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# M.C. Escher would approve of the Monument Valley expansion
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/mc-escher-would-approve-monument-valley-expansion/
- Published: 2014-11-07T15:57:54.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T17:07:41.000Z
- Description: Eight more chapters in a story that goes nowhere.
- Author: David Rudin
- Tags: News, Architecture, Monument Valley, ustwo, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

M.C. Escher lasted a week as an architecture student before switching to graphic art. The Dutch printmaker devoted his life to the creation of impractical and impossible architectural schemes: stairways that lead to nowhere, hallways that are cul-de-sacs, doorways that open on nothing. “Are you really sure,” he once asked, “that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?”

Ustwo’s announcement that *Monument Valley*, its Escher-esque puzzle game, will be expanded upon brings to mind Escher’s question about floors and ceilings. The original *Monument Valley* bore all the hallmarks of Escher’s confounding architecture. You walked up stairs that appeared to lead to each level’s end, learned that *Monument Valley’s* architecture was misleading, and walked off in another direction. In part, architecture is a series of cues that allow you how to navigate novel spaces. The unfamiliar is made somewhat familiar. The world of Escher and *Monument Valley* is devoid of such clues: floors might as well be ceilings.

It now turns out that *Monument Valley*’s ceiling was just *Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores*’ floor. The expansion promises eight more chapters in which to get lost and a greater array of architectural styles. While *Forgotten Shores* may offer new rooms, landscapes, and illusions, these will still be rooms in which you can enjoyably get lost.

When he [reviewed *Monument Valley*](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/monument-valley-painting-you-can-touch/?ref=killscreen.com) for Kill Screen, Levi Rubeck praised the game for its concision. “\[Making\] handful of levels slightly more elaborate \[wouldn’t\] yield any larger sense of accomplishment,” he contended. Based on its trailer, *Forgotten Valley* may prove to be either an addition or an overelaboration. This ambiguity already makes it an Escherite work. It’s derivative but new; it’s a floor and a ceiling.