Popular artistic mobile game Monument Valley is now on Android after debuting last month for iOS. The visually striking game — in which you are a princess wandering through 3D palaces and temples from around the world filled with optical illusions — has racked up high ratings and rave reviews.
Monument Valley’s UK based developer Ustwo Games emphasizes that the game is less about challenges, and more about a “feeling of discovery and the joy of exploring a new world.”
The developer says it created Monument Valley from a variety of inspirations, such as M.C. Escher, architecture, typography, and Japanese art. With that mindset, the game aims to be accessible to all gamers, not just young action fans. “Although some of the finest games ever include violence, poor gender representation and endless dank corridors,” Ustwo says in its blog, “their great moments often prove inaccessible to all but the most dedicated gamers.”
Maybe Ustwo made Monument Valley a little too accessible, because users have griped that the game can be completed in just hours, without more levels to play. Since the game is new, we can hope that more levels will be added to future updates, but we won’t hope too high.
The company writes in its blog that it wants players to appreciate “quality play time over quantity. Instead of creating as many levels as possible,” it says, “we would only add levels when we had something new and unique to say.”
Valid argument, or a cop-out? Will the company wait until everyone and their grandmother plays the game before it decides to add new levels? Or are new levels really necessary if the game is meant to be an aesthetic experience?
You can download Monument Valley for $3.99 from Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store for Kindle Fire. We’ve posted the official trailer video below.
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