Monument Valley did the rounds big time in the mass media when it was released, so there’s a strong chance you already know of this son of a gun.

It’s the acclaimed mobile Indie game which takes M. C. Escher’s utterly fantabulous artistic style and twists it into a physics-based puzzle game. What’s not to like?

Monument Valley

Nothing, that’s what on the not front! Monument Valley is one of those games which looks marvellous and, thusly, tempts individuals not interested in video games to give it a whirl.

Which is its great charm—you’ll be seduced by its gloriousness pretty quickly, even if you know as much about gaming as Arnold Schwarzenegger knows about kitting.

Ustwo developed this elegant title and, upon release in 2014, it wrapped up a huge amount of awards. Rightly so! It’s a puzzle game with a small story attached, and as the player one must guide the Princess Ida through mazes and optical illusions.

Players are encouraged to interact with the environment to find ways to complete stages, which leads to some glorious use of physics to adapt your environment to allow you to progress.

Gosh darn it, that’s all there is to it! It’s a relaxing experience and the real joy of the game comes from taking on the simple delights of each stage and enjoying the visual treat. It’s short but sweet, and we can highly recommend it to everyone. Indeed. Rather. Truly.

The Art of Monument Valley

Doesn’t it look grotesque? Oh, hang on. That was the wrong word. We meant lovely. It looks lovely! So obviously the graphics are a big part of the experience with Monument Valley, and it’s all inspired from this bloke M. C. Escher (probably not related to MC Hammer).

We’re not big art aficionados at Professional Moron (stupidity and literature are more our forte) but we can certainly proclaim M. C. Escher’s work to be quite the marvel.

What Ustwo has done is take that and turn video games into art. There is a debate raging in the gaming community about whether games can be considered art, and titles such as this certainly help the cause.

As with anything in life, each text must be considered on its merits, but of course some video games can be considered on an artistically pertinent level.

Just not Call of Duty as, you know, it’s a game made for petulant 12 years olds who want to call each other “gay noobs” all day and every day. Little bloody freaks!

Anyway, if you’re into art and you’d like to try out a video game for the first time in your life, gee whizz, sonny jim, Monument Valley is the one for you. Enjoy.