How Monument Valley 3 Uses Soundscapes to Tell Its Story - Xbox Wire

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Abstract Learn the way Monument Valley 3 transforms each interplay right into a residing soundscape for a completely immersive expertise.Audio Director Todd Baker shares how the sport’s music and sound design inform Noor’s emotional journey.Monument Valley 3 launches July 22, 2025, for Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One and the collectible vinyl soundtrack is out there to pre-order now from iam8bit.

After we started engaged on Monument Valley 3 at ustwo video games, our purpose was to push the boundaries of what sport audio could possibly be. We didn’t need the soundtrack to easily sit alongside the visuals: it wanted to be deeply embedded within the storytelling and gameplay, emotionally related to each transfer the participant makes. That strategy has led to the sound design, audio course and soundtrack being nominated on the D.I.C.E Awards, Cellular Recreation Awards, and extra.

For Monument Valley 3, I labored carefully with co-composer Lucie Treacher to blur the road between conventional composition and interactive sound design. Collectively, we crafted an audio expertise that’s meant to be absolutely immersive – one which I imagine is finest appreciated with headphones when the sport launches on Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One on July 22.

A Contemporary, Experimental Strategy to Sound

Whereas Monument Valley and its sequel have been celebrated for his or her serene, ambient soundscapes, I intentionally selected to not revisit these soundtracks throughout manufacturing as an try to interrupt away from the method of the earlier video games. I wished to maintain my perspective recent and permit new concepts to take root with out being overly influenced by what had come earlier than. This choice gave me and my co-composer Lucie Treacher a clean canvas, and with it, the liberty to experiment.

Every stage in Monument Valley 3 grew to become its personal miniature sound world. As a substitute of scoring the sport with one overarching musical theme, we approached each chapter as a self-contained sound set up. This allowed us to tailor the sonic expertise to the emotion, visible design, and narrative beats of every atmosphere.

It additionally opened the door to incorporating world musical influences, from the breathy tones of the Bansuri to the resonant chimes of Gamelan and the earthy plucks of the Kora, which is a harp from West Africa. These devices weren’t chosen for novelty, however as a result of they introduced texture, cultural richness, and emotional resonance to the world of Noor, the sport’s heroine. All on high of a 17-piece string part as our stable base.

A Residing, Responsive Soundscape & Water As A Musical Ingredient

Crucially, Lucie and I wished sound to be interactive. One of many sport’s core themes is transformation, so it felt pure to create an audio system that would morph in real-time based mostly on how gamers transfer and manipulate the world. I leaned closely on granular synthesis and digital instrument design to realize this. In sure ranges, the structure turns into an instrument itself: as you shift blocks, rotate towers, or information Noor by means of a puzzle, the music responds and evolves. It’s such as you’re composing as you’re taking part in.

This concept of interactivity additionally prolonged to our strategy to environmental audio. Water is a central motif in Monument Valley 3, symbolizing each destruction and renewal. To do it justice, I recorded and processed an unlimited library of water sounds, together with rivers, lakes, pouring faucets, underwater ambiances, and used them as each musical and textural components. In some moments, the water offers light atmosphere; in others, it turns into a part of the melodic construction. Each drip, ripple, and splash have been thought-about.

A Tactile and Cinematic Rating

The sport’s tactile nature was additionally key to the audio expertise. We wished every interplay to really feel musical, like a word being performed in a bigger composition. This meant designing detailed, layered suggestions for each touchpoint. The sound of turning a gear isn’t only a mechanical click on; it’s tuned, rhythmic, and harmonically in key with the scene’s ambient music. Lucie and I typically considered the whole soundscape as a residing instrument, with gamers improvising a singular efficiency every time they performed.

In fact, this stage of element requires collaboration. Lucie and I labored carefully with stage designers and narrative leads all through the manufacturing. Sound was by no means an afterthought because it needed to be there from the very starting, woven into the narrative arcs, spatial design, and even the puzzles themselves. We frequently constructed music and mechanics collectively, making certain that one enhanced the opposite.

One in every of my favourite examples is a stage impressed by paper and origami. Visually, it unfolds like a print coming to life, and we wished the music to really feel equally handmade. We used crinkling paper textures, lo-fi tape hiss, and analogue synths to create an intimate, tactile really feel that matched the extent’s delicate visible aesthetic.

What I’m most happy with, although, is how the audio in Monument Valley 3 helps the sport’s emotional journey. Noor’s story is certainly one of grief, development, and hope. The music gently guides gamers by means of that emotional arc, rising and falling with the character’s inside struggles and triumphs. In additional reflective moments, sparse strings and breathy flutes depart house for introspection. Throughout climactic puzzles, the soundtrack swells, bringing a way of momentum and catharsis.

We’ve designed Monument Valley 3 to be finest skilled with headphones, the place the total element and nuance of the soundscape might be appreciated. It’s a sport that rewards cautious listening, and I hope gamers on Xbox will really feel immersed not simply visually, however sonically.

I’m excited for much more folks to listen to the story we’ve informed: not simply by means of dialogue or artwork, however by means of sound.

Monument Valley 3, developed and revealed by BAFTA-winning unbiased studio ustwo video games, will probably be launched globally for Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One on July 22, absolutely optimized for widescreen shows, Xbox controllers and, in fact, excessive constancy audio. MV3 follows within the footsteps of Monument Valley 1 & 2, which have been launched for Xbox for the primary time in April.

As well as, the Monument Valley 3 Authentic Recreation Soundtrack is now obtainable to stream on all main music streaming platforms. It is usually obtainable as a restricted version vinyl solely from iam8bit.

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