Monument Valley is free on Epic

It’s a Saturnalia day miracle, three months too early. Monday, Yooka-Replaylee got its release date, Team Cherry revealed a low price for the game that crashed the internet, and WW2 Metroidvania Wolfhound was announced. Tuesday, a Twisted Metal-like game launched a Kickstarter. Wednesday, Little Problems is releasing next week. Then on Thursday, we got news that Sintopia won’t be releasing into early access and the launch will be delayed.

Moving on to the Epic Games Store, there is just one game this week. I know, I’m glad too. Available both on PC and on the Epic Games Store mobile app, Monument Valley is a puzzle game that uses a lot of illusory geometry with lots of staircases. Like an M.C. Escher painting if it were made in the oppressive hellscape that is London. I’d like to be nice about Ustwo Games’ 2022 release, but despite its colorful look and simple puzzle ideas, the series hasn’t sparked my interest, nor does it now.

For those who enjoyed Gris back in 2019, Monument Valley is probably a delight, containing a surrealist world with simple puzzles. For me, it is lacking that spark that says, “This is a must-play.” Its settings are beautiful, and I quite like the look. However, much like contemporary fine art, it just isn’t appealing to me the same way something more aggressive, something with clear imperfections, will grab my attention. That, I think, is my problem: Monument Valley looks too perfect to have a proper, full opinion on it.

All this week, you can pick up Monument Valley on the Epic Games Store for PC and mobile via Android worldwide and iOS in the EU until the 11th of September. Moving on to next week, and I’ll want to shoot myself! A triple bill that starts with Monument Valley 2 (I wonder if my opinion will change?) Ghostrunner 2, and the delayed offering from this week, The Battle of Polytopia. I mean, one of them is at least interesting, but I wonder which one that could be? No, you can’t prove that I’m doing the Jim look down the camera as I write this.