Zero Age is Giving Us Monument Valley Eyes

In a week with as many long-anticipated releases as this one, it’s easy to overlook potential gems. Especially when those gems sneak onto the App Store a day late with as little pomp and as much mystery as their puzzles themselves.

Zero Age is just such an unexpected surprise, popping up on Thursday morning with little more than the colorful pixels on its back.

Its towering block architecture and esoteric logic puzzles immediately call to mind Monument Valley, wrapped in gorgeously cell-shaded graphics that are both familiar and futuristic. Its challenges seem to rely more on geometric and color codes rather than spatial reasoning, but it’s still filled with spaces that would make M.C. Escher pause.

The beautifully constructed world is enlivened by classical works from Russian pianist Sergei Rachmaninov, creating a simultaneously ominous and uplifting atmosphere. This seems fitting for a game whose puzzles appear as challenging as they are beautiful.

We’ll have a full review of Zero Age after we’ve had a chance to explore it. It’s available right now on iPad for $2.99.

Jillian Werner

• 

Jillian will play any game with cute characters or an isometric perspective, but her favorites are Fallout 3, Secret of Mana, and Harvest Moon. Her PC suffers from permanent cat-on-keyboard syndrome, which she blames for most deaths in Don’t Starve. She occasionally stops gaming long enough to eat waffles and rewatch Battlestar Galactica.