Strand Review

Strand is a free indie puzzle game that requires players to connect a series of colorful hubs together by only using a specific number of strands. It sounds easy on the surface, but the game features many obstacles along the way like barriers, portals, and pegs.

Strand comes with an in-game tutorial along with a quick overview for those who want to jump right in and start playing. The goal is to connect various hubs together using a specific number of strands. The numbers inside the hubs show how many strands are needed. To create a strand, just touch on a hub and drag it to another. Once a connection is made, the available number of strands left is updated. After all hubs display zero, the level is complete and players progress to the next level.

As players progress, various obstacles are placed into the game. For instance, there are pegs that they must bend the strands around like rubber bands, barriers that block connections, and portals that bypass areas in a level. The game becomes even more difficult when additional colors are introduced.

Getting stuck on a level can get frustrating. Players currently get two solutions for free to help when this happens, and more solutions can be bought as in-app purchases. Additionally, there are other in-app purchases for those who want more from the game. Strand comes with two free level packs that feature a total of 50 levels. There are three other level packs that cost $1.99 to unlock, and there is also an in-app purchase of $0.99 to use custom colors in the game.

Players get quite a few levels for free, but it seems rather pricey to unlock all three of the other level packs. It would be nice to buy all of them for one low price instead of separately. Furthermore, the game needs a little more to keep it interesting - like audio cues, timers, achievements, and rankings.

Strand offers players a few hours of fun for free, which makes it well worth exploring. Those who want more can become puzzle masters by purchasing the additional level packs, but it’s not necessary to buy anything to play the first fifty levels. Try it out today to keep those neurons happy.