Stranger Things 3: The Game

Review

The summer holidays arrive after much anticipation for the teens of Hawkins. It is a reoccurrence year after year. But this year will be slightly different. Mike and Lucas love movies, and as they usually do, they find a way to get to the movies without spending a cent. But on this year’s holiday, it will be the start of a weird, dangerous adventure in Stranger Things 3: The Game.

Stranger Things 3: The Game is a pixel/adventure game based on the original Netflix series, developed and published by BonusXP on the 5th of July 2019 on Steam. I haven’t seen any episodes of this series as yet and therefore can’t comment on how well the series represents the game.

When you launch your first game, there’ll be a small introduction and the unveiling of an interesting situation involving Russian officials and a strange machine somewhere in Hawkins. From here, you’ll jump straight into it and playing Mike and Lucas who try to get into the theatre to watch the latest movie.  This sequence is of a tutorial where you’ll learn how to swap between characters as well as how to use your combat move and abilities, and a hint of how the puzzles work.



The game has several chapters and each of them will have quests to complete (story or errands).  As you complete missions, you’ll unlock new locations in town (10 in total), and new characters will join your party.  There are 12 characters to play within this game. What I enjoy in Stranger Things 3 is the fact that you can swap between characters at any given time, including your companion, as you always have two characters during your gameplay in the single-mode. If you play co-op, either player can swap into any other characters when they want to. Each of these characters will have an attack and one or two abilities. To give you an example, Lucas has a slingshot; his attack will throw stones at his enemies, and his ability is to throw cherry bombs (need a certain number of energy bars to activate), while Dustin has a poison spray for his attack, and a robot bomb and hacking for his abilities.

The isometric gameplay is pretty fun, and you can either use your mouse/keyboard or gamepad to play. After finishing your tutorial, you end up in the Hawkins suburb. There you’ll receive your first quest. Each selected quest will be highlighted by an exclamation mark on the map to show you where to go. As you move towards a location within the map, you’ll be able to destroy a few things along the way, such as rubbish bins, bushes, pots and other things, depending where you are. As you destroy them, you might find coins or other interesting items which you could use for crafting. Now and then, you’ll discover steel chests with or without digital locks. If you haven’t unlocked Dustin’s character, you won’t be able to open these chests with the digital locks. With the coins you collect, you have the availability to go to a vending machine to purchase medikits, coke bottles (which will give energy to the character so he can use his ability) and others gizmos too. Or, you can use your money at the General store in Hawkins square.  Soon enough, you’ll be fighting rats, Russians with knives and Molotov cocktails, strange red creatures that move all around you, as well as bosses’ fights! I must say that I was surprised to die a few times during my gameplay. The result really depends on which characters you are playing at the time. You might have two characters with melee attacks, or one with melee and the other with a range attack which gives you a different type of gameplay.

You’ll also encounter puzzles in some areas which mostly involve standing on plates to open doors, using switches to turn on and off the electricity and cameras.  Puzzles are straightforward and easy to figure out.

You’ll also be able to see the area map by pressing the letter M on your keyboard or the direction button on your gamepad. This will open a new screen with the map of the area, as well as the active quests, items you collected, your party and crafting tabs. You can craft trinkets for your party to improve their attack defence and others. You’ll also be crafting things that you‘ll need for a quest, but you’ll need to find a crafting station to do so. Oh, there are statues of gnomes hidden all around Hawkins, and by collecting them, you’ll earn a few game achievements in the process.

The game has an interesting story and characters. The dialogue is light-hearted, fun, and the games work fine. It has cute pixel graphics and you can use your keyboard/mouse or gamepad for the controls.


Positives

+ Nice Graphics
+ Interesting story and characters
+ Easy crafting system
+ Enjoyable to play
+ Trading Cards and achievements

Negatives

- Puzzles are too easy, in my opinion

Review Summary

Jump into the eye of a group of friends and discover the strange events within the town of Hawkins, in Stranger Things 3: The Game!

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Zeepond Rating: 7/10

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