Monument Valley 2

Monument Valley 2 brings back the same Escher-like principle of impossible geometry, but this time with a pair of characters – mother Ro and her small daughter, whom you guide through the architecture alongside her using the same touch gestures as in the first game. The controls remain unchanged: rotating platforms, sliding towers, and finding the viewing angle from which separated paths merge into a single continuous route. What's new is that the relationship between the two characters is woven into the puzzles – in some of them, the daughter reacts to what the mother does, mirroring her movement or, conversely, drifting away from her, so you have to think about both of their behavior at once, giving the puzzles a subtly different dynamic than in the first game.

Ustwo games released the game in 2017, three years after the original, and clearly tried to do more than just repeat a successful formula – a story about motherhood and passing on experience to the next generation gave the series an emotional dimension that the first game only hinted at with subtle cues. Visually the game goes even further in the color and detail of individual structures, adding water reflections and shadows shifting with the movement of the sun, while the music remains as quiet and meditative as before, accompanying the player step by step.

The sequel was received somewhat more quietly than the original, partly because it was no longer the discovery of a new concept but rather its mature development – which, however, didn't bother many players, since that was exactly what they expected from the series. The game's length remains similarly short to the first one, so it can be finished in a few sittings.

Why play it: For those who finished the first Monument Valley and want the same visual experience with a slightly deeper story and subtly cleverer puzzles built around the relationship between two characters.