The overhead reveal, rebuilt in 3D
Strata shows the same top-down view a satellite photo would, but as an interactive 3D model built from real elevation and map data. The mystery city starts as bare terrain, and each wrong guess peels back another layer — weather, then water, then roads, then buildings — until the place gives itself away. Five guesses, one city, every day.
Map layers, not photographs — and that is the point
Honest difference up front: satellite-photo games like Satle show you an actual photograph and crop or zoom it over successive guesses. Strata renders the city from map data instead. You lose photo texture, but you gain a clean read on the signals that actually identify a city from orbit — the shape of the harbor, where the river cuts, how the street grid bends around hills.
Five reveals that work like sharpening focus
The layer sequence plays like a satellite image resolving. Terrain alone is the blurry pass, where only a distinctive coastline or valley gives the city away. Water and roads are the mid-resolution passes where most players click. Buildings are the full-resolution skyline — if you need that layer, the city earned its difficulty.
Guessing helps even when you miss
Wrong guesses are not wasted. Each one reveals the next layer and gives you feedback on how far off you were, so the puzzle converges: read the landscape, commit to a guess, use the distance to re-aim. Two city pools — US and Canada, or worldwide — keep the daily rotation fresh.