world in order to understand her journey. The integration of mechanics and narrative is what makes Monument Valley’s storytelling distinctive. Furthermore, I think that the use of the impossible architecture in the game provided a way for the user to feel like they control Princess Ida’s environment and how she progresses through each level. Although the game has a fixed narrative outcome, players control the journey required to reach each objective. The puzzles also reinforce the game’s themes of perspective, discovery and personal growth as when the player is playing the game in order to find the correct path out they have to change their viewpoint. Also, having read Ida’s journey I noticed that the game shows how she learns from her mistakes and seeks forgiveness. In addition, the puzzles also encourage exploration as instead of following one obvious path the player is encouraged to carefully observe the environment and the game ends up rewarding the curiosity as well as allowing the players to appreciate the architecture and atmosphere.
As mentioned above, the puzzle impacts the player by allowing them to explore the impossible architecture and find new paths that aren’t obvious at first glance, encouraging engagement and curiosity. I found that the puzzles kept my curiosity up because each solution revealed another impossible perspective. Rather than becoming repetitive, every level introduced a new mechanic or visual illusion, encouraging me to continue exploring the world. Therefore, I found that the use of the puzzles made the story more enjoyable compared to using basic mechanics to tell it.
An ethical issue surrounding Monument Valley is its accessibility for players with disabilities. This is because the game’s puzzles rely heavily on visual perception, colour, depth and optical illusions which can make it hard for people with visual impairments or some cognitive disabilities. Therefore, this raises the question of whether the game developers made their game accessible to the most amount of people as possible. Whilst making games more accessible promotes inclusivity via using high-contrast modes, colour-blind settings or optional hints Monument Valley was intentionally designed as an interactive work of art. This means that its impossible architecture and visual illusions are central to both the gameplay and storytelling meaning that changing the mechanics too much would compromise the artistic experience that makes the game unique and popular. Perhaps prioritising artistic vision over accessibility raises ethical concerns because it can exclude players from experiencing both the gameplay and the narrative. While preserving the game’s artistic identity is important adding optional accessibility features could broaden access without changing the core design.
