Monument Valley 3 Walkthrough: Every Chapter Solved With Hidden Secrets

What Is Monument Valley 3?

Monument Valley 3 is the third entry in Ustwo Games' acclaimed puzzle series built around impossible architecture and optical illusions. You guide a character named Noor through structures inspired by M.C. Escher. Staircases that loop back on themselves, platforms that connect only from certain camera angles, and pathways that defy every rule of physical space. The story follows Noor as she journeys away from her coastal village to find a way to restore a fading lighthouse that protects her community from rising waters.

The game launched on Apple Arcade in December 2024, with Netflix Games and other platform releases following. It features 11 chapters in the main story, plus a seasonal DLC chapter called "The Garden of Life" released in April 2025. Each chapter introduces a new architectural mechanic. Folding surfaces, water reflections, inverted gravity, layered on top of the core "rotate the world to create impossible paths" gameplay that defined the series.

Unlike most puzzle games, Monument Valley 3 has no fail state, no timer, and no score. You progress at your own pace, and the satisfaction comes from the moment a seemingly impossible path clicks into place. That said, several chapters have hidden collectibles and optional interactions that are easy to miss on a first playthrough. Which is where this walkthrough comes in.

Before You Start: Controls and Core Mechanics

The control scheme is deliberately minimal. Tap anywhere on a walkable surface to move Noor there (if a valid path exists). Drag specific architectural elements — highlighted by subtle visual cues like glowing edges or rotating handles. To manipulate the environment. The trick is that the game uses isometric perspective, and paths are valid based on how they appear on screen, not how they exist in 3D space. Two platforms that are physically far apart in three dimensions but visually overlapping on your screen count as connected. This is the core principle behind every puzzle in the game.

A few mechanics appear across multiple chapters:

• Rotation dials, Circular handles that rotate entire sections of architecture. Found in most chapters.
• Sliding platforms. Drag to move platforms along a fixed axis, bridging gaps or creating staircases.
• Perspective triggers. Standing on specific tiles changes the camera angle, revealing new connections.
• Light orbs. Collectible glowing spheres that Noor gathers to power the lighthouse. Some are on the main path; others are hidden.
• Interactive flora, Flowers and plants that respond to Noor's presence, sometimes opening new pathways or revealing secrets.

Chapter 1. Prelude

The Prelude serves as a tutorial. Noor stands atop a small structure overlooking the sea, and the lighthouse in the distance flickers and dims. The chapter teaches you the three fundamental interactions: tapping to move, dragging to rotate architecture, and recognizing impossible geometry connections.

Walkthrough

1. Tap the platform below Noor to descend the initial staircase.
2. Rotate the central dial clockwise until the broken staircase aligns visually with the lower platform. The edges will glow when connected.
3. Walk Noor across the newly connected path to the first light orb. Tap the orb to collect it.
4. A new section of architecture rises from the water. Drag the sliding platform to the right until it bridges the gap.
5. Cross to the final platform and interact with the lighthouse beacon pedestal to complete the chapter.

Hidden secret: Before collecting the light orb in step 3, rotate the dial one extra quarter-turn counterclockwise. A small alcove becomes visible on the left side of the structure containing a decorative shell. It doesn't affect gameplay but registers in your collection menu.

Chapter 2, The Town

The Town introduces Noor's village and the community she's trying to protect. The architecture here is warmer. Terracotta buildings, arched doorways, and winding staircases. The puzzle complexity is still gentle, but this chapter introduces perspective triggers for the first time.

Walkthrough

1. Walk Noor down from her home at the top of the village. Follow the main path past the villagers.
2. Reach the broken bridge at the village edge. Rotate the large dial beneath the bridge to swing the walkway into alignment.
3. Cross the bridge. On the far side, step onto the perspective trigger tile (marked with a subtle eye symbol). The camera shifts, revealing that a disconnected tower is actually visually aligned with a lower platform.
4. Walk Noor along this impossible connection to reach the town square below.
5. In the town square, interact with the village elder near the lighthouse model. A short dialogue sequence plays.
6. Rotate the two smaller dials flanking the square to open the gate to the docks. The left dial controls the upper gate arm; the right dial controls the lower. Align both to create a continuous archway.
7. Walk through the gate and board the boat to depart the village.

Missable achievement, "Dance Party": Before crossing the bridge in step 2, tap on any villager three times. Noor will begin dancing, and the villager joins in. This unlocks the Dance Party achievement. It is only available in this chapter.

