Just a few weeks prior to the launch of the second season of Stranger Things, we received an extremely pleasant surprise in the form of Stranger Things: The Game (Free) from developers BonusXP. The first season of Netflix’s original series became a monstrous hit the previous year, and Stranger Things fever was at an all-time high as the second season approached in the fall of 2017. Stranger Things: The Game featured many familiar characters and locations from the show, and played out like an old-school top-down action RPG. Not quite as old-school as the setting of the show, more like ’90s old-school, but definitely with a big retro feel. It featured quests and story bits that were sort of adjacent to the actual show’s storyline, but once season 2 of the show arrived on October 27th the game was updated with stuff directly related to the new season, and overall Stranger Things: The Game was an incredibly enjoyable bit of fan service as well as a super decent game in its own right.
A couple of months after that second season aired Netflix officially announced that a third season had been ordered, and this past December during The Game Awards a trailer was unveiled announcing that another new game would be hitting right alongside season three. The announcement also mentioned that Stranger Things 3: The Game would be coming to “all platforms" which seemed to imply that mobile was included. I mean, the first game was on mobile, so why not the new one? Well, both the show and the new game were set to launch on July 4th of this year, and as you might know by now that was yesterday. And indeed both the third season of the show and Stranger Things 3: The Game launched as planned… on MOST platforms. But not mobile. Sad face.
Well it’s time to turn that frown upside-down as Stranger Things 3: The Game is still destined for the mobile platform, it’s just launching a bit later than the other versions. As mentioned on both the official Stranger Things: The Game Twitter account and BonusXP’s own Twitter account, the mobile version of the game is still in the works and they’ll be announcing a release date when it gets a bit closer to being finished. They also specifically mention that it’s a premium release, so while it’s maybe not quite as nice of a deal as the totally free, no ads and no IAP first game, at least that makes me feel confident it won’t be a watered down free to play version or something. I would have been more than happy to plop down some money for the first game, so I’m definitely down to do the same with Stranger Things 3: The Game. Once an official release date for the mobile version is announced, we’ll let you know.
