The Game:
This is a mobile game offered by Netflix and is free with your subscription – I played this game in the peak of my Stranger Things phase and it had me HOOKED.
I don’t play a lot of video games but this one was so immersive, I spent way too much time playing it to be honest and when I finally defeated the final boss and the game ended it felt like the end of an era, not exaggerating.
How to play
The game play is quite simple: It follows the plot of the third season of Stranger Things and you get to play through every twist and turn from the show – there’s money to collect and supplies to buy for gadgets to make which will give your characters new skills, each one having a unique gadget to be made. There’s missions to follow and quests to fulfill plus many battles to be won, which aren’t ridiculously easy to do thankfully!
For moving the character, you can either tap where you want the character to go or drag your finger and the character will continuously follow. Attacks are as simple to do by simply clicking on the object of your attack and your character will take it from there.
You can only play one character at a time but can switch between two characters which is a great feature if you need their skills or position in a pinch. They’ll also tag along and help you fight automatically – you’re only allowed one companion at a time.
What do I like about it?
I love the design, first of all. I also played the first season version of this game which has a charming 8-bit design, but this one is also nice – I appreciate their effort to bring an 80s-esque vibe to the game.
Another thing I love about this game is that the battles are actually hard! Granted, that was before I realized I’d made an enormous stash of gadgets but hadn’t actually activated any (make sure you do that!), which probably would have saved me a couple hours of replays and retries. But there can be strategy to the battles which I love, I feel there was a lot of effort put into this game.
What do I not like about it?
Honestly there’s really not much I don’t like about it – though funny enough as soon as I wrote that I reopened the game to see what I might dislike about it and it opened at a few steps back from where I’d been, undoing a least 4 minutes of work – that’s happened both times I reopened the game, maybe it’s my fault for not saving but I can’t find an option for that yet.
Who is this for?
Definitely for the ST fans! You get the chance to play through the show and I know most fans from any fandom are just happy to have more media from their favorite show, movie, etc to consume – it can happily fill in that ST phase if you’re in it!
On that note, I honestly think anyone would enjoy this game, particularly those who like a game that’s not too complicated but still complex enough to keep you engaged – and the storyline is awesome of course since it comes from a fully fleshed out tv series (there’s probably some plot holes somewhere but I try not to look haha).
Should You Play It?
Heck yeah! If you like a game that’s charming to look at, simple to play but still interesting and especially if you’re a ST fan, this game is for you! And if you like this version, check out the Season One version as well, it’s a little less complex but just as fun and worth giving a go in my opinion!
(note: I made a mini ad above instead of taking a photo since I don’t have another camera to take a picture of myself playing the game – hopefully this will suffice…)