Top 10 Tips for Enjoying Monument Valley

Play on a Tablet if Possible

This is more for personal enjoyment than to help you with the game, but you should try to play Monument Valley on a tablet device if possible. The beautiful visuals are so much more effective on a larger screen, plus you will make everyone else who doesn't have one jealous! It is the sort of game that should be experienced with your headphones in and on a large screen.

Take Your Time

Most of all, Monument Valley is a beautiful game. Spend your time just enjoying the levels rather than trying to breeze through as quickly as possible. If you are willing to take it slow, you will get far more from the game than someone who beats it in under an hour.

Think Outside the Box

Monument Valley isn't your ordinary puzzle game. While the solution to a puzzle may be as simple as moving an obstacle out of the way, actually thinking about what you have to do is much harder due to the skewed perspective you are given. You need to imagine what would happen if the camera was at a different angle, which platforms would line up, and what illusions would be created. While they may be illusions to us, in Monument Valley they will in fact create permanent and physical pathways for Ida to take.

Look at the Puzzle from All Angles

Following on from the previous tip - be sure to look at the puzzle from every single angle you can. Only then will you be able to know that you have explored all the possibilities and every avenue available to you. Often it can be as simple as the way you are looking at the level to make the solution obvious to you.

Explore the Levels

The first thing to do once you have looked at the level and thought about possible solutions is to explore the level itself. Try rotating and moving any objects you can to see how they effect the layout of the level. You should also remember that there are switches which only Ida can interact with, and it is often a good starting point to send her to these first of all.

Use Non-Violent Resistance

You can't permanently remove any of the Crow people from each level, and they will mess up any switches Ida has thrown if you allow them to roam around freely. The answer to this conundrum is to use barricades or pulleys to block off the Crow people so that they can't get into Ida's path or reach any of those all-important switches.

Timing Can be Key

Still on the theme of avoiding Crows, sometimes it may not look like Ida will be able to make her way round, but with careful timing of taps, you will be able to safely guide her around the enemy Crows. Again, they can't hurt you, so just think about the puzzle and tap your directions carefully.

Remember Your Options or Take Notes

This can sound a bit intense for what should be a relaxing and leisurely game, but if you really want to go for a speed-run, you should jot down what happens when you move or rotate the level. Most importantly is where staircases lead to - this is usually the main thing to change when rotation occurs. By keeping a record of what goes where, you won't have to keep rotating and undoing all your hard work to get to a decent position as you will be able to remember what you need to do to finish the puzzle.

Experiment

There's no failing at Monument Valley, no matter how much Ida has been wandering around aimlessly, or how many dead ends you have led her down. Instead, you can simply try a different route, or another strategy, until you find the correct way to reach the finish. As a result, you should aim to experiment as much as possible - there's no danger in doing so!

Keep Ida in Sight

Most of the time, if you can't see Ida then the solution won't be possible from that angle. You can safely mould all of your ideas around that central principle - keep her in sight to find the answer. All your experimentation and tinkering should be done with that in mind.