Next Games announced it is developing a new mobile game based on the hit original series from Netflix Stranger Things. This RPG game is expected to be a location-based puzzler, and is scheduled for a 2020 release on both Android and iOS.
This upcoming mobile game reimagines the Stranger Things universe in a style similar to that of an 80’s Saturday morning cartoon. The game makes use of Google Maps integration and location-based mechanics. Think Ingress and Pokémon GO. In the Stranger Things game, the Upside Down world has been hidden around the player's environment and players need to work with others to fight back the different emerging evils.
Next Games CEO Teemo Huuhtanen said that the developers are huge fans of the series and are excited to work with Netflix to bring the show to life in a mobile game format. He added that the “core focus will be to deliver on Stranger Things’ rich and intense themes like friendship and supernatural adventure, and translate these into snack-sized entertainment on your mobile device.” With the ability of Netflix to be able to reach a global audience, Huuhtanen revealed that they can “deploy all of our accumulated creative and technological expertise to create a game for the fans of the series all around the world.”
While Niantic is known for its location-based games, this is not Next Games’ first foray into the genre. The studio was responsible for The Walking Dead: Our World.
In the case of Stranger Things, a mobile game tie-in was released back in 2017. Titled Stranger Things: The Game, it currently carries a 4.8 rating on the Google Play Store. A second mobile game titled Stranger Things 3: The Game is scheduled to be launched on July 4, the same day that Stranger Things Season 3 releases on Netflix.
Two other Stranger Things games were initially in development at Telltale Games, but were shelved after the studio let go of staff and eventually closed down.
Stranger Things is preparing for the release of its third season. The story is set during the early 1980s in a fictional town called Hawkins, Indiana. The first season is set in November 1983 and focuses on the search of Will Byers and the discovery of a girl named Eleven. The second season is set a year later in October 1984, and this time the gang needs to deal with the impending threat from the mysterious alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. The upcoming third season is set sometime in mid-1985.
