“We do not know space. We do not see it, we do not hear it, we do not feel it. We are standing in the middle of it, we ourselves are part of it, but we know nothing about it.”
~M.C. Escher

When games are popular, they are always gonna get a sequel. It’s a widely disputed thing in not only gaming, but media as a whole whether or not the sequel is better than its predecessor. A form of sequels which is usually almost tossed aside, are mobile game sequels. Some are seen as cash grabs, others are genuinely seen as improvements on what the original was trying to do. Good examples of mobile sequels are angry birds 2, plants vs zombies 2, and every single sequel in the bloons td series. Sometimes these types of sequels are kinda hit or miss. But surely a game like monument valley deserved a sequel right? Well three years after the original, we finally got it. So without further ado, let’s get into the game shall we?

You play as Ro, a mother with her little daughter who aren’t returning geometry, but are instead creating it. Ro has to teach her daughter how to create the monuments with her but it’s clear she worries about her. So, during the middle of the game, she has to send her away so she can ‘grow up’. And that’s where the story splits and you play as both Ro and her daughter. Talk about a sad split huh? Anyway before we continue the final bits of the story, let’s now get onto the gameplay of the game.

The gameplay of monument valley II is basically the same as the first game. You are tasked with guiding Ro from one side of the monuments to the other. You do this by moving the monuments in certain ways and changing the perspective completely. In some levels, you’ll even control both Ro and her daughter separately which steps up the puzzle solving a little more. It ends up leading to some more well-designed puzzles that feel different and more unique to the first games. The environments also feel a lot more vibrant and also seem a lot bigger in terms of scope. Overall, whilst not being too different to the gameplay of the first game, it feels as thought they definitely took a step in the right direction and cooked up something very pleasing.

Back to the story, you then play as Ro and her daughter separately in a set of levels until they slowly but surely come closer together and finally reunite after so long. It’s revealed that Ro’s own mother abandoned her years ago to ‘grow up’ and it almost hits quite a bit. You know what also hits like a truck? When they reunite. I played this game with my family a few years ago and this bit always kind of hit me. It feels kind of tame now that I replay it but this was still a pretty big thing for me. But that was the story. Overall, it’s a pretty good story but it’s not absolutely brilliant. They don’t really go too far with a plot and I’d kinda wished they’d maybe expanded on it a little.

For a sequel to one of my favourite mobile games it still holds up. This game definitely has a much more ambitious plot to the first game but I feel that if they’d concentrated more on the gameplay side of things or even the story side of things this could’ve been a much better and much bigger game then it’s predecessor. But still, this game holds up very well and I advise people to play it after the first game.

Good sequel, similar gameplay, tiny bit more ambitious story, emotional characters, more shapes

A soothingly beautiful audio-visual experience that is lighter than it thinks.

The sound especially is very important to the experience. I played the first game approaching it like a puzzle game on buses and such without sound, but that’s a mistake - it’s more an experience than a puzzle game, especially considering the puzzles tend to be rather easy (which is good for a dumbass like me) and sometimes not even puzzles at all, just walk here and tap that.

More often than not, the puzzle you’re staring at is actually more impressive for the geometric trick they’ve come up with. Some moments made me go “how do they come up with this?”; and once I understood that I could decide myself the final symbol for the level, it became a small enjoyable thing I looked forward to (especially to see how the animation played with it then).

With its gorgeous visuals and calming music, it really is more noteworthy as an chill experience, especially as many of the puzzles aren’t intellectually involving.

It tells its story in short bursts of enigmatic fortune teller quotes which add to the ephemeral magical atmosphere, but little to anything else. As a parent, I was touched by the interaction between the parent and the child and the need to let go, but with its bonkers story in the other part it felt in service of little relevant and the game’s ambiguous finale obscures the potential emotional effect of the new meeting between the parent and child. It was surprisingly touching to see the old friend though.

Ultimately, it doesn’t have enough emotional or metaphorical resonance to really stick, and with puzzles that often left me bored, it falls just short of greatness. But I did use a screenshot I took from the game as the background for my phone, so there’s that.

If you've played the original, this is more of the same (though I found the story to resonate a little better this time around).

Short and sweet, totally mind-bending puzzles define this series and I wasn't disappointed by any of them. All I can say is that I'd really love a fuller take on this concept; these games are tiny and largely very easy, it'd be wonderful to see what the team could create on a bigger scale. Though, I imagine this goes against the vision of the series, so I'd prefer to appreciate it for what it is, rather than what it could be.