Monument Valley: A Beautiful Optical Illusion Puzzle Game
How ustwo games made Monument Valley, its optical illusion and impossible-geometry puzzles, why it's a classic, its sequels and influence, and how to play.
Monument Valley is a puzzle game in which you help Princess Ida find the exit by walking through architecture built from optical illusions and "impossible figures." Rotate a pillar or move a bridge, and paths that looked broken connect, while a path that was above somehow meets one below. Every scene is as beautiful as a painting, and it's often cited as the game that showed mobile games could be appreciated like works of art.
In this post, we look in turn at which company made Monument Valley and how, how the game plays, why it's considered a classic, and the sequels and the influence it left on other games. At the end, we also cover how you can play it today.
At a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Release | April 3, 2014 (iOS), May 14, 2014 (Android) |
| Developer | ustwo games |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows (2022), Switch/PlayStation/Xbox (2025) |
| Genre | Optical illusion puzzle, indie game |
Origins
ustwo, the maker of Monument Valley, is a digital design company founded in 2004 that has been making iPhone apps since 2007. Since games didn't make up a large share of the company's revenue, ustwo focused on making a "good product" that would raise the company's profile rather than an app that would make a lot of money. In fact, management reportedly gave the development team no schedule or budget and told them to care only about quality.
The game started from a single concept drawing in the style of M. C. Escher by in-house artist Ken Wong, and the final design didn't stray far from that drawing. Development ran for about 10 months starting in early 2013, and the working title was "Towers of Illusion." It was planned from the start as a touch game for tablets.
Ken Wong wanted any scene of the game, paused at any moment, to be a picture worth exhibiting. The art style was influenced by Japanese prints, minimalist sculpture, and indie games such as Windosill, Fez, and Sword & Sworcery. The game was also designed so that most people could finish it. The goal was an experience of calmly solving and admiring rather than a difficult challenge.
More than 1,000 testers took part in the beta test in December 2013, and the average completion time was 90 minutes. ustwo recouped its development costs within two weeks of launch.
Gameplay
Looking at architecture from an angled, isometric view, the player taps the screen to move Ida and manipulate structures. In the game, this architecture is called "sacred geometry."
- Making paths with illusions: Because the view has no perspective, if you rotate a structure so that two paths appear connected on screen, you can actually walk across.
- Moving structures: Turn handles to rotate buildings, push up pillars, and form bridges to open the way.
- The Crow People: They walk set paths and block Ida's way, and some stages require you to account for their movements as well.
- Hints through color: The parts you can manipulate are subtly indicated through color and shape.
The main game consists of 10 chapters, each built around a different central mechanic. It also includes a camera mode that lets you freely look around the scenery and take photos.
Why It's a Classic
Right after launch, Monument Valley hit No. 1 among paid apps on the App Store and held the spot for at least a month. It won a 2014 Apple Design Award and was named Apple's best iPad game of 2014. Its Metacritic rating was "generally favorable."
The biggest reasons it's considered a classic are its visuals and sound. Along with the beautiful screens, critics praised the low rumbles and clicks heard as structures move, which give the feeling of handling an ancient mechanism. Many reviews also said the puzzle solutions always felt intuitive, so it never got frustrating, and that playing it was calming.
On the other hand, some criticized it as too easy and short. One review said it took less than three hours to finish, and some felt the story was overly vague. But because this short, tidy structure left the impression of "having experienced a single work," it still never misses a list of classic mobile games.
In 2015, the game appeared as a plot element in the third season of the Netflix drama House of Cards, and within days of the episode airing, it climbed back up the app charts.
Series and Influence
After the main game came the expansion "Forgotten Shores" (2014), which added eight more chapters, and the limited-time expansion "Ida's Dream (RED)" (2015). In 2017, Monument Valley 2 came out, following a mother, Ro, and her daughter traveling together, with a bigger emphasis on story than the first game. In December 2024, Monument Valley 3 launched as a Netflix Games exclusive, then from July 2025 ustwo released it directly on consoles and PC, and in December of the same year it was re-released on iOS and Android.
It also left its mark on other games. Critics saw Monument Valley's influence in 2015's Lara Croft GO, and the developers of 2022's Tunic also named it as a reference. Ken Wong later left ustwo, founded his own studio, and made Florence. In 2018, plans for a film adaptation were also announced.
How to Play Today
The surest way is the big-screen version. The Panoramic Edition for Windows came out in July 2022, and in April 2025 it was released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Xbox One/Series X|S. This edition reworks a game originally made for portrait screens to fit landscape screens, and it includes both expansions. The second game was also released on PC and consoles in the same way.
If you want to play on mobile, a bit of checking is needed. There was an Apple Arcade–exclusive Monument Valley+, and in 2024 it was announced that the first two games would move to Netflix Games in time for the third game's release. Because the game's distribution has changed several times like this, it's best to check which version is currently offered on the App Store or Google Play before downloading. Rather than playing it all in one sitting, we recommend enjoying it slowly with the sound on, a chapter or two a day.