Monument Valley studio announces strategy game about memories, regrets

Ustwo, the studio behind Monument Valley The Alba Wildlife Adventure, announced its next game during the June 9 livestream for Summer Game Fest’s Day of the Devs. It’s a fully-voiced strategy game about dreams, relationships, and regrets called Desta: Memories BetweenDesta is the nonbinary main character in this film.

Desta is in their 20s, and they’re returning home as an adult having left some of their relationships in a weird state. In dream sequences, Desta will hear from people in their life who’ve had an impact or taught them something. The game is also about Desta coping with their father’s death, and themes of loss — but, once again, this is a strategy game that includes lots of mechanics on top of the narrative.

Is the strategy really that deep? Ustwo claims that the game is influenced by Hades, Breach into the Breach, Inception, all games with rogue-like mechanics — and all games that require some serious strategic planning in order to advance and succeed. Perhaps most surprising is there’s a sports game influence on the game as well. The developer described the game in a press release. Desta as “the deepest, most ambitious and most replayable title from ustwo games yet, but with all the heart and approachability that the London studio is known for.”

The game’s art has a hand-painted look, almost like a picture book. You can see the gameplay screen in a brighter version. Monument Valley The cartoon depicts a sport game that is turn-based, in which two characters pass a ball one to the other and bounce it off of various obstacles to get to the goal.