Rejoice, people! Totem is back.

Next Thursday, design studio Ustwo will release Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores. It's not a sequel to the immensely popular (and rewarding) iOS game, but rather an expansion of the world you've already gotten to know. Eight new levels will be available as an in-app purchase for $1.99. Conceptually, these levels aren’t tacked onto the end of the game, but inserted between the penultimate and final levels of the original. But most importantly: They provide a deeper dive into the emotional story of Ida and her amiable friend, the totem.

“It’s kind of like a directors cut,” says Dan Gray, the executive producer on the game. “Like watching the bonus features on a DVD.”

For those who haven't played Monument Valley, there's a moment about midway through the original that's a little bit heartbreaking. It comes just after Ida and the totem meet. The two become fast friends—the totem helped her navigate the chasms and impossible architecture of the Valley, and let's just assume Ida provided him, a lonely hunk of concrete, with true companionship. The totem was an instantly lovable character, so when he sank beneath the waves in the Labyrinth level while attempting to follow Ida to sea, players were understandably saddened. “People got really upset by that,” says Peter Pashley, who worked on *Monument Valley *as the technology director. “It surprised us was how strong people reacted to the emotional part of the game.”

Monument Valley was designed as a complete story; the 10 levels formed a beginning, middle and end. When you closed the app for the final time, there was closure. But people didn’t want closure. They wanted more Monument Valley. Its designers were torn: They wanted to add more levels, mostly because people were asking for them. But they felt Monument Valley ended on a high note–1.4 million downloads, to be exact. “It was never 100 percent settled on that we were going to create more content for Monument Valley," says Gray. “It’s very much a self contained experience. So the question was, how do we create something that doesn't disrupt that?”

The new levels are filled with gorgeous, richly-hued monuments. The art is more detailed, with emphasis on the landscapes containing the monuments. You'll see waterfalls and lava pits. The architecture in the game has become more ambitious, and the gameplay has increased in complexity, too. You’ll experience more detailed game mechanics centered around the tag team play necessitated by controlling both Ida and the totem. “The basics of interaction are the same, but there are more steps you have to perform,” says Pashley.

For example, in the original game a common mechanic was rotating a handle to reorient parts of the architecture. “In several places you have to make Ida step on a switch to activate that handle before you can move it,” explains David Fernández Huerta, a designer on the game. “We’re asking the player to think ahead a bit more.”

The new levels are a nod to the game's fervent fan base, but they're also a way for Ustwo designers to explore ideas, concepts and geometric illusions that wouldn't fit into the first 10 levels. “It was kind of a good excuse for us to do what we enjoy doing and let some of those concepts that had been wandering around at the back of our minds actually see the light of day,” says Pashley.