The Amazing Monument Valley
If you caught our social media blasts yesterday, you would have heard that the next episode of Grab It is hitting the App Store as soon as Apple approves it (hopefully in the next day or two – stay tuned). You may have also heard that our highlighted game is Monument Valley. This surreal, gorgeous and refreshing puzzle-platformer from ustwo Games caught my eye months ago and I was quite thrilled when the team agreed to work with us on a Making Of feature for the next episode.
Sadly, Apple’s approval process being the way that it is, we are in limbo and not on-sale at the same time as the game. Grrrr. So I thought I would drop by and give you some quick insights into what the game is like to celebrate its launch.
Monument Valley is a game inspired by architecture from all over the world, whereby you’re presented with a finely constructed monument with no obvious pathway across it. You need to get a little princess, Ida, from the bottom to the top all the same, defying gravity and manipulating illusion to do so. Doing this involves pulling, prodding and turning bits of the world, to shift your perception and create paths by realigning a 3D shape in a 2D world. The wonderfully intuitive controls, genius level design, dreamy soundscape and the way the game allows you to explore how your brain is wired makes for truly rewarding gameplay.
You can grab the game here. (The link will auto-update as soon as the game comes online in your territory.)
My full review will feature in Episode 3 of Grab It, alongside a detailed Making Of feature and a number of other reviews, opinion pieces, top 10s, news, trailers and more, including our exclusive behind-the-scenes snippets from the GameLoading: Rise of the Indies film production.
You can always check out Episode 2, which is out now, and is jam-packed with 15-hours of multimedia insights into the world of indie gaming.