GAME CLEAR No. 266 -- Monument Valley

Monument Valley (2014, Mobile)

Clear Compilation: Monument Valley — The Trilogy (2025, PS5/Switch)
Developer: ustwo games
Publisher: ustwo games
Clear Version: PS5
Clear Platform: PS5
Clear Date: 11/18/25

---

Why should I care?
Monument Valley was an absolute mobile smash hit at release and remains a pleasant, snack-sized game with style to spare.

---

Atone

“ATONE” reads a vehicle’s license plate often parked on a street I frequent. Atonement is also the goal of Ida’s journey in mobile indie darling Monument Valley. As she travels the game’s ten short levels, she returns a stolen artifact to its rightful place in each one. I either missed something or it is left intentionally unclear if she was the thief or simply the one making it right. It doesn’t much matter. Navigating the strange and beautiful world is the point here.

The levels of Monument Valley are “impossible geometry” structures reminiscent of the works of M. C. Escher and his ilk. You control Ida indirectly by placing a cursor on the place you’d like her to go. If currently possible, she’ll walk there. If not, you will have to manipulate the environment to provide her a suitable path. This usually involves sliding or rotating specific bits of the current part of the stage so that perspective trickery similar to the aforementioned Escher works will make her passage possible. As far as mechanics go, that’s really all there is to the game. The rest is just figuring out exactly what you have to do to accomplish your goal.

Frankly, it’s seldom very difficult, which is the game’s primary letdown. I want a bit more of a challenge out of an ostensible puzzle game.

Still, I’m not prepared to say Monument Valley is bad. In fact, I liked it. It is buoyed by its gorgeous visuals and tastefully restrained sound design and soundtrack. When I allowed myself to view it more as a little toy box of spectacle than as something cognitively demanding, I liked it a lot more.

Perhaps that’s fitting given it shares a name with the Navajo Tribal Park. It’s a place not known for its arduous hikes but for spectacular views of stunning rock formations.

As a sensory delight, Monument Valley serves its purpose. If that’s enough for you, it’s worth checking out. If you want to think for more than a few seconds at any juncture of your puzzle games, look elsewhere. Its sales apparently exceed 26 million units. That many people can’t be wrong, right?

---

GAME CLEAR No. 266a: Monument Valley: Ida’s Dream (2015, Mobile)

Clear Date: 11/18/25

GAME CLEAR No. 266b: Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores (2014, Mobile)

Clear Date: 11/20/25

I also finished the game’s two small expansions. They were more of the same! Forgotten Shores maybe got a little bit tougher and crazier, but I’d say only mildly.