Stranger Things VR is a VR psychological horror/action game based on Stranger Things, developed by LA-based studio Tender Claws. In the game, the player views the world from Vecna's perspective, as he becomes "an explorer of unknown realities".^[2]

Description

Plot

Chapter One: A Nightmare

The player takes on Henry Creel/Vecna's perspective as he re-experiences a memory from Hawkins Lab. In the memory, Dr. Brenner tests a younger Henry's ability to imagine and destroy within the Void. Brenner then instructs Henry to use his remote viewing ability to track down a Russian spy in Hawkins.

However, the voice of "Shadow Brenner" (the Mind Flayer) then interrupts the memory, with Henry next experiencing a vision of Castle Byers and bitterly remembering being defeated by Eleven in 1979. Upon awakening within the Upside Down version of the Creel House, Henry/Vecna converses with Shadow Brenner and vows to exact his revenge against Eleven.

Chapter Two: The Mind Lair

When Henry/Vecna re-enters his mindscape, he is appalled when he sees the realm fractured and on the brink of destruction. Vecna blames Shadow Brenner for the state of the mindscape, but Shadow Brenner denies responsibility, instead attributing the damage to Henry's own lack of focus.

Vecna fends off attacks from versions of Demodogs and Demobats that inhabit the mindscape. As per Shadow Brenner's encouragement, Vecna "reclaims" control of the surviving Demodogs by systematically penetrating their minds.

At the Creel House's door, Henry finds one of his "trophies": the destroyed psychic avatar of his deceased mother Virginia. Apparently entering her mind, or a vestige of her mind, Henry rewatches the moment of her murder. Later, atop the Creel House's staircase, Henry finds the avatar of his sister Alice. Entering his sister's mind, Henry remembers scaring Alice in the middle of the night, tipping out black widow spiders onto her bed.

Vecna destroys a Demogorgon-esque lifeform and starts rebuilding the mindscape. The Shadow Monster appears, and Vecna asserts that he remains the ultimate power over the hive mind. A vision of Castle Byers appears, with Eleven consoling a weakened Will Byers as shown in "The Bathtub"; Vecna identifies Will as his next target and the "key".

Chapter Three: The Possession of Will Byers

The player now shifts to Will's perspective as he gradually becomes possessed by Vecna. Waking in his bedroom at nighttime, Will experiences momentary visions of the Upside Down but Jonathan checks to see on him. However, moments later, Will sees claws attacking him in his bed. Will then sees the Shadow Monster looming over him in a red void and hears Vecna’s voice.

After this, Will is talking with Mike Wheeler in Castle Byers, only for Mike to vanish as Will once again sees himself in the Upside Down. Will experiences further visions of the Palace Arcade, the Upside Down and the Demogorgon. He attempts to evade the visions by using a ViewMaster but is unsuccessful; Vecna eventually appears before him, attacking him through the bathroom mirror. Vecna mocks Will's feelings of impotence concerning Mike and Eleven before breaking Will's ