Strata is an innovative documentary game that is set in the magnificent Badlands of western South Dakota. Through an immersive game experience that combines virtual landscapes, documentary footage, archival material, and spatialized audio—Strata unearths buried histories, while encouraging players to practice important skills including close observation, critical thinking, historical research, and the integration of distinct worldviews.

Players traverse a virtual landscape that is a 3D scan of an 80’ region of the Badlands, discovering that this small patch of land is filled with a tapestry of stories, memories, observations, and hidden histories. As the player weaves their own narrative journey—a trajectory that will be different for each—they develop a multifaceted understanding of the histories and cultural perspectives embedded in the landscape. Their attentiveness and close observation is rewarded as the land comes alive through documentary footage, oral histories, and archives.