The in-app sequel purchase
Not all games are created equally.
Monument Valley launched in the Spring of 2014 to universal acclaim. Eventually it would sell over 1 million copies and win an Apple Design Award.
And of course it did: it’s a game that blends Escher with 8-bit, an aesthetic destined to thrive in today’s geekdom. But Monument Valley is a platformer where you cannot die (but you can get your princess screeched at by crows) and where every puzzle is solvable if you can just wrap your mind around it. And that feeling when you do solve one of the puzzles is utter glee. It’s glee because you have figured out the missing part of the equation and you get to move on to another enchanting level where the visuals and music hypnotize your senses.
The original Monument Valley ($3.99) only has ten levels, and its sequel “Forgotten Shores” ($1.99) only has eight. This is by far the biggest complaint on the App Store, because it’s a game easy to love and get lost in, a world in which you’ll want to stay.
A minority of people think it’s audacious to charge for such an expansive update to a game. Unfortunately this minority is especially loud and trolly. They went so far as to edit their previous 5-star reviews to be 1-star because of two whole bucks, less than the cost of a latte. It’s people like this that give the internet a bad rap and make ustwo Games, the studio behind Monument Valley, tweet things like this in frustration:
In total I have paid $6 to ustwo Games for Monument Valley, but the level of enjoyment they’ve given me (though brief) has easily been worth twice that amount. The last sequel I went and saw in theaters was awful, and I think I spent about $12 a ticket.
Immersive stories now fit in your hand, and you can get a superior sequel in six months instead of waiting a few years for a passive experience that’s bound to disappoint and feel like a waste of money.
Studios that make great experiences deserve your money, and it’s really hard not to root for ustwo Games. They troll the trollers and give recommendations for other games to play once you’ve finished theirs, and they let you in behind the curtain:
This BuzzFeed piece is a great chronology on the making of the original game.
Forgotten Shores is a memorable sequel because of the new mechanics. In the original game you pretty much had only a handful of mechanics: you could rotate around, hit switches, change gears, and move your helpful yellow totem. Forgotten Shores keeps all these and adds levels in which you need to redirect water to move pieces, others where you need to lock your screen and turn it upside down, and more. There’s delight in every corner of this game: even the menu for taking a screenshot has a distinct tonal UI. And players now have the choice of playing levels in almost any order they wish, a freedom that makes the overall experience even more Escheresque.
Another reason this sequel is superior: there is very little “telling” of the story with text. In fact, I think there’s only one frame (the first screenshot in this post) that features any textual storytelling at all. The rest of the lightweight story plays out as you play the game, and the connection I found to it was surprisingly emotional. It’s a lesson in story for all game makers.
You should buy this game because you can feel your brain expand when playing Forgotten Shores. In an era of pointless gold collecting, endless mafia wars, and vacuous flappy birds, it’s a relief to have a game that isn’t afraid to end on its own terms and challenge you along the way.