Chapter 3. The Hidden Fens

The Hidden Fens is where the game's environmental storytelling deepens. Noor arrives in a waterlogged marshland dotted with lily pads and half-submerged ruins. This chapter introduces interactive flora. Stepping on lily pads causes them to bloom, and bloomed lily pads serve as platforms that other lily pads can connect to.

Walkthrough

1. Step off the boat onto the first lily pad. It blooms under Noor's weight, turning from green to white.
2. Drag the sliding vine bridge to connect the bloomed lily pad to the cluster of three pads ahead.
3. Walk across all three pads to bloom them. The third pad's bloom causes a submerged ruin to rise slightly, creating a new platform.
4. Step onto the ruin. Rotate the moss-covered dial to swing an overgrown archway into position.
5. Cross through the archway to the central island. Collect the light orb on the pedestal.
6. The water level drops slightly, revealing a lower path. Follow it to a second cluster of lily pads.
7. Bloom all four pads in the second cluster. The sequence matters: start with the outermost pad and work inward. Blooming them in the wrong order causes the outer pads to sink before you can reach the inner ones.
8. The final bloom reveals the exit. A stone staircase rising from the water. Walk up to complete the chapter.

Missable achievement, "Botanist": Bloom every single lily pad in the chapter, not just the ones on the critical path. There are 14 lily pads total; the main path only requires 8. The remaining 6 are scattered around the edges of the map. After step 5, before following the lower path, explore the perimeter of the central island to find four off-path pads. Two more are accessible from the second cluster by taking the longer route around the right side.

Chapter 4. Origata Atelier

Origata Atelier introduces the paper-folding mechanic — entire sections of architecture fold and unfold like origami, creating new surfaces and hiding old ones. The visual style shifts to crisp geometric patterns with sharp creases and angular shadows. This is the first chapter where many players get stuck, because the folding mechanic changes the spatial relationships between platforms in ways that aren't immediately intuitive.

Walkthrough

1. Enter the atelier through the paper doorway. The first room has a single fold point. Drag the right wall to fold it inward, creating a ramp to the upper level.
2. On the upper level, a large flat surface has two fold lines. Fold the left section up to create a vertical wall, then fold the right section down to create a descending staircase.
3. Descend the paper staircase into the workshop area. A light orb sits on a shelf that appears unreachable.
4. Fold the floor panel beneath the shelf upward. This lifts the shelf closer to your current level while simultaneously creating a bridge from where Noor stands to the shelf's new position.
5. Collect the orb. The workshop door opens revealing a longer corridor with three fold points.
6. This is the tricky sequence: fold the first panel down, the second panel up, and the third panel down. This creates a zigzag staircase. If you fold them all in the same direction, you get a ramp that leads to a dead end, it looks right but doesn't connect to the exit door.
7. At the end of the zigzag corridor, fold the final wall outward to reveal the exit and the chapter's closing vista.

Tip: If you get lost in this chapter, look for the paper texture seams. Fold lines always have a slightly visible crease mark, even when the surface appears flat. These creases are your roadmap.

Chapter 5. The Temple

The Temple is the emotional midpoint of the game. Noor meets her mentor here, and the chapter builds to a dramatic moment where the lighthouse's light splinters and turns red. The puzzles revolve around light and shadow. Noor must redirect beams of light through prisms and reflective surfaces to unlock doors and raise platforms.

Walkthrough

1. Enter the temple through the main archway. The first chamber has a beam of white light crossing the room diagonally.
2. Rotate the prism in the center of the chamber to redirect the light beam toward the locked door on the north wall. The door glows and opens.
3. In the second chamber, two light beams intersect. Rotate both prisms so both beams point at the two receptacles on the east wall simultaneously. The timing doesn't matter. Both just need to be aimed correctly at the same time.
4. The floor lowers, revealing a spiral staircase descending into the temple depths. Follow it down.
5. In the lower sanctum, Noor's mentor waits beside a large central beacon. A dialogue sequence plays automatically.
6. After the dialogue, the beacon cracks and the light turns red. The temple begins to shift. Rotate the now-unstable dial to align the crumbling staircase before it falls completely.
7. Race Noor up the staircase (tap quickly, this is the one section with soft time pressure as platforms slowly crumble). Collect the mentor's staff at the top.
8. Exit through the collapsing archway. The chapter ends with Noor standing alone outside the ruined temple, staff in hand.

Hidden secret: In the first chamber, before redirecting the light beam, rotate the prism to aim the light at the floor tile in the southeast corner. A hidden pattern appears briefly, revealing a lore inscription about the lighthouse's original builders.

Chapter 6. Vaiaku

Vaiaku is a water-damaged coastal settlement where Noor must rescue stranded townspeople and discover that flowers contain a natural light source that might power the lighthouse. The puzzles combine water-level manipulation with the flower mechanics from Chapter 3, but in a more structured urban environment.

