When Netflix reached out to me and offered to let me preview the highly anticipated third installment in the Monument Valley mobile video game franchise, I was so excited that I actually dashed off my reply before I’d even finished reading the email invitation.
I’m not a gamer by any stretch, but I nevertheless remain forever enamored of this particular game. Monument Valley, from the staggeringly creative minds at the London-based game studio ustwo games, is as much a spectacular collision of breathtaking, geometric art with a stirring orchestral soundtrack as it is a simple-to-play video game. The minimalism inherent in the game — which consists of solving architectural puzzles, manipulating your viewable perspective, and navigating the protagonist through beautifully colored landscapes — is what made it so approachable, at least to me.
The signature art style, inspired by so-called “impossible” geometry, is what made it unforgettable.
In Monument Valley 3, which will be available to play for free with a Netflix subscription as part of the streamer’s mobile game library starting Dec. 10, all of the familiar elements are back. The distinctive visual style is as absorbing as ever, while the soundtrack is as evocative as a movie score. Being that this year also marks the tenth anniversary of the franchise, however, Monument Valley 3 doesn’t just offer up fans like me more of the same; this sequel actually puts a fresh spin on the series’ touch-based, puzzle-solving formula.
Perhaps the biggest departure this time around involves the ability to step onto a boat that you’re able to drag across open waters. Also new is the ability to interact with different characters in a charming harbor village. And whereas a coming-of-age tale involving a mother and her daughter drove the previous installment of the game, this sequel is built around a new character — Noor, a lighthouse keeper’s apprentice who sets out to search for a new source of power before light fades from the world for good.
“This game has been a deeply personal journey for our team, a love letter to everything that makes the series so unique and cherished,” game director Jennifer Estaris wrote in a letter distributed to the media. “In Monument Valley 3, our heroine Noor explores physics-defying landscapes that unfold like origami, blending nature’s beauty with the impossible. Our team has worked incredibly hard to push the limits of impossible geometry, infusing their own personal interests and stories into the magical world.”
Players start each level by, after Noor has walked up a staircase, tapping what almost look like the kind of large-sized stained glass artwork you’d find in a cathedral. There are all sorts of other new touches throughout, and I found myself appreciating even little things like the way Noor bows to her master. I found the new boating mechanic to be intuitive and fun to play with. There’s also one particular level that looks to be set in a large yellow wheat field, and Noor is able to walk around more or less all over the place there (I’m sure she’s walking along predetermined pathways obscured by the wheat field, but it at least feels like she’s able to explore that ground a bit more).
The open ocean in Monument Valley 3 gives way to a larger map that features more puzzles, secrets, and universe-expanding lore. And my favorite thing about the new game is the message that it hits you with once you’ve finished it, letting you know that this is not the end — that, in fact, more additions will be coming soon. “For the first time in the Monument Valley franchise,” Estaris adds, “fresh puzzles and new discoveries will continue to emerge, expanding Monument Valley 3 through seasonal content updates.”
I can’t help feeling like it’s an incredibly fruitless and dissatisfying exercise to try to put into words what the experience of playing a Monument Valley game is like. The game is kind of like what you’d get from a mashup of the work of M.C. Escher and Studio Ghibli, and fans like me love it for that. I also love that its pace is slow and deliberative. The dialogue is minimal, with short and poetic lines that carry cryptic, almost mystical messages, and which contributes to the Zen-like feeling you get having plunged into this beautiful world.
Putting any kind of artistic creation out into the world, be it anything from a book to a TV show or, in this case, a mobile video game, requires a lot of things. But, first and foremost, it takes courage. The courage to spend years of your life working to realize an artistic vision and to then put it out into a chaotic and disjointed world like one of those floating lanterns — hoping it finds its way to a receptive audience.
Monument Valley 3 is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. The new game is a piece of art that evokes both introspection and wonder, and it’s a reminder that the most resonant artistic creations are those that, having found us, dare to invite us into their world and share a part of their maker’s joy in the process.