Critical Play: Puzzles
Monument Valley
Name of game, creator, platform
I played Monument Valley, an indie puzzle game developed and published by Ustwo Games. I played on my iPhone. The game was $3.99, but I can tell a lot of work went into designing the levels (the visual design is immaculate).
Target Audience
Monument Valley definitely seems like a game that would appeal to lovers of puzzle and design. The player leads a character, Princess Ida, through a series of puzzling mazes made up of impossible shapes and optical illusions. Each level is a fun brain-teaser sure to excite puzzle-lovers. Also, I know many people who have raved about how beautiful this game is. And it did not disappoint.
Notable Elements
Monument Valley is a single player game. As I mentioned previously, the player leads Princess Ida through a series of 10 levels (I completed the first 4, I’m saving the rest for when I have some free time). In each level, the player navigates Princess Ida through a monument made of impossible shapes. Furthermore, the player can alter the state of the monument by sliding and rotating specific locations in the maze. Some of these locations are made obvious to the player (e.g. a crank is present to indicate a certain path should be rotated); however, others are concealed and must be found by the player (e.g. a ledge may be able to be raised or lowered by dragging it). These mechanics evoke curiosity from the player, which foster Discovery and Challenge aesthetics in the game.
Was the game fun?
In a word, yes. Monument Valley was a pleasure to finally play (I’ve heard a lot about it). I felt like I was leisurely exploring uncharted territory while simultaneously solving a complex obstacle course. It was not too easy nor difficult. I felt like I was “in the zone”, where I was being challenged but never stuck for too long.
Moments of Particular Success
I was impressed by Monument Valley’s simple yet effective onboarding process. The first level was fairly easy and allowed me to get acquainted with the game’s core mechanics.
The game gave me just enough instructions to know what to do, but did not bombard me with a naggy tutorial. I was able to complete the first level in about 60 seconds, and then had everything I needed to move on to level 2. Each level would incorporate the mechanics taught in the previous levels and introduce new mechanics. In that regard, the pacing and difficulty of the game was executed very successfully in my opinion.
Things I would change
There seemed to be an emerging narrative with Princess Ida. Every once in a while, she would encounter this floating blue spirit who would say a few cryptic things. In Monument Valley’s defense, I have only completed four out of the ten levels, but so far the narrative falls flat for me. I think that the game would still be fun without a narrative because I would classify the main “types of fun” as Discovery and Challenge, and not Narrative. To me, I felt like the floating blue spirit was always just getting in the way of my puzzles — so I don’t think it would be the worst thing to remove that narrative aspect. Either that, or build it out a little bit more. I wouldn’t mind knowing a little bit more about Princess Ida’s background or goals. Who is Ida? Why is she traversing these monuments? Who is this blue spirit? Perhaps these questions are resolved later in the game, but they are left completely ambiguous for the first half of the game.
Would I recommend this game?
Yes, go play Monument Valley if you haven’t already!
