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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Dom Peppiatt

‘I was trying to create the sound of a really warm hug’: the poignant story behind Monument Valley 2’s music

Monument Valley 2.
‘This game is about a mother and child, and towards the end of the year, I lost her’ … Monument Valley 2. Photograph: ustwo

‘The part where the mother and child are separated on a red mountain, in a level quite early on in the game where you have to get back to the mother and find her … I was completing the sound design and music for that in a hospital, right beside my mum when she was sleeping, recovering from open heart surgery.”

Todd Baker pauses for a second. He is recalling the development process of 2017’s Monument Valley 2, an indie puzzler, the highly anticipated follow-up to the one of the biggest success stories in mobile game history. The second game is more experimental than the first; it has more of a story, which in turn changed its feel. Whereas the first title is all optical illusions and impossible objects, the sequel moves away from MC Escher-inspired towers and spires and towards non-Euclidean geometry and brutalism.

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