When comparing Gateways vs Strata, the Slant community recommends Strata for most people. In the question“What are the best Puzzle games on Steam?” Strata is ranked 12th while Gateways is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Strata is:
The game scales to any resolution so you can have it in a window on the side.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Just the right amount of content
The game is long enough that the player gets to master each of the unique mechanics, but not so long that you get bored of any of them.
Pro Portal x 4
Gateways has the same formula as the great Portal, except that it's in 2D, BUT, they introduce 3 new types of portal guns, a gun that makes you smaller/bigger, a gun that shifts gravity 90 or 180 degrees, and the best one, a time travelling gun. The last part of the game lets you used all the 4 guns together for mind bending puzzles.
Pro Supports flexible window resolutions
The game scales to any resolution so you can have it in a window on the side.
Pro Addictive gameplay that steadily increases in difficulty
While the gameplay starts out as being quite straightforward (therefore easing the player into the game), the difficulty does build as one continues to play.
Pro Original design and gameplay
The minimalistic look of the game as well as the way the gameplay works is quite original while still staying intuitive.
Pro 2D minimalistic "weaving" that requires thinking in 3d
While represented in 2D the puzzle solving aspect of the game requires thinking in terms of "levels" as one would while weaving.
Cons
Con Lacks clean or clever puzzles
Unlike Portal, a game with high polish that shows in its puzzle designs Gateways has a clear lack of polish to its puzzles which makes for a subpar experience as it the games design can lead to problems interpreting the puzzles appropriately.
Con Too easy if you figure out the pattern
The pattern behind the puzzles isn't the simplest, but if you can figure it out, you can solve any of the puzzles quickly.
Con Includes in app purchases
Strata is an upfront paid game at $2.99 which is why it is disappointing to see that in app purchases later apply.
Con No level generator
Even though the levels could easily be automatically generated, there is no level generator.
Con Short
The game can be beaten in about six and a half hours, which is really not all that long for a PC game. Of course originally this was a mobile phone game, which shows its roots in the length.