Stranger Things was one of the most surprising hits of 2016, a strange Netflix exclusive series that seemed tailor made to become a cult classic but instead found a much broader audience. The combination of nerd culture reverence and brooding science fiction in Stranger Things certainly endeared it to fans of video games, too, and many have wondered when a serious run at a Stranger Things title might be taken by an enterprising developer.
Unfortunately, that still hasn’t happened, although an 8-bit Stranger Things trailer circulated a year ago confirmed there would be a lot of interest in such a game if it were real. Instead of an official game, fans of the series have so far had to settle on its impressively creative fan base crafting loving homages to Stranger Things. Penney Pixels, a YouTube content creation channel, spoofed Stranger Things a LucasArts-style adventure game about nine months ago, and the impressively made video is finally getting the recognition it deserves - check it out here.
Interestingly, the point-and-click trailer showcases a game that has been lovingly rendered in a way that captures the frustration that often came with those titles in the late 80s and early 90s. While LucasArts was the premier developer for these kinds of games - Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, for instance, are so beloved that they are frequently remade and re-released - the genre itself was full of games that had finnicky controls and struggled to recognize when important items were being interacted with.
Truthfully, though, Stranger Things fans would likely even take a game with those flaws rather than none at all at this point. With Stranger Things season 2 coming to Netflix soon and the series’ popularity just as strong as ever, it should only be a matter of time before a developer figures out the best way to approach the IP from a video game perspective. Until then, however, fans will have to settle for quality interpretations of the show as the kind of game that made Stranger Things possible in the first place.
Source: YouTube (via BoingBoing)
