‘I was trying to create the sound of a really warm hug’: the poignant story behind Monument Valley 2’s music

Todd Baker composed the soundtrack for the indie puzzler as he was living through the loss of his mother. On the series' 10th anniversary, he reflects on the experience

The part where the mother and child are separated on a red mountain, in a level quite early on in the game where you have to get back to the mother and find her ... I was completing the sound design and music for that in a hospital, right beside my mum when she was sleeping, recovering from open heart surgery."

Todd Baker pauses for a second. He is recalling the development process of 2017's Monument Valley 2, an indie puzzler, the highly anticipated follow-up to the one of the biggest success stories in mobile game history. The second game is more experimental than the first; it has more of a story, which in turn changed its feel. Whereas the first title is all optical illusions and impossible objects, the sequel moves away from MC Escher-inspired towers and spires and towards non-Euclidean geometry and brutalism.