A third Monument Valley?! Count me in! I loved the second Monument Valley, it hit hard as it was based on a mother and child, making me very emotional on its deeper subjects and themes. For this reason I was excited for Monument Valley 3 and it didn’t fail to impress! I loved the storyline of becoming the new light-keeper but you’re not just that, you’re also a big piece in the travelers lives as you reunite them with their family. The puzzles were twisty but also took time and thought, creating a visual image of how in an adult life and even a child’s life, it can be a challenge to come back to people you may have been isolated from.
Monument Valley 3 is a puzzle video game, developed by Ustwo Games and releasing exclusively on Netflix Games. You are a young woman named Noor, shadowing the current light-keeper, helping them retrieve the sacred light to keep the lighthouse bright for all those travelling the seas. However you encounter a pathway in which only one of you can continue on, the elder light-keeper volunteers to stay behind to let a new lease of life take her place, handing you the light-bearing staff. You set out on your journey to find that the lighthouse has crumbled with all life and colour gone, you must restore the sacred light to guide your people home. Each level has a series of sliders, rotators and optical illusions to create a pathway – for example some of these sliders will reveal a staircase to help you progress and others will heighten a platform to conjoin with paths that didn’t look possible at first glance.

The puzzles are all very well done except for the odd outlier that can be unclear or lost in tedium. The use of the isometric visuals and geometric shapes, patterns and paths are never a dull moment. Brightly coloured levels are first greeted to you as a beautiful lead-light window, each window gives a glimpse into what this chapter may entail. The incorporation of positive and negative space gives the feel that Noor’s reality isn’t flat but adds depth to each level with an ‘off-the-page’ view.
The music in the third retains the same heart warming joy; such as when you’ve helped a traveler reunite with a loved one, breathing a sigh of relief as they rekindle.
If you have played the first two games you’ll know they’re heavily based on geometric optical illusions, requiring you to look in a different perspective, testing out the many cranks and levers to see how a singular path can take you from the bottom of a building to suddenly three stories up. In this third entry, this same wonderful formula continues along with a new mechanic; a boat you control. This boat allows you to travel along stretches of water and dock, breaking up certain puzzles with water travel. In some areas I felt this was a little tedious but it wasn’t a large problem for me overall.
The music in the Monument Valley series has always been relaxing and delicate with the usage of lutes and violins. The score in the previous games set the mood, building intensity during a crumbling structure or the softer, heart-wrenching themes played when you’re separated from a loved one.
Monument Valley 3 retains the same heart warming joy; such as when you’ve helped a traveler reunite with a loved one, breathing a sigh of relief as they rekindle. I really enjoyed this personal touch as it feels more relatable and familiar.

I enjoyed Monument Valley 3. The visuals were still their beautifully done selves and the music added magic to each puzzle and encounter. The story is a heartwarming one, dealing with reunions between long lost civilians but it never hit the emotional highs of its previous entry.
Pros
- Beautiful visuals
- Heartwarming story
- Intricate, well-thought-out puzzles
Cons
- New mechanics can be tedious
Monument Valley 3 is beautiful. Exceptional geometry, illusions and clean shapes are paired with heartfelt music in a bittersweet story of finding ones new role in life. Some puzzles and the new boat mechanic can be tedious and distract from the games emotional highs but it is still an experience quite like none other.
