sholio | (no subject)

The Stranger Things phone game is too addictive for my own good. Send help.

... Well, it's semi-addictive. I tend to play in bursts of 30 minutes or so because the gameplay is slightly repetitive and I get tired of it quickly, but no more so than, say, the Lego games - I just get bored with punching things to collect stuff. I played for a couple hours today because after a day or two of beating my head against one of the puzzles, I managed to figure out the solution without having to look up any cheats, and this got me into a whole new dungeon and I didn't want to stop.

It's an adorable game, though. It's got retro 80s-style graphics and puzzles that are just hard enough to be challenging without being flat-out impossible. I've had to look up a cheat to get through one level so far, and I also wish I'd figured out in the beginning that it's very useful to do a bunch of the side quests before you try to fight through too many of the dungeons because you level up on health and carry slots, so it makes the dungeons slightly easier and less frustrating when you aren't dying all the time.

I don't play very many games and I'm having a blast with this one, so take that for whatever it's worth.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

sounds like fun! if it's free, i might try it :D

It is free, and it's not the kind of game that tries to get you to pay for add-ons, either! Though I don't know if it's available in all countries; you would have to check about that.

That sounds great! Apple's already on my shit list though; if this isn't in the app store i might be quite reasonably miffed.

I got it from Google Play, since I have Android, so I can't say whether it is or not! But miffed-ness would be quite reasonable under the circumstances. :D

I got it off this rec and I've been having so much fun! I haven't played this style of game since it was actually, you know, modern, and I love how familiar and nostalgic it is while also not having to strain my eyes on a tiny screen (I'm playing it on my iPad).

edit: it would be really nice if the map was a little labeled though because I can't seem to find Joyce's house again to give her a thing she asked for, and I'm pretty sure I also have something to give to a store owner but it does not appear to be any of the store owners I encountered on my last town walk. /o\

Edited 2017-10-20 20:25 (UTC)

Labels on the map: UGH I KNOW! That's the one big improvement that I think could help a lot with gameplay. It would be okay if the labels didn't show up until you actually visited a location (that is, making you search for places the first time is fine), but it would certainly be nice to be able to locate things again without having to search the whole town! I've done SO much running all over town on the side quests, trying to locate people and places.

I can tell you where Joyce's house is, if you want some help finding her! Another cool thing about Joyce is that, if you're low on hearts when you visit her, she'll heal you up to full health. (She's like "Poor thing! Let me get some bandaids!" XD Joyce is so sweet.) I've been back to her place a few different times.

But yeah, the game is so much fun, and so nostalgic. :D I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Is the game particularly spoilery for the show, and/or is show knowledge required/helpful?

.... nngghhh, that's a tough one. It definitely presumes that you've seen the show, and it's absolutely full of in-jokes about things from the show (many of which make little sense if you haven't seen it) and random mild spoilers. Whether you'd actually get spoiled badly enough to impact your enjoyment of the show, though, I'm not sure about. In a way it'd be sort of like trying to pick up the plot of your average sci-fi show from reading fanfic. You'd definitely get spoiled for some things, but it would be hard to sort out the actual spoilers from the non-canonical stuff. If that makes any sense?

ETA: However, to answer the second part of the question (reading comprehension fail, me) you don't actually need knowledge of the show to play the game. It's basically an object-seeking quest game, and it tells you what you're looking for on each level and gives you clues to find it. All the puzzles are based on figuring out how to, say, unlock a door based on the objects that are in the room, as opposed to relying on quiz-type show knowledge, and all the player characters' special attacks (while based in various ways on their canonical skill sets) are explained in the game.

Edited 2017-10-21 04:20 (UTC)

All good to know! I think I'll avoid it for now.

Yeah, I think that's probably the best decision. You can play without having watched the show, I think, but it'll be way more fun if you have.

Oooooo I need to look into this game. Thanks for the info

Edited 2017-10-21 17:09 (UTC)

Sure, anytime! I'm having fun. :D

It really is addictive. I just lost several hours of my weekend! I actually managed to play through the major story line just looking at cheats once, though I did look up where to find one of the tapes that wasn't in a dungeon. But I'm now still missing two heart pieces and a gnome, and I can't find the stupid things, even after consulting a walkthrough!

ETA: I finally managed after not being totally sleep deprived to follow the walkthrough to find the last heart and gnome, and then was still stuck at 97% before I figured out that I hadn't collected all upgrades. But now I have succeeded and completed all tasks. With only a little cheating.

Edited 2017-10-22 10:56 (UTC)

Yay! \o/ I'm now at a point where I've done the main storyline (unless there's a part of it I haven't unlocked yet) and am running around collecting things I missed and finishing up the side quests. I missed a ton of stuff in the first couple of dungeons because I didn't know what I was doing yet, so I wasn't picking up everything I could've gotten.

Well you need to go back anyway because for some you need later characters so that's not too bad, except you also gain lives doing side quests ride away, so that helps you die less, but some of the upgrades I missed would have been possible slightly earlier so that would have made last the fights easier.