…and I don’t mean it metaphorically; I mean it literally. I recently discovered that many young artists either struggle with the rules and concepts of perspective or find that boring, as they’re more oriented towards character and creature design, so here’s a list of games that use either perspective or axonometric representation as a really clever narrative device and might give you the kick you’re missing.
5. Echochrome
Probably the father of all that will follow, Echochrome is a puzzle video game developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2008 for the PlayStation 3, and later for the PlayStation Portable. The game is among the firsts to make an innovative use of perspective and optical illusions, drawing inspiration from the artwork of M.C. Escher. Players control a character known as the “Echo,” navigating through a series of levels that are designed around impossible geometries. The core mechanic of the game involves manipulating the camera angle to change the perspective of the environment and create paths that would otherwise be inaccessible, effectively turning impossible structures into navigable spaces.
4. Fez
Fez is a 2012 indie puzzle-platform game developed by Polytron Corporation and created by designer Phil Fish. Celebrated for its innovative gameplay mechanics, unique visual style, and rich exploration elements, it features Gomez, a 2D creature living in a platform-like 2D world, who receives a magical fez that allows him to perceive his environment in three dimensions. Akin to Abbott’s novel Flatland, the character gains consciousness of a dimension numerically superior to its own, and this enables players to rotate the game world, revealing new paths and connections between platforms that were previously inaccessible.
3. Antichamber
A first-person puzzle game developed by Australian game designer Alexander Bruce, Antichamber was released in 2013 and it involves a unique, non-euclidean setting for puzzles created through what has been defined as an unconventional approach to game design. Players must explore these environments, solving puzzles by manipulating the world in unexpected ways, often involving hidden paths, laser beams, and using a special weapon to create and manipulate colored blocks. As players progress, they gain access to new abilities and tools, allowing them to access previously inaccessible areas. The game’s free-flowing, non-linear structure encourages experimentation and lateral thinking. Players have defined this experience with expressions like “my neurons hurt.”
2. Manifold Garden
Manifold Garden is a 2019 critically acclaimed first-person puzzle game developed by American artist William Chyr, and it’s known for its unique visual style and innovative gameplay that explores themes of infinity, recursion, and the nature of reality. Players navigate a surreal, geometric world again inspired by Escher, in a “universe with a different set of physical laws” where the player can manipulate gravity, being able to “turn walls into floors”. The goal is to solve puzzles by interacting with the world’s architecture and devices, using the game’s gravity-flipping mechanic to access new areas. Environments frequently appear to repeat into infinity in all directions, with abstract, fractal-like structures in shades of blue, white, and yellow.
The game was called “beautifully hypnotic” by Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Philippa Warr and a “surreal masterpiece” by Polygon’s Nicole Carpenter.
1. Monument Valley
At the top of my list, this 2014 mobile puzzle game by Ustwo Games and its two sequels see the silent protagonist, Princess Ida, wandering through a surreal, geometric world inspired by what M.C. Escher did with geometry and staircases. The game involves manipulating the world to uncover hidden paths and solve puzzles within optical illusions and impossible architecture to tell a story about Ida’s journey.
Monument Valley and its sequel have received numerous accolades, including the Apple Design Award and BAFTA awards for Best British Game and Best Mobile Game. The series has significantly influenced mobile gaming, encouraging developers to create shorter, more artistic experiences prioritising beauty and storytelling over obsessing with traditional gaming mechanics.
Bonus Feature: Pathfinder, Wrath of the Righteous
If you’re surprised, it means you didn’t play it.
This glorious isometric role-playing game developed by Owlcat Games and published by META Publishing features a chapter, around the middle of the game, in which you and your companions are stuck in a realm called Midnight Isles, and you travel between the lower city and the upper city trying to negotiate (or trick) your way out of there. The only problem is that the whole world rotates and morphs every time you turn the camera, creating actual passages where you thought there were only illusions.
They did a kick-ass job that can hardly be explained. And the game is delightful too. I suggest you go and play it.
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