Walkthrough

1. Arrive at the flooded village. The water level covers most ground-floor doors. Rotate the sluice gate dial on the eastern wall to lower the water one level.
2. Enter the first building through the now-exposed doorway. Inside, a villager stands on an upper floor with no staircase. Drag the sliding platform across the interior to create a bridge from Noor's level to the villager.
3. Interact with the villager (tap them). They follow Noor from this point.
4. Exit the building and rotate the main village dial to raise a submerged garden from the water. Flowers bloom automatically in the garden.
5. Walk Noor and the villager through the garden. The flowers glow as Noor passes, and the light transfers to the staff she carries.
6. A second building becomes accessible as the flower-light illuminates a hidden doorway. Enter and rescue the second villager using the same sliding-platform mechanic.
7. Lead both villagers to the village center. Rotate the final dial to open the lighthouse path. The flowers along the path bloom in sequence as Noor walks, creating a trail of light behind her.
8. Reach the lighthouse base. Place the staff in the beacon mount. The flower-light from the staff ignites the lighthouse briefly, enough to complete the chapter but not enough for a permanent fix.

Tip: After rescuing the first villager, explore the rooftops before lowering the second water level. A light orb is hidden on a rooftop accessible only while the water is at its mid-level. Once you drain it further, the rooftop connection breaks.

Chapter 7, The Torrential Parting

This is widely considered the hardest chapter in Monument Valley 3. The environment is a series of islands being torn apart by violent water currents, and the puzzle mechanic combines platform rotation with water-flow direction. You need to rotate structures to redirect water channels, which in turn raise and lower different platforms. The interdependencies between water channels make this chapter feel like a logic puzzle layered on top of a spatial puzzle.

Walkthrough

1. Start on the northern island. The water flows in from the left, splitting around the island. Rotate the channel dial to direct all water flow to the right channel. This raises the eastern platform.
2. Walk Noor to the eastern platform. A second channel dial controls flow between two lower channels. Direct flow to the southern channel to raise the bridge connecting to the central island.
3. Cross to the central island. Here is the main puzzle: three channel dials arranged in a triangle, each affecting two of the three surrounding water paths. The solution is left dial → clockwise twice, right dial → counterclockwise once, bottom dial → clockwise once. This creates a continuous water flow loop that raises all three exit bridges simultaneously.
4. Take the western bridge (not the eastern one. That leads to an optional area). Cross to the storm platform.
5. The storm platform rotates automatically in the wind. Wait for it to align with the southern staircase (it cycles every few seconds), then quickly tap to move Noor across.
6. On the southern island, rotate the final channel dial to redirect the storm's water into the lighthouse channel. The water carries flower seeds downstream.
7. Follow the flower trail to the chapter exit on the far southern point.

Hidden secret: Take the eastern bridge in step 4 instead of the western one. It leads to a small rocky outcrop with a lone flower. Blooming it reveals a light orb and a brief animation of the storm calming momentarily. A visual reward with no gameplay impact but a genuinely beautiful moment.

Chapter 8. The Inverted Palace

The Inverted Palace flips the game's gravity. Noor walks on ceilings, staircases lead upward into floors, and the camera frequently rotates 180 degrees to reorient your perspective. It's disorienting by design, the puzzle isn't just about finding the path but about mentally tracking which way is "up" when the game keeps changing the answer.

Walkthrough

1. Enter the palace through the grand doorway. The first room appears normal. A simple staircase leads up.
2. At the top of the staircase, step onto the gravity trigger tile (marked with an inverted triangle). The entire room flips 180 degrees. Noor is now standing on the ceiling, and the door she entered through is above her.
3. Walk along the ceiling to the inverted hallway. A dial on the wall (now the floor from your perspective) rotates a section of the palace. Rotate it 90 degrees clockwise to connect the ceiling path to a new corridor.
4. Follow the corridor to a chamber with two gravity triggers on opposite walls. Step on the left trigger first — the room rotates 90 degrees, placing you on the left wall. From here, the previously unreachable door is now at floor level.
5. Enter the door into the palace core. A massive Escher-like staircase structure fills the room, with staircases going in every direction. The solution: ignore what looks logical and follow the staircases that glow faintly gold at their edges. These are the valid paths regardless of their apparent direction.
6. Navigate the staircase structure to the central platform. Collect the light orb.
7. A final gravity flip occurs automatically, rotating the entire palace back to its original orientation. The exit door is now accessible at ground level. Walk through to complete the chapter.

Tip: In the Escher staircase room (step 5), if you get completely lost, tap and hold on Noor. A faint golden trail appears for two seconds showing the next three steps of the correct path. This hint system is easy to miss because the game never explicitly tells you about it.

Chapter 9, The Nomad

After the intensity of The Inverted Palace, The Nomad is deliberately calmer. Noor travels through open grasslands and meets a wandering character called the Nomad, who carries their own staff of light. The puzzles here focus on flower harvesting. Noor must bloom flowers in specific patterns to create enough light energy to power waypoints along the path.

Walkthrough

1. Walk through the grassy meadow. No puzzles here. Enjoy the scenery and the shift in atmosphere.
2. Reach the first waypoint (a stone pillar with an empty light socket). Bloom the five surrounding flowers by walking past each one. The light transfers automatically to the waypoint.
3. The Nomad appears on a parallel path. A short dialogue plays. The Nomad walks alongside Noor for the rest of the chapter but on a separate, mirrored path.
4. Reach a split in the road. Noor's path goes left; the Nomad's path goes right. Both paths have waypoints that need powering. Bloom the flowers on Noor's path. The Nomad mirrors your actions on their side.
5. The paths converge at a large circular garden with a central dial. Rotate the dial to arrange the garden's flower beds into a spiral pattern. When correctly arranged, all flowers bloom simultaneously in a cascade from the outside in.
6. The combined light from the garden powers a tall waypoint that illuminates the path forward. Follow it.
7. At the chapter's end, the Nomad gives Noor an additional light crystal and departs. Walk to the exit marker.

Hidden secret: In the circular garden, after arranging the spiral but before walking to the exit, rotate the dial one extra click. The spiral reverses into a different pattern, and a hidden flower in the garden's exact center blooms, revealing a light orb beneath it.

Chapter 10, Sub Rosa

"Sub Rosa" literally means "under the rose," and the chapter's central mechanic is discovering light hidden inside flowers. The architecture is organic. Structures shaped like giant flower buds, petal-shaped platforms, and roots that serve as walkways. You manipulate the environment by opening and closing flower structures, which changes which platforms are accessible.

Walkthrough

1. Enter the garden cavern. Three giant flower buds dominate the space. Tap the leftmost bud to open it, its petals unfold into a staircase.
2. Climb the petal staircase to the flower's center. A light orb sits inside. Collect it, and the flower closes slightly, lowering you to a new level.
3. From the new level, the center bud is now reachable. Tap to open it. But opening the center bud closes the left bud entirely. The petals retract and the staircase disappears. This is the core tension of the chapter: you can only have two flowers open at any time.
4. Navigate the center flower's petal platforms to reach the right side of the cavern. Open the right bud (which closes the center one).
5. Inside the right flower, a dial controls root pathways on the cavern floor. Rotate roots to connect the three flower bases.
6. With the root path connected, close the right flower (tap it again) and open the center one. Walk along the root path at ground level to a previously blocked alcove.
7. The alcove contains the chapter's final puzzle: three smaller flower buds that must be opened in a specific sequence, right, left, center. Opening them in this order cascades their light into a beam that points toward the exit.
8. Follow the light beam through the organic tunnel to exit the cavern.

Tip: The two-flowers-open constraint can feel arbitrary until you realize the flowers share a light source. Opening a flower takes light from the pool; the pool only has enough for two. Thinking of it as resource management rather than an arbitrary rule makes the puzzle logic much clearer.

Chapter 11. The Lighthouse

The final chapter brings Noor back to her village and the lighthouse. Every mechanic from the previous chapters reappears in some form. Rotation dials, perspective triggers, flower light, folding surfaces, and water channels. It's a culmination rather than a final difficulty spike, which makes it satisfying rather than frustrating.

Walkthrough

1. Arrive back at the village docks. The town is partially flooded again. Rotate the sluice gate (same mechanic as Chapter 6) to lower the water.
2. Walk through the village to the lighthouse base. Villagers from previous chapters are gathered here.
3. Enter the lighthouse. The interior is a vertical spiral structure combining every previous puzzle type. The first level uses rotation dials. Rotate to align the spiral staircase.
4. Second level: paper-folding surfaces. Fold the wall panels to create a continuous ramp to the next floor. The pattern is fold-up, fold-down, fold-up (same zigzag as Chapter 4).
5. Third level: gravity inversion. Step on the trigger to flip, walk along the ceiling to the next trigger, flip again to reach the upper staircase.
6. Fourth level: light redirection. Use the prism to aim the combined light from Noor's staff and the Nomad's crystal toward the lighthouse beacon at the top.
7. Climb the final staircase to the beacon. Place the staff in the mount. The light ignites, white and strong this time, not the unstable red from The Temple.
8. A panoramic camera sweep shows the light reaching across the ocean, the waters calming, and flowers blooming along the coastline. The chapter and the game end on this image.

Hidden secret: After placing the staff but before the closing panorama triggers, tap the lighthouse beacon itself three times. The light shifts through a rainbow color cycle for a few seconds before settling on white. It's a playful Easter egg that references the original Monument Valley's color-shifting mechanics.

Hidden and Missable Achievements

Monument Valley 3 has 15 achievements total: 10 story-related (earned automatically by completing each chapter and the finale) and 5 optional. Three of the optional achievements are missable. You can't go back for them without replaying the chapter.

Achievement	Chapter	How to Unlock	Missable?
Dance Party	2 — The Town	Tap any villager 3 times to trigger a dance	Yes
Botanist	3. The Hidden Fens	Bloom all 14 lily pads (6 are off the main path)	Yes
Break Todd and Lucie's Hearts	Any chapter	Mute the game music from the settings menu during gameplay	No
Storm Chaser	7, The Torrential Parting	Find the hidden flower on the eastern bridge outcrop	Yes
Lighthouse Keeper	11. The Lighthouse	Collect every light orb in the game (replay chapters if needed)	No

General Tips for Tricky Puzzles

1. Rotate Everything You Can Touch

If an element responds to drag input, try rotating it in both directions to its full extent. Many puzzles have solutions that only reveal themselves at a rotation angle you wouldn't instinctively try. The game never punishes experimentation. You can't break anything or create an unwinnable state.

2. Watch the Edges, Not the Centers

Valid path connections are easiest to spot at platform edges. When two surfaces are close to connecting, their edges glow faintly gold. If you see gold edges that don't quite line up, you're one rotation or one slide away from the solution. Train yourself to scan the perimeter of each structure rather than staring at the middle.

3. Use the Tap-and-Hold Hint

Tapping and holding on Noor for two seconds triggers a subtle hint. A faint golden trail showing the next few steps of the correct path. It disappears quickly and only appears once per puzzle state. Use it when genuinely stuck rather than as a first resort, since it only shows the immediate next steps and not the full solution.

4. Think in 2D, Not 3D

The single most important mental shift in Monument Valley is remembering that paths are determined by the 2D screen image, not the 3D geometry. If two platforms look connected from your current camera angle, they are connected, even if they're physically meters apart in the game's 3D space. Stop asking "is this actually connected?" and start asking "does this look connected on my screen right now?"

5. Replay Chapters for Secrets

After completing the game, every chapter is replayable from the main menu. Your collectible progress carries over, so you only need to find the items you missed. The game tracks which light orbs and achievements you've earned per chapter, making cleanup runs efficient. Most players miss around 30-40% of hidden content on their first playthrough.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Monument Valley 3 take to finish?

The main story takes roughly 2-3 hours for most players. If you're exploring thoroughly and hunting for all hidden light orbs, achievements, and secrets, expect 4-5 hours. Speedrunners can complete the critical path in under 45 minutes, but that requires knowing every solution in advance and skipping all optional content. A relaxed first playthrough with moderate exploration typically lands around 3.5 hours.

Do I need to play Monument Valley 1 and 2 first?

No. Monument Valley 3 is a standalone story with new characters and settings. Noor has no connection to Ida (MV1) or Ro (MV2). The puzzle mechanics are also independent. MV3 introduces its own twists like paper folding and flower-light mechanics that don't appear in earlier games. That said, the first two games are excellent and worth playing regardless. They're shorter (about 90 minutes each) and provide context for some of the visual callbacks and Easter eggs in MV3.

Is there DLC or additional content after the main story?

Yes. "The Garden of Life" is a seasonal DLC chapter released in April 2025. It adds a new standalone chapter with its own story and puzzles focused on cultivating a garden using light mechanics from the main game. It's included with Apple Arcade and Netflix Games subscriptions, no additional purchase needed on those platforms. The chapter takes about 30-40 minutes and is designed for players who've completed the main story.

Can I get stuck permanently in any chapter?

No. Monument Valley 3 is designed so that every puzzle state is solvable or reversible. There are no dead ends, no unwinnable configurations, and no way to permanently lose progress. If you feel stuck, it means you haven't found the correct rotation angle or the interactive element you need to manipulate. Every chapter has a path from any state to the solution. The game guarantees this by limiting your manipulation options to only those that maintain solvability. Try rotating every dial fully in both directions and tapping on every surface to check for hidden interactions.