Last year’s breakout iOS game, Monument Valley, merged simple gameplay – guide Princess Ida through an Escher inspired puzzle maze – with stunning visuals worthy of its inspiration. This year brings us Alto’s Adventure, a similarly visually stunning game mixed with the fun and thrill of snowboarding. A few years ago, I wondered if iOS games had reached the extent of their full potential, and would never live up to the early hype of eventually supplanting consoles as the mainstream gaming platform. Clearly, I just lacked imagination.

Speaking of imagination, I think it’s completely plausible that the similarities in visuals between Monument Valley and Alto’s Adventure is a complete coincidence. After all, games with this kind of visual styling take a long time to create and, unless the team behind Alto’s Adventure got a sneak peek at Monument Valley, it doesn’t seem like they could have created a copycat game so quickly.