Latest news with #MonumentValley
Mint
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Lounge Loves: ‘Diavola', deer spotting and more
Last weekend, a few of us drove down to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai for an excursion. The rains had transformed the forest into a lush green landscape. After walking for over two hours, we found ourselves by a stream, excited to unpack our breakfast for a little picnic. Just then someone from another group shushed us. He pointed towards the road, where a sambar had just stepped out to graze. Naturally, out came the phones, everyone hurriedly clicking pictures. But the deer was unmoved, going about getting her morning dose of vitamins. At one point she looked up and almost seemed to be posing for the many cameras. While everyone enjoyed the moment, we also couldn't help but wonder at how wildlife had adapted to the urban landscape of this bustling metropolis. Haunted house stories will never go out of style when it comes to ghost stories. And yet, these days it is a tired trope since the general plot of such a story is highly predictable. The question then is how does an author keep things interesting? Well, Jennifer Thorne certainly cracks it in the superlative Daviola. Set primarily in Tuscany in Italy, it charts the harrowing experience of an American family that has rented a 500-year-old villa for the summer holidays. Thorne slowly ratchets up a sense of growing dread and ominous doom, while balancing it with a satirical look at a rich, dysfunctional family of 'Ugly Americans', and some excellent travel writing to boot. Unputdownable. When my indie dog was younger, had boundless energy and chewed on everything (one week, I lost three pairs of shoes to her), I came across the yak chew. I wasn't optimistic about it, since every chew claimed to be the best for toothy dogs, but it surprised me. Made of yak milk cheese, the chew was hard but clearly also tasty (in my dog's opinion). She quickly got very attached, and to my relief, it would keep her busy for far longer than any other chew had. In my experience, dog chews can also be made of questionable ingredients, so I was pleased to have found one that my more delicate Retriever could also have. I learnt to take it away from my indie before she broke it into pieces and swallowed them, and sometimes I would microwave the small bits for a tastier snack. Tired of the mindless merge and match-three mobile games I used to play obsessively, I started exploring cosy, casual games that might be just a little bit more emotionally and intellectually satisfying, like my all-time favourite Monument Valley. The Netflix game Storyteller caught my eye and has proven to be a literal page-turner. The gameplay takes place within a magical storybook, with the player deciding how the plot unfolds. The stories are simple at first and grow in complexity as the player works their way through a series of puzzles. The artwork in the game is delightful and so are the voice-overs and music, giving me a restful break from the blingy, noisy graphics of Candy Crush.
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Travel + Leisure
3 days ago
- Travel + Leisure
Private Luxury Camps Are Officially in a 'Golden Age of Glamping,' According to This Outdoor Travel Advisor
We're in a golden era of luxury camping: five-star accommodations in unique locations have become the expectation, rather than the exception. Today's travelers desire trips that blend comfort, privacy, and authentic connection. And whether you're in an iconic national park or an exclusive private nature reserve, glamping is a great way to fully immerse yourself in awe-inspiring environments while ensuring that you remain comfortable. Here's how this burgeoning industry is changing the game for adventure travelers. Luxury campsite at Monument Valley, Arizona. National parks are sacred spaces for adventure and discovery, but in the past they've lacked the high-end accommodations that luxury travelers expect. Now, though, glamping experiences in famous locations like Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park are bridging this gap. Expansive private properties like Ted Turner Reserves and Wagonhound Ranch are also great options. These sites provide much more than your run-of-the-mill tent and sleeping pad; they're luxuriously curated to each traveler's needs and desires. Whether you're having a candlelit dinner with a Navajo code talker, waking up to the sunrise in Grand Canyon National Park, or calling for wolves alongside the very expert who reintroduced them to Yellowstone in the 1990s, every detail provides maximum comfort with enough freedom for an authentic, personal experience. A campsite on the shore of the Colorado River. When planning your trip, consider a glamping company with a commitment to supporting conservation. Our camps at EXP Journeys, for example, operate under Leave No Trace principles—meaning we're committed to leaving the environment exactly as we found it. We also utilize solar energy, biodegradable products, and other sustainable practices. While the place you stay is wonderful, it's really the access these camps provide that make glamping stand out. Your camping guide plays a fundamental role in facilitating your connection to the land—and making sure your needs are met. The right trip leader—equal parts knowledgeable, fun, and safety-focused—is an essential and esteemed part of the luxury adventure. These experts bring depth, color, and meaning to every journey. In this new age of luxury camping, travelers can discover the untamed wilderness in the most elegant ways possible. Whether you're looking for a family retreat, a romantic escape, or a transformative solo journey, consider glamping for an unforgettable experience grounded in authenticity and sustainability. Kevin Jackson is a member of Travel + Leisure's A-List and specializes in trips to U.S. national parks. You can create a tailor-made itinerary with Jackson at [email protected] .
The Verge
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Netflix and Apple are backing away from great games
For the last few years, subscription gaming services like Apple Arcade and Netflix have offered mobile game developers something of a haven for high-quality, premium mobile games: a type of game that had become vanishingly rare following the rise of the microtransaction-stuffed free-to-play model. But as these services' once enviable lineup of indie games dwindles, that haven appears to be shrinking. In 2021, Netflix announced a new gaming initiative, offering users a chance to play games through the streaming service's mobile app. Apple launched a similar program with Apple Arcade just two years before that. Both services offered an interesting value proposition: Pay a monthly subscription fee to get access to a library of premium games, with some of those games available as mobile exclusives. Those games would have no ads or in-app purchases, and the money paid to studios would ostensibly be used to fund the development of more games. The games themselves covered an interesting range of genres and topics, from strategy games featuring depression and dodgeball to finding one's place by literally rearranging the space around you. Netflix funding something like Harmonium: The Musical, a game about a Deaf girl's love of music, signaled that the platform was taking its gaming initiative seriously, bringing titles from off the beaten path to the platform. But now that game appears to have been pulled from Netflix's lineup. In addition to serving as a publisher, Netflix took the additional step of outright purchasing game studios like Oxenfree developer Night School Studio and Cozy Grove studio Spry Fox to make bespoke games for the service. But late last year, Netflix closed down the studio it spun up to produce what was going to be the service's first blockbuster AAA game. Then, just this month, it announced it was going to delist some of its most notable third-party titles, including indie darlings like Hades and the Monument Valley series. Netflix is increasingly focused on games tied to its own content. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, the platform briefly extolled its continued investment in titles like Squid Game: Unleashed and Thronglets — games tied to Netflix-produced Squid Game and Black Mirror, respectively. This focus, though, seems to come at the expense of adding existing original games from independent developers. It's easy to understand this shift. While these services don't share much about hard numbers, third-party reporting suggested that the majority of Netflix users never engaged with the platform's gaming offerings. And the games they were playing, in however limited amounts, were familiar titles. It's no surprise that GTA had Netflix's biggest game launch. At GDC 2025, Netflix's president of games, Alain Tascan, spoke to The Verge about the platform refocusing its gaming efforts, saying of indie games, 'We will continue supporting some of them, but I feel that indie gamers are not really coming to Netflix to find indie games.' So far Apple has only purchased a single game studio to make content for Apple Arcade, though its retreat to more casual offerings follows a similar pattern as Netflix. Original or indie games appear less frequently in favor of those attached to big, family-friendly IP like Uno, Angry Birds, and Bluey, all three of which are featured in Apple Arcade's July update. Payouts from Apple Arcade have reportedly been shrinking while developers have complained that it's hard to get their games noticed on the platform. The free-to-play model has conditioned users that spending money for gaming content can be optional. Casual games like Monopoly Go make money through in-game advertisements or opt-in consumer spending on microtransactions, and few traditional paid games outside of Minecraft are now able to break through that mindset. Subscription services were viewed as a kind of equalizer. With investment from Apple and Netflix and elsewhere, quality games could be brought to a platform not generally associated with quality gaming experiences. Developers could fund their vision and not have to worry about monetization, while consumers could access those games with a monthly subscription and no added costs. But a few years in, the aim of these services has been adjusted, and casual games designed to keep eyeballs on an app for as long as possible, or promote the latest streaming series, have won out. Despite strong lineups of indie games, neither Netflix nor Apple could really cut through the noise, and their offerings are no longer unique. Worse still, the unique games they did have now have fewer places to go. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Ash Parrish Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Analysis Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Apple Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Netflix Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Streaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
Gizmodo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Now Nobody Will Remember When Netflix Had Great, Free Games
For several years, Netflix offered subscribers the ability to play some truly great games on their phones. No matter what tier they paid for, subscribers could play games like Hades and the original three 3D Grand Theft Auto titles from the PS2 era. Netflix did such a poor job of letting subscribers know it was available, and now the good times are coming to an end. Some of the best games promoted by the streaming service will exit stage left in less than a week's time. Netflix is planning to drop all three Monument Valley games alongside indie darlings like Braid: Anniversary Edition, Hades, and Katana ZERO. Other odd, time-sucking mobile games like Rainbow Six: SMOL are ending as well. Some games, like Hades, will no longer be playable on July 1, though other games will take longer to meet their demise. Some players had very little time to spend with these titles. Monument Valley 3 has only been playable on Netflix since 2024. Engadget first reported on the full list of games leaving the platform, though we don't have exact dates for when every game will call it quits. We reached out to Netflix to confirm how many games are leaving and when, and we'll update this post when we hear back. The full list includes: Some of these games, like Poinpy, Katana Zero, and Death's Door, may make it to mobile as premium titles, or at least that's according to publisher Devolver Digital in a statement to The Verge. Either way, it's a sign Netflix's gaming arm is further heading in the wrong direction, especially since so few customers even know the streamer has a division focused on games. The gaming titles show up front and center on the Netflix phone app, though despite its broad selection of games available free to subscribers, customers either didn't know or didn't care for the streamer's gaming offerings. Part of the issue was marketing. Netflix initially struggled to show players where to get these games. Users had to search in the Google Play Store or iPhone App Store to procure these titles. Then, even as Netflix threw money at studios like Night School, the developers of Oxenfree, and ported games like Street Fighter IV and Civilization VI to mobile, it still struggled to let users know the platform had any games available. The streamer's gaming arm took a major shift earlier this year. It reportedly closed down a 'AAA' studio helmed by industry veterans and laid off the staff at Night School just two years after acquiring it. Netflix brought on former Epic Games VP of game development, Alain Tascan, who told The Verge the platform needed to 'find its voice.' That meant focusing on tie-in games based on Netflix reality shows, party games, and games for kids. In April, Netflix promoted Thronglets, a game based on the show Black Mirror. There's no word if this change in plans will affect development of cozy life sim Spirit Crossing, an original title by Spry Fox—a developer Netflix acquired back in 2022. I have not played Thronglets or other tie-in games like Squid Game: Unleashed, but that's because the games don't interest me in the slightest. There may be a market for interactive fiction based on Netflix's reality shows, but without any unique titles that hit at the gamer crowd, will Netflix be able to truly market itself as a gaming platform? Netflix started its game journey with a heap of money but without a solid plan to use it. Tascan has said he wants to make some of these games playable directly from the Netflix app, rather than needing to download and play them separately. The only version of Hades available on mobile could not fit that bill, unfortunately. What made Netflix's gaming so nice was that it greatly limited the overt nickel-and-diming that plagues most mobile titles in favor of easy, streamlined experiences. The streamer failed to let subscribers know these titles were available. Now, those same customers will never know they missed out.
The Irish Sun
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
List of 20 Netflix titles vanishing from app forever in days as millions of subscribers told to try them before they go
NETFLIX is pulling the plug on over 20 games - including fan favourites like Hades, Carmen Sandiego and the Monument Valley series. Subscribers have been given a 'Last day to play' notice before the titles vanish from the platform in the coming weeks. 2 Netflix Games is removing over 20 games Credit: Getty Netflix Games has had a rocky nine months, with executive changes, cancelled projects and soon, the removal of games from both its mobile and TV libraries. It was recently announced that 22 games - nearly 20 percent of Netflix's mobile game library - will be axed on July 15. July 14 is subscribers' 'Last day to play'. Hades, Monument Valley (all three titles), Carmen Sandiego, Ludo King and Rainbow Six: SMOL are among the most popular Netflix games set to be cancelled. Read more tech news A full list is available below. Some of these games are still fairly new - Carmen Sandiego, for example, only joined the platform in January. Monument Valley 3 launched as a major Netflix exclusive, but is now set to move to other platforms. Several planned game releases - including Crashlands 2, Tales of the Shire and Don't Starve Together - have also been scrapped. Most read in Tech The company first started adding video games to its catalogue of streaming TV shows and films in 2021. Co-CEO Gregory Peters said in April that Netflix Games had made "decent progress" but remained on a "multiyear iterative journey". Netflix reveal huge list of movies and TV shows being axed next month – with some children's favourites in the mix It comes as the streaming giant has confirmed plans to launch Clash of Clans and Clash Royale have dominated app stores for years - with over 65 million and 18 million monthly players respectively. They will soon be transformed into a television show. The series is in "early pre-production", but no release date has been given. Supercell, the Finnish company behind the games , is directly involved in the production of the series. But Clash is not the first animated series to land on Netflix. The platform already hosts Arcane, based on Riot Games' smash hit League of Legends. Other popular Netflix animations include Devil May Cry, Blue Eye Samurai, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and Sonic Prime. Netflix is axing over 20 games in July 2025 These games are set to leave: Battleship Braid, Anniversary Edition Carmen Sandiego CoComelon: Play with JJ Death's Door Diner Out: Merge Cafe Dumb Ways to Die Ghost Detective Hades Katana Zoo Lego Legacy: Heroes Unboxed Ludo King Monument Valley Monument Valley 2 Monument Valley 3 Rainbow Six: SMOL Raji: An Ancient Epic SpongeBob: Bubble Pop F.U.N TED Tumblewords The Case of the Golden Idol The Rise of the Golden Idol Vineyard Valley 2 Netflix Games has made 'decent progress', said co-CEO Gregory Peters in April Credit: Getty
