‘People should feel there’s more than doom and gloom’: Monument Valley 3’s environmentalist hope-punk
How the pandemic and climate migration have influenced this third outing of a formerly sterile architectural puzzle game
Architectural surrealism is Monument Valley’s signature. Austere, beautiful structures transform and rotate at the player’s touch, creating new paths and staircases for its minimalist characters to traverse. Doorways can lead anywhere. Switches cause columns to rise out of the ground, a perspective shift can reveal a cache of hidden pathways. Since 2014 these games have been smartphone must-plays, one of the best and most elegant examples of satisfying touch-screen puzzlers. But the third in the series, released last week, is a little different.
The Moroccan-inspired architecture that made the game famous is still present, but this time your geometric character Noor walks alongside blooming flowers and twisting vines, too. She sails a small boat. She gets lost in fields of bright yellow wheat. And there are many more people around her: she is a lighthouse-keeper’s apprentice, charged with the welfare of her community – which, a few scenes into the game, is ravaged by a flood. In some scenes she is accompanied by someone else, or there is someone there to rescue. It is a game about buildings still, but also a game about rebuilding, together.
Continue reading...Topics
-
Jeff Bezos Says Most People Should Take More Risks. Here’s the Science That Proves He’s Right
Jeff Bezos just said we should all reevaluate our approach to risk. Science backs him up.Inc. - 13h -
This hasn’t happened to U.S. stocks in more than 20 years — here’s why investors should be concerned
The U.S. stock market is suffering from another bout of “bad breadth.”MarketWatch - 2d -
Podcaster Jon Favreau: 'Few humans more full of s---' than Mark Zuckerberg
Pod Save America host Jon Favreau ripped into Meta CEO Mark Zuckeberg for donating $1 million to President-elect Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Friday. “There are few humans more full of s--- ...The Hill - 2d -
More than half of voters 'hopeful' going into Trump's 2nd term: Poll
More than half of voters are "hopeful" going into President-elect Trump's second term in the White House, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The new Fox News survey found that around 54 ...The Hill - 4d -
Kevin Ryan Has Invested in More Than 180 Startups. Here’s What He Says Founders Should Focus On
A founding father of New York City’s tech scene explains his unconventional investment philosophy and outlook for venture capital in 2025.Inc. - 5d -
Monument Valley 3 Is Out Today On Netflix With A Live-Service Twist
Monument Valley 3, the third entry in the indie puzzle game series, is out today, exclusively on Netflix Games .. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz , developer Ustwo spoke about its history ...GameSpot - 6d -
Haiti Gangs Kill More Than 180 Mostly Elderly People in Capital
A warlord ordered the slaying of elderly slum residents he suspected of giving his son a severe illness through witchcraft, the U.N. and human-rights groups said.The Wall Street Journal - 6d -
More than 900 people died in Jonestown. Guyana wants to turn it into a tourist attraction
Guyana is revisiting a dark history nearly half a century after U.S. Rev. Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers died in the rural interior of the South American countryABC News - Dec. 8 -
More than 150 people rescued from abandoned gold mine
Yahoo News - Dec. 7
More from The Guardian
-
Assad denies planning to flee Syria before evacuation by Moscow
The Guardian - 6h -
Canada’s deputy PM resigns from cabinet as tensions with Trudeau rise over Trump tariffs
The Guardian - 5h -
Trump announces SoftBank plans to invest $100bn in US projects
The Guardian - 2h -
First reported deaths of North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine
The Guardian - 3h -
Threat of Amazon workers’ strike spreads during peak holiday season
The Guardian - 35m