Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales

Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales
Developer	Next Games
Publisher	Netflix, Inc.
Genre	RPG Puzzle
Platform	iOS Android
Released	December 10, 2021
Rating	12+ Teen

Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales was a cartoon-inspired story-driven puzzle role-playing game based on the Netflix Original series, Stranger Things.

Originally slated to release sometime in 2020, the game was released on December 10, 2021 on iOS and Android, after some delays. Its servers were taken down before returning as a Netflix Games exclusive on November 6, 2022.

The game was shut down on December 13, 2024.

Description

Dive into supernatural mysteries and immerse yourself in brand new, original storylines starring your favorite characters from the Netflix series while you explore a new Puzzle RPG experience!

Experience this unique Puzzle RPG with a roguelike mode, idle RPG rewards and supernatural mysteries based on the Netflix series, Stranger Things!

Join the Stranger Things Gang in this new official puzzle RPG today!

Modes

Join the Party in this Stranger Things based game by fighting several monsters by using characters from the show, each with their own unique ability. The game includes 25 chapters as of November 2024 with a new chapter being added with every major update. The story mode now features challenging and hard modes for players who want to replay their favorite levels. As of October 2024, only chapters 1-5 are repayable with new ones being added every so often.

The games also features several other modes such as HNL where players can go through the Hawkins National Laboratory and fight more monsters for rewards. As of November 4, 2024, 840+ levels are available to beat. Another mode is Club Boss where players can form a club together to take on various amounts of bosses and as clubs progress, the bosses become stronger to beat, players are limited to three plays until it resets, fighting the boss also results in players gaining rewards on reset. A third mode is portal in which players can go through three sections, fight monsters and eventually come up against a boss monster on the final level with all levels giving rewards. Unlike other modes, if a character is killed off, they cannot be brought back into the fight unless revived through a potion and must be replaced, they can be used again on reset. On March 7, 2023, a mode titled Hellfire Club was released that allows players to go through levels by completing puzzles, using artifacts and fighting monsters until they reach the end with only six chapters available to play titled "Welcome to Hellfire", "The Mountain of Peril", "The Great Evil", "Dangerous Vacation", "The Thief" and "The Lonely Paladin".

As a way to obtain more rewards, players can do investigations in which they start a quest using various amounts of characters, duration of the investigation may vary from twelve hours to a day and may have a requirement such as asking for a character with a certain start level. Even if a character is in an investigation, they can still be used elsewhere in game.

If players wish to buy resources to level up whether its gear, coins, shards and among other things, a shop is available that offers materials for players. Much like the other aspects of the game, it features a reset and once an item is sold out after its limit is reached, it can only be bought again once the game resets the next day. The store also contains four sections, the "General Store", "Portal Store", "Club Store" and "Scrap Store" each of which feature Bob Newby. The "General Store" features basic resources such as coins, experience, radioactive canisters, and gear, the "Portal Store" features several characters, radioactive canisters, and two star shards with the items resetting two weeks for the four characters at the top and a month for the other items, "Club Store" features characters and gear which can only be bought using Club Points which can be obtained in Club Boss, while four characters reset and change after a week, the rest of the contents, much like the ones in the "Portal Store" will only reset after a month. The scrap store features three and two star shards and various characters which can be bought using scrap which can be obtained from scrapping certain characters.

To obtain characters, players can use the "Radio for Characters" by using radios, obtained from completing all daily and weekly achievements or by using diamonds which can be obtained by several ways, players can either call one character or up to ten, "Good Characters", also known as one star characters have a 50% chance of being pulled, "Awesome Characters" which are two star have a 39% chance of being pulled and "Ultra Characters" which are three star, have an 11% chance of being pulled.

As the game progresses, many levels becomes increasingly difficult and for players to beat them with ease, they can level up their characters by using coins, radioactive canisters, and experience. As of October 17, 2023, the game included another levelling up system for players once their characters were maxed out titled "Hawkins Heroes" that allows three star characters to go beyond the maximum level of 240 even after they have hit the limit of six stars once fully promoted, maxed out characters were then able to be able to have new star levels making the later levels of the game easier to play through.

If players are in need of scrap, they can go to the roster section and go into the scrap tab where they can scrap characters from each tier once they hit a certain star level. As of October 21, 2024, the game includes sixty-nine characters that can be viewed in the catalog section where players can see who they have and who they still need to obtain

For more resources, players can gain them by checking in on their Rewards tab that is run by Will Byers. To have maxed out rewards, the resources become full after twelve hours if not collected.

Events and Challenges

The game also features various events ranging from character releases to holiday themed ones. New characters can be obtained through their debut events after gaining the amount of items needed to buy them from the store though they can still be gained from Radio Calls during the event and even after it is over.

Puzzle Tales also features challenges such as "Monthly Challenge" where players can gain ten three star shards from completing four tasks. For more shards, players can further obtain them by getting them from the "Task Pass" with them being able to gain points needed from doing their daily tasks. After playing the game for a week, players can unlock the Ultra Section where they can gain three star shards and more diamonds

Characters

Characters in game have an assigned color, these colors are red, green, blue, orange and purple. Each character is also by their name and by a title.

Red

Green

Blue

Orange

Purple

Chapters

Locations

• Hawkins
• The Upside Down
• Starcourt Mall
• Hawkins National Laboratory
• Fun Fair
• Hawkins High School
• Castle Byers
• Mike's Basement
• Palace Arcade

Development

The game was developed by Next Games, a Finnish mobile game developer and publisher. Similar to location-based games like Pokemon Go, Next Games was going to use Google Maps integrations so players could explore the Upside Down around their own neighborhood and team up with friends.

According to Teemu Huuhtanen, CEO of Next Games, the game focuses on delivering rich and intense themes of Stranger Things, like friendship and supernatural adventure.

Due to the 2020 pandemic, development shifted away from the location-based mechanics to story-driven gameplay. The game was switched to a match three type format, in which you "defeat the Mind Flayer’s minions with your puzzle-solving skills."

The game is now available on the Google Play store and the App Store with updates every so often.

After being unavailable to play, its servers were taken down before returning on November 6, 2022 as a Netflix Games exclusive meaning players must have a Netflix account to play. On December 13, 2024, the severs were then shutdown.

Music

After becoming a Netflix Games exclusive, the Stranger Things intro can be heard in game in the lobby of the game but cannot be heard if playing a level.

Marketing

Trailers

Stranger Things- Puzzle Tales - A New Adventure Awaits

Stranger Things- Puzzle Tales - Official Game Trailer - Netflix

Stranger Things- Puzzle Tales - Vecna’s Arrival Update - Netflix

Promotional Images

Promotional Quotes

• "Puzzle RPG Action! Take on never-before-seen enemies in the world of Stranger Things! Can you defeat the Mind Flayer’s minions with your puzzle-solving skills?"
• "Stranger Things Characters: Collect and upgrade the iconic Stranger Things characters you know and love! Who makes your team of Hawkins All Stars?"
• "Enter the Upside Down! Do your dare venture into the depths of The Upside Down? Only the bravest and strongest will make it, reaping the rewards for their risk."

Trivia

• A non-playable variant of Erica Sinclair wearing a sweater was seen in the since removed Reward Pass screen.
• During chapter 7 of the story, evil versions of the main characters are created by the Mind Flayer. This has yet to be seen in canon content.
• Although some characters were removed, they returned after the season four update.
• A new game mode called 'Hellfire Club' which follows the characters' D&D adventures was added with the Stranger Things 4 update.
• Despite being added as a playable character, Eddie Munson, he appeared with Steve in Chapter 19 "The Lakeside".
• Chrissy Cunningham made her appearance in the game during the October 2023 update.
• An flayed enemy named "Mr. Carver" recurs in Chapter 16. Whether he is intended to have any relation to Jason Carver is unknown.
• As of August 2023; Dustin is tied with Eleven as the character with the most variants in Puzzle Tales, each having four. Hopper has three, while Lucas, Max, Dustin, Mike, Will, Nancy, Steve, Robin, Joyce, and Murray all have two. The rest of the characters each have one.
• During the October 2023 update, a new addition called "Hawkins Heroes" was added meaning all characters were levelled up together with the cap being level 240.
• Names of chapters are a reference to various movies.

External links

• Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales on Google Play
• Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales on App Store
• Official website
• Facebook account
• Twitter account
• Instagram account
• YouTube account
• Discord server
• Feedback website
• Next Games website