Monument Valley

As far as beautiful games go, developer ustwo has hit on a winner with Monument Valley. Best experienced on the iPad, you must guide a strangely silent princess - named Ida, which doesn’t quite have the Disney ring to it - through the various levels, manipulating the architecture as you go. It’s a little mind bending, full of optical illusions that can be used to your advantage as you try to find the best way to get the princess through the level. A few swipes and turns can reveal hidden paths; rotating walkways and pushing bits of the architecture around can have surprising results. There’s a healthy dollop of atmosphere to go along with that, which the soundtrack is in no small part responsible for building. It’s reactive to your decisions as you shape the world around you. Although it’s not overly long, Monument Valley is compelling. You want to see what happens if you try a different path and it’s not hardship to replay a level or two, especially when they look as good as this. The attention to detail makes it one of the better mobile games around at the moment.