The latest Netflix board game based on the hit series Stranger Things was announced during the Dice Tower’s Summer Spectacular announcement stream. “Stranger Things: Upside Down” takes you on a ride through Hawkins and its horrors.
Stranger Things Game Based on a Legacy Experience
The game will be developed by none other than Rob Daviau – the esteemed board game designer known for the creation and popularization of the legacy board game sub-genre – where your character actually remembers what happened in the previous games you played. He is also known for the “Pandemic Legacy” and “Cthulhu: Death May Die.”
Those of our readers who are unfamiliar with the term “legacy game”, or can’t quite grasp the concept of it, will undoubtedly find this video explanation quite handy. This news is bound to excite our readers, so let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?
Daviau is still keeping things hush-hush when it comes to game mechanics and setting. However, him being quite familiar with the legacy board game genre (having invented it), we can make an educated guess that “Stranger Things: Upside Down” might play in a similar fashion.
After all, it will make a ton of sense – it will bring a lot of Dungeons and Dragons flavor to it. Which will not be surprising, considering the comment he made during the stream:
I was 12 in 1982 and I was a big D&D person so from the very first episode, basically the first scene, it was a weird flashback to how my life felt.
Game designer Rob Daviau
Imagine your character “evolving” after each session! You could think of it as… gaining a level each time you play. See what I did there?
What Can We Expect From the Game?
Firstly, “Stranger Things: Upside Down” will be a co-op game, where you get to save Hawkins from The Upside Down (or at least die trying). Secondly, Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers have already played the game, and apparently, they all had a very good time, judging by Daviau’s reaction, describing it as “a thrill”.
And lastly, back on the Dungeons and Dragons comment – call it a hunch, but I don’t think that he mentioned it just as a stroll down memory lane. Given that D&D is a no small part the show, perhaps here will be some references to the game, to give it some extra flavor, which will appeal to the D&D community, and consequently – bring more players to the table. We’ll just have to wait and see. Not for too long, though, as the Daviau did say that the game is “99% done” and there are “only a few things” to change around.
Overall, Stranger “Things: Upside Down”is definitely something to keep an eye out for. More news about the game and its features are bound to come in the following weeks and months, especially as the world is still buzzing about the latest season of Stranger Things. The game is set to release sometime in 2023 by CMON. Previously, Asmodee announced it’s releasing three games based on Netflix shows, with one of them pivoted on the Stranger Things’ plot.