I know it’s strange to be starting off a story about one game with another, but if you’re a fan of the Monument Valley series, head to Steam right now and request access to the Mirria playtest. There are a lot of similarities between the two; stunning environments, really beautiful, almost ethereal music, and extremely clever puzzle mechanics. It’s being developed by Carl Burton, an IGF Finalist for ISLANDS: Non-Places, and published by Mografi, creators of the criminally underrated Jenny LeClue.
The slice of Mirria you play in the demo/playtest is short, but it was long enough to leave an impression. (My time with it was about half an hour.) As you might guess from the name, the game deals with reflections (Mirria/mirror). Each environment in the demo is split into two halves, one above water and one below.
Your goal is to make the half of the scene above water match the portion below water, whether by turning lights on or off or by manipulating doors or other fixtures. There’s even a level in the demo where your subject is a plant, and you open or close buds on it to match the underwater reflection.
Complaints were next to none. You could get hints in the game if you were stuck on something, but there were a few times that the indicator for the hint was rather large, and while it helped, it may not in a larger level where there’s a lot more going on.
Mirria is a gorgeous puzzle game, and I’m excited to uncover more of its secrets. The best demos leave you wanting more without feeling incomplete, and Mirria strikes that balance beautifully. By the time I played all the playtest levels, I was already hoping for another chance to dive beneath the surface.
A release date for Mirria has yet to be announced.