When I looked at the simple way you played Graveck’s Strata, I literally didn’t think it could get hard. I mean, how challenging could it be to layer some strips of color over each other so that the ribbon on top matched the colored square on the bottom? The tutorial made it look pretty easy, only needing me to layer a handful of colored ribbons over the blocks, and for some reason I didn’t see how complex that might get. It wasn’t long before the developers had laid me low with their simple but challenging game, crushing my pride under a sea of ribbons and blocks.
Strata is straightforward. Layer colored ribbons over colored blocks, and the top ribbon has to be the same color as the bottom block. Those ribbons shoot at an angle across the screen, forming a nice, uniform pattern that looks like you’re weaving by the time it’s done. It’s a simple, but sharp look, appealing to the perfectionist in me. I like straight lines and geometric patterns of color for some reason, and there’s a neat beauty to these puzzles once they’re done right. Maybe if they’re done right would better describe my play style. Once the pattern breaks out into huge groups of varied blocks, you have to do a lot of thinking in advance to get the ribbons down in the right order to solve the puzzle.
It was fun on PC, but is one of those games that’s much better suited to phones. It’s the sort of nice diversion you’d want to have while trapped on a bus ride or while shirking your work at the office. It’s a little cheaper on phones, too, if the extra dollar cost on Steam bugs you that much. No matter how you play it, this simple, but pretty, puzzle game will eat up a lot of your day while exercising the old gray matter.
