Now that Stranger Things season 4 has officially wrapped up, some of us are looking for ways to experience a fresh horror teen adventure until season 5 is here. So here are a handful of games that could hold you over until then and even turn you on to a new game to fall in love with.
Life is Strange
Similar in name and protagonist, Life is Strange (the first one) has a lot of narrative weight that can make it seem more like a movie than a game. If you want more angsty teens with superpowers then this game will give you everything you need. The main character, Max, like Eleven, was born with special powers that play a pivotal role in the story, and affect her relationships with her friends and family. The first season has also recently been remastered with new visuals and gameplay to match modern standards better.
The Quarry
From the makers of Until Dawn and Man of Medan, The Quarry is the most similar to Stranger Things as a group of teens are attempting to escape from, and destroy, supernatural monsters. The game is best played with friends in a group setting, being able to choose which character you’d like to play and pass the controller back and forth. The cast is also star-studded, with characters played by Brenda Song, Justice Smith, and Halston Sage. This game checks all of the Stranger Things boxes; witty teens, supernatural monsters, mysteries, and even romance.
The Last of Us: Left Behind
The story of this zombie-infested game does a great job of capturing the feel of being trapped in the upside-down with deadly monsters. You can also play this standalone DLC without having played or owned the original Last of Us games. The main characters, Ellie and Riley, could fit easily into the Stranger Things cast, and their story will leave you in tears, or gripping your controller in fear. Jumping into the remastered Last of Us series will also help you forget that it will be at least a year until season 5 of Stranger Things releases.
Dead by Daylight
To those familiar with this game it should come as no surprise that it ended up on this list. Not only is this game in the spirit of the show, a group of young people escaping from a deadly monster, the developers have added characters from the show as official survivors and killers. Play as Demogorgon, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers and Steve Harrington. Unfortunately not voiced by their TV show counterparts, these characters will still make you feel like the most interesting survivor in the match for having watched all four seasons. While these characters have been removed from the Steam store, rumor is they’ll be back sometime this year.
Hopefully, these titles can hold you over until 2023, until then keep an eye out for As Dusk Falls releasing this July, an interactive fiction uncovering dark secrets in a small-town family.
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Matthew has been a lifelong lover of video games since he could first hold a controller, and among his favorites are narrative-heavy, singleplayer games like; Divinity: Original Sin 2, Elden Ring, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Hollow Knight. Matthew also plays tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder and Call of Cthulu. He graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s in Sociology and minored in English.
