Stranger Things 3: The Game
Stranger Things 3: The Game is the official companion game to Season 3 of the hit original series! Play through familiar events from the series while also uncovering never-before-seen quests, character interactions, and secrets! This adventure game blends a distinctively retro art style with modern gameplay mechanics to deliver nostalgic fun with a fresh new twist. Just like in the show, teamwork is at the heart of Stranger Things 3: The Game. Fans can team up in two player local co-op to explore the world of Hawkins, solve puzzles, and battle the emerging evils of The Upside Down as one of twelve beloved characters from the show. Key Features Experience Stranger Things 3, Plus Much More!—Play through the events of Season 3 and much more! Play as your favorite characters from the series as you complete quests for the citizens of Hawkins and explore the town while the events of Season 3 unfold around you. Teamwork is the Key—Play through the entire game as two characters (in single player or local co-op). Use your buddy to solve co-op puzzles, take on groups of enemies, and combine your special abilities to pull of powerful combo attacks.
Steam User 145
So far appears to be a 1:1 of the show. I think I'm going to finish watching it before playing more. Not certain there's big spoilers, but I'm not risking it.
Otherwise it's been pretty enjoyable.
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Update: The game definitely contains spoilers for the show. Watch the show first unless you don't care. (Technically the show would spoil the game, but the show tells the story better)
The gameplay from the trailer is accurate and as enjoyable as you'd expect from an SNES era action adventure. If you start having trouble, try playing a ranged character and letting the CPU tank for you. The CPU controlled character always takes less damage from hits it seems.
Crafting is only for party trinkets, they just modify a character or groups damage/life/attacks or special things like the wallet which increase money found. They're not equipped per character so you have to plan for which characters you're using.
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A couple annoyances I've found (not game breaking):
Even though you're using two characters, the cutscenes will sometimes change you to the story characters for that quest forcing you to have to change back first thing during a boss fight.
Targeting is a little weird in places. The breaker hitboxes seem to be different when they're up versus down so you target the first breaker and flip it up, without moving you'll be targeting a different breaker when the first one's animation has finished. They need to space the breakers out more or work on the targeting.
Speaking of targeting, later on when I got Erica in the party there were instances when I'm fighting in a small area nearby a vent shaft and the game kept targeting the shaft and changing automatically to Erica and crawling through.
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Overall there's nothing special about the game that makes me want to play it more than once, but it is a quality tie-in to the show with no major bugs I've been able to find, and it has been fun to play. Certainly worth a purchase, but up to you whether you want to pay full price or wishlist it until it's on sale.
Knowing now that I wouldn't have played it more than once, I'd probably have wishlisted it and waited for a sale, but I don't feel cheated having paid full price.
Steam User 259
Only watched S3.E01 before getting this game so stopped playing at the end of Chapter 1. It follows the events of the show pretty closely hence why I stopped there to avoid spoilers. Going forward I'll be playing each chapter only after I've watched the corresponding episode.
So far it's proving to be a very cool little game. It looks and sounds just like the show and includes all of your favourite characters. As far as playable characters are concerned it looks like the whole gang are there and you can swap between them to take advantage of each of their special abilities. You can also control a second on-screen character to solve certain puzzles which is nice mechanic.
The game has been created in the mould of a 16-bit isometric action/adventure RPG. If you are a fan of the show and also have a fondness for retro style games then you should definitely check this out.
Steam User 80
If you are a fan of Stranger Things (Netflix series) the game is lovely.
It has couch coop (split screen) and you can play it together with a friend (thats a bonus).
It's retro and not the best reto pixel game on the market, but it's solid.
The real fun is watching season 3 and play the game. Make sure to stay always 1-2 episodes ahead. Sometimes a few sidequests will contain spoilers for the next chapter of the TV show.
Overall the story is the same with a few changes, to make the game easier (like you can swich charakters at boss battles).
Steam User 91
Fun game. My wife and I got it after finishing the series. The game is fun, easy controls, cute follow to the story. It's made us smile and laugh. Recommended for sure if you enjoyed the show.
Steam User 34
This game was a lot of fun. Not just because i am a big fan of the series. But overall, it was very entertaining. Though its a little too pixel-like for my taste, I completely overlooked that and had fun enjoying living through the series through the delightful characters from the show.
Whether or not you are a fan of the series, I still think this game is good enough to hold it's own as far as the fun factor and entertainment is concerned. Give it a go.
Steam User 15
Back when I was young (“My name is Eloi and I'm old.”), pretty much every major movie had at least one video game based on it. A lot of popular TV shows, like Mission Impossible (the original TV show, not Brian De Palma's remake, which had its own video game too, though), Knight Rider, The Dukes of Hazzard, ALF and even Home Improvement, had video games too. Nowadays, though, when AAA games started to become way too expensive to make, while indie developers just don't have enough money to pay for the corresponding licenses, we rarely have such stuff. And I can't help but feel that awful emptiness in my heart. I mean, sure, not all of such games were good enough. A lot of them were, but that's not the point. The point is – it was part of the fun. Being able to pick up a game based on the movie, or TV show you just saw? It just felt good. Being able to visit familiar places, controlling your favorite characters... there certainly was something cool in all that. And nowadays? You can still buy music from movies, you can still get yourself all sorts of toys, T-shirts and other movie-related stuff, but there's close to no video games. So, when I saw this? I was like “Yes! That's exactly what our world needs!”. Even though I can't call myself a big fan of the Stranger Things show (never liked all that “give us money because of your nostalgia” stuff) and the third season was an epic failure that even the old fans of the show ended up hating with the passion. Like I've said, the entire idea of video games based on movies and TV shows is very appealing to me. So... here we go.
Anyway, does this game worth buying for those who didn't see the show? No, I don't think so. Unlike some really cool games from the past that you can even buy in Steam nowadays (like DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers), this one fails to provide anything special for those, who aren't familiar with the original story and characters. So, yeah, you aren't a fan – you can just skip this one without missing much. On the other hand, for those who did enjoy the show (even though I can't see how anyone can ever enjoy that disaster called “season three”), it may totally worth buying. Not for the full price, maybe ($19.99 / £15.49 is a bit too much for something like this), but still.
I mean, come on. The game lets us visit pretty much every Hawkins' landmark from the show in an open world-like manner, it lets us control most of the major characters, every one of which has his / her own unique powers and abilities, it has Zombies Ate My Neighbors-like action, it has pretty neat old school mechanics (the exploration part would probably remind you a little of early The Legend of Zelda titles), it has simple, but useful crafting system, it has puzzles, it has collectibles and it follows the entire season, episode by episode. Isn't it pretty much exactly what you may want after watching the show?
Well, the answer is yes, even though this game comes with its own share of downsides. First of all – it's kind of repetitive. The variety of things you can do here is pretty limited and at the certain point you'll begin to feel like you're doing the same exact things again and again. Which, well, isn't nearly as fan as you'll want it to be. Another thing is that there's only a few optional quests. So, even if you'll want to stay longer, there won't be much to do here, as long as you won't want to get all the collectibles. Half of which you'll probably get just by going through the story. Finally, the game is a bit too long. I mean, it's not like the length itself is a problem, but doing the same exact things for eight hours may be a bit too boring even for those who enjoyed the show. And for those who didn't see it, there's always the fact that storytelling here is pretty messy and reminds me a lot of those 16-Bit titles from the past. Which often tried to follow the source materials and even re-create some scenes in the cutcenes, but for many reasons were unable to properly cover the entire thing. I mean, sure, that's kind of the point here, since we're talking about pseudo-retro game here (which also fits the show pretty fine, even though the story takes place during the Atari 2600 times, a bit too long before the 16-Bit era), but you know what I mean. It just doesn't make things easier for those who didn't see the source material.
So... yeah. Stranger Things: Season 3 – The Game is far from being perfect. But honestly? Being a bit too boring and repetitive is the biggest crime it commits. Aside from that, it's totally fine (yet overpriced) old school experience for the fans of Netflix' number one show. It may not be something you pick up for some unique, or extremely satisfying gameplay mechanics, but it does the job of the TV show-based game just fine. Let's just admit it, we've seen way, way worse examples back in the days. So, in the end it's up to you and what you want. You need something groundbreaking? Something you didn't see before? Something that delivers the unique experience and the story full of surprises? Keep looking. You won't find anything like that here. But if you just want some relaxing experience with your favorite characters? This game will totally do. As a person, who misses the entire “movie-based” stuff a lot, I just can't help but give this game a thumb up. Because my only desire after playing this game is to get more of such titles, based on all sorts of franchises. The titles that feel like a real deal, not like those awful f2p disasters for mobiles (still trying to unsee the game based on that awful RoboCop reboot, the one that wants you to pay way more than a dollar for the most basic things). This one is totally playable, it has pretty much all the characters you may ever want, it has the familiar places and it's quite long. Which is more than enough in my opinion.
Steam User 22
Fun co-op with split-screen play, like Toejam & Earl. Follows season 3's plot very closely, so you should watch the show first.