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Quick Look: Strato
Designer: Sophia Wagner
Artists: Jérémie Prugneaux (as Crocotame)
Publisher: Helvetiq
Year Published: 2024
No. of Players: 1 (with a slight variation to allow 2-4 players)
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 15 minutes.
Find more info HERE.
Foreword:
I received a copy of Strato and Alpina from the publisher to check out. I already covered Alpina in another review, which was my clear preference of the two, but we’ll dig into Strato that was alright, but I wanted more out of it than it had to offer.
From the Publisher:
A strato–spheric game!
Play alone or with your family! Strato is a captivating multi-level logic card game that puts your ability to manipulate the weather to the test. Control the elements, overcome challenges, and win the game! Manipulate the weather elements dictated by each challenge to achieve the required formation before you run out of cards. Add a card on the table and activate its effect. Move the cards already in play so they’re in the right place. But be careful: if you don’t control the elements well enough, these moves could backfire.
Solve the challenges on your own or with friends
An original theme with a light-hearted approach
Ten challenges to overcome, each more complex than the last
A plastic-free game, made in an eco-responsible factory
Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of Strato The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Disclaimer: Anytime you see a link to Amazon on our site, it is another way to get your product there for the normally listed price as well as a way to support Everything Board Games and everything we’re doing here, without paying any extra. We appreciate the support!
Review:
Initial Impression/Components:
As with some of their other titles, this game was made with environmental impact in mind. As an environmentalist myself, I love that this is becoming normal in the gaming community. The game comes in a tidy little box, about 6″x6″ and it as well as the components inside are industry standard quality. The art style, specifically the back of the weather cards, is very pleasing to the eye. There are 54 weather cards, 6 tornado cards, 10 challenge cards, 6 player aids (not per player but for each weather ability), 16 tiles, and a rule book.
Favorite:
I repeat it often, but I love nature themes! This one is based around weather and tornadoes! I did like when they stacked tornadoes in multiple rows and you were trying to solve a multi-tier puzzle. The thinner cards were a great design choice to make the game easier to move cards around and take up less table space.
Least Favorite:
We arrive at a common complaint: the rulebook. I get a little miffed with poorly written rules. I do give lenience to games that were translated from other languages, such as this one which I believe was French, but the rules still need to be clear and function. You can get by and make assumptions but people new to board games, or children as young as the 8+ suggested age will likely get frustrated or give up. This is true of the first missions which only have one row to work with and there are two cards (with multiple copies) that are useless in single-line puzzles. That should have been addressed. Anyone trying only the first couple of missions would give up on the game before actually trying it at its full potential with 2-3 rows. I fear that will be the case for many that purchase the game without researching it.
Rules:
A turn is very fast, consisting of laying and drawing a card in most cases. However, the card you play will have one of 6 abilities and require you to manipulate the cards in play in some way. You will use these abilities to try and arrange them in different ways to meet challenges.
The English rules need improvement. I feel another run through editing by a fellow game designer or veteran player would have made the difference. Another item that snagged me was giant “solo” writing on the box, and the player count set at 1. But in the rules, there is a variant to get up to 4 players. Their site looks to have changed that and reads 1-4 players. In fairness, the game is definitely intended to be a solo game.
Areas they did well:
– Art and design (noting the weather cards for both the intentional thin-width card, and gorgeous card back)
– Component quality
– Game size / portability
– Quick play rules
– Game length
Areas they could have improved:
– Could have included more challenges, or suggestions. In the rules it says if you finish the 10 challenges, try to beat them all again without failing. That felt a little flat. I would have suggested to try and create your own challenges and test yourself against those.
– Advised that Fog and Storm weather cards are useless with one row. Arguably Storm may be able to move itself after being laid to the other side and switch places with the other card but that depends on rule interpretation.
Interesting moment:
I liked being able to use the Sun card to go past the row card limit temporarily. If your row is filled, you can use the Sun to discard a card anywhere else on the row and then fall back into the acceptable number of cards before the end of your turn. Otherwise, you will lose the game once you exceed the card limit. I used that technique several times when nearing the end of challenges when space was limited.
Overall:
It just didn’t pack the punch I was hoping for. It’s an okay puzzle and way to pass the time alone, but I have a sizable number of other titles that just offer more for solo play. Admittedly, I’m not much of a solo gamer, but if I do, this one just doesn’t check the boxes for me. That said, I do know some people that I think it might fit better, so I’m going to give this title to them to enjoy.
Final Thoughts:
The game itself functioned and was okay, but it just wasn’t for me. I had received this title and another from their collection, Alpina, at the same time, and I’d pick Alpina every time when given a choice between the two. Remember that opinions are based on tastes and experience, I encourage readers to research titles before making a decision if a game is for them.
I’ll see you next time, back here at The Game Table,
Brad Hiscock, aka Zerility
Here’s a link to the game on their website:
After reading Brad’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Strato is on sale in the United States via Amazon Prime for only $19.99. Check it out and get yours HERE.
Disclaimer: Anytime you see a link to Amazon on our site, it is another way to get your product there for the normally listed price as well as a way to support Everything Board Games and everything we’re doing here, without paying any extra. We appreciate the support!
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Brad Hiscock, aka “Zerility”, is a construction project manager and electrician by trade who was the owner of a 6-time award winning electrical company. His passion for board games has led him from playing hundreds of original titles to creating a design and publishing company of his own, Convivial Games. As an up and coming collaborator on many projects, he is always eager to try new games and meet new people.
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All of Brad Hiscock, aka “Zerility”‘s reviews can be found HERE.
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English (US) ·