Monument Valley 2: A Mother-Daughter Puzzle Journey Worth Your Time

By Nham Vu · Updated July 2026

Monument Valley 2 is the 2017 puzzle game from ustwo games that follows a mother, Ro, guiding her daughter through a world of impossible architecture. I went back to it after finishing the original twice, and it still holds up as one of the tightest mobile puzzle experiences I've played, even years later. The core trick is the same one that made the first game a phenomenon: you rotate and shift stone structures until hidden paths line up, and the camera trick that looked impossible a second ago suddenly makes perfect sense.

What's different here is the two-character dynamic. You're not just solving a puzzle, you're teaching a smaller character to solve it alongside you, and that shifts the whole feel of the game from solitary to something closer to a quiet parenting metaphor. It never spells that out with dialogue, the level design does the talking, which is exactly what fans of the first game were hoping for.

Is Monument Valley 2 Better Than the First Game?

Monument Valley 2 refines the mechanics of the original rather than reinventing them, and whether that counts as an improvement depends on what you want from it. The visuals are sharper, the color palettes lean warmer, and the two-character puzzles add a layer the first game never had. In practice, the added mother-daughter mechanic makes some puzzles feel more collaborative and less like solo geometry drills.

What trips up longtime fans is length and difficulty. The original leaned harder into obtuse, brain-bending puzzles, while the sequel trades some of that friction for a smoother, more emotional pace. Reddit threads full of longtime players have called it a step down in challenge, and that's a fair critique if you came for pure puzzle-solving. If you came for atmosphere and story, the sequel wins outright.

Are Monument Valley 1 and 2 Connected?

Monument Valley 2 stands as a direct sequel to the 2014 original, sharing the same visual world of Escher-inspired architecture and the Crow People antagonists, though it tells an entirely separate story. The first game followed Princess Ida navigating sacred geometry to atone for past mistakes. The sequel swaps in Ro and her unnamed daughter, and the two campaigns don't share named characters.

The connective tissue is thematic and visual rather than plot-driven. Both games use the same architectural logic, the same soft color-blocked art style, and the same idea of forgiveness and growth expressed through space rather than text. Players who finish both back to back tend to notice the sequel as an emotional echo of the first rather than a literal continuation.

How Many Levels and Chapters Does Monument Valley 2 Have?

Monument Valley 2 is built around a chapter structure rather than traditional numbered levels, with players progressing through roughly a dozen distinct chapters, each built around its own architectural puzzle theme. Chapters carry names tied to their visual gimmick or emotional beat rather than plain numbers, which is part of why so many players search for specific ones like chapter 9, chapter 11, or chapter 14 when they get stuck.

A later update added The Lost Forest, a bonus chapter that extended the campaign after the base release. The chapters include mechanics such as:

• Rotating tower segments that reveal hidden staircases
• Mirror-image puzzles solved by moving Ro and her daughter separately
• Floating platforms tied to the Aphelion structure
• Light and shadow puzzles unique to the later chapters
• The bonus Lost Forest chapter added after launch

What Platforms Is Monument Valley 2 Available On?

Monument Valley 2 launched exclusively on iOS in June 2017 before expanding to Android later that same year, and it has since reached several other platforms. The kind of impossible-geometry puzzle solving that made the first game a hit translates surprisingly well to touchscreens, since dragging structures with a finger feels more intuitive than doing it with a mouse.

Since the mobile launch, ustwo has brought the game to a wider audience. Current platforms include:

• iOS (App Store)
• Android (Google Play)
• PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
• Nintendo Switch
• PC via Steam and Epic Games Store

What Is Monument Valley 2 Gameplay Actually Like?

Monument Valley 2 gameplay revolves around manipulating three-dimensional structures from a fixed camera angle so that paths which look disconnected suddenly become walkable. You tap and drag towers, staircases, and bridges, and the game rewards you the moment a shift in perspective turns an impossible loop into a clear route forward.

The best players I've seen treat each chapter as a small optical illusion to be dismantled rather than a timed challenge. There's no fail state and no scoring, so the pacing is meditative by design. New mechanics get introduced gradually, chapter by chapter, until by the later stages you're juggling light puzzles, mirrored movement, and rotating scenery all in the same scene.

Why Is Monument Valley 3 Only on Netflix?

Monument Valley 3 released as a Netflix Games exclusive rather than through the App Store or Google Play storefronts directly, a distribution shift from how the first two games launched. ustwo partnered with Netflix's mobile gaming division, meaning access requires an active Netflix subscription instead of a standalone purchase.

This move reflects a broader trend of premium mobile studios looking for stable funding outside the traditional app store model. For players who loved the first two entries, it means the series' latest chapter sits behind a different kind of paywall than the one Monument Valley fans are used to.