Monument Valley is a puzzle game from ustwo Games, following the silent princess Ida through a valley of stripped monuments. The complete run covered the ten main chapters, the Forgotten Shores expansion and the charity chapter Ida’s Dream.
The optical-illusion perspective shifting is the core draw, with the impossible geometry bending the eye at every turn. Each level carries its own gimmick, from the automated hat-thief to the water-pressure puzzle and the head-frazzling Citadel of Deceit.
The box-like oubliette level stands out as the favourite of the whole set. The crow people who yell rather than attack give the quiet world a memorable cast, and the pop-up-book chapter extends the run of creative gimmicks.
The musical sound design reacts to every move, with nearly everything in the world chiming in tune. The gentle, meditative tone carries through every chapter, with the sacred-geometry theme tying the valley together throughout.
The controls are the main gripe, with the selection snapping awkwardly between points when using a joystick. The optical-illusion levels frazzle the brain, and the base ten chapters admittedly do not run especially long.
The three components together offer a fair amount of content for a small puzzle game, with the expansions adding most of the variety. The totem companion and the per-level creativity keep the whole run feeling fresh to the finish.
Overall, the puzzle design, the musical presentation and the level creativity make this a very cool little puzzle game. The awkward controls and the short base chapters are the main caveats.