Games worth discovering

Monument Valley | Review

55 View2024-05-05

When a puzzle game maintains to combine attractive gameplay with a sense of puzzle, it's always an amazing feeling.

Monument Valley is adept at doing this. Although I've always thought isometric games to be visually appealing, I've never really connected with any of the games in this genre. But it seemed like my streak was broken by this.

The mechanism for opening a path to start the game is introduced to you right away in the opening scene. This establishes the scene for the remainder of the game, where each level forced me to reevaluate my assumptions about how far the main character, Ida, can walk. Have you ever seen the "impossible square"? This game's mechanics are deeply based on this style and have been heavily inspired by it. The most similar would be the puzzle game "Back To Bed." Alternatively, going even further back, Kula World on the PlayStation 1 (I know, it's been a few years!) employed comparable perspective techniques.

Every level has a brand-new puzzle that gets progressively harder each time. One thing I noticed was that every two or three levels, new game mechanics were added, which helped to keep the game progression interesting and, thankfully, prevented puzzle games from becoming repetitive. This frequently detracts from the fun of a game and makes it feel more like a chore.

One thing in particular struck me with every level as I went along. The game's colour palette. To put it simply, it's stunning. Rich pastel colours are used extensively, which gives the scene a truly ethereal quality. There are, however, a few levels that defy this theme and have a darker, moodier tone that fits the storyline during these periods. These levels are dark grey and black.