I do not know if an art installation can be called a game.
Monument Valley is completed in an hour, at first it causes a strange feeling of misunderstanding, and then it gives catharsis. It is somewhat reminiscent of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, in which the genre also faded into the background.
It’s both there and there – not about a puzzle, it’s about an adventure into another world, a magical feeling without five minutes, if you want – a magical atmosphere, which is given by the project of ustwo, previously engaged in the creation of custom applications.
From a gaming point of view, Monument Valley is akin to a perfume bottle. It looks beautiful, smells delicious, it’s not worth drinking. Let the game formally be attributed to puzzles: it’s not so easy to figure out how to drag the princess to the right door or button. But, in fact, there is no challenge in the project. The player only needs to lazily poke at the screen, periodically activating the mechanisms in the right sequence.
Is this a problem for Monument Valley?
No.
The project is the very case when you should not start a conversation about money, monetization, user cohorts, in general, about business. And at the same time, it’s not about mechanics and gameplay. It’s somewhere above the first and second. Monument Valley – for its own sake: beautiful, mysterious, touching. Therefore – art.
But whether it is possible to call it a game, I don’t know. To me, he’s something else.
P.S. The game was developed not by indie, but by quite a successful and large team, which, apparently, just wanted to make it “beautiful”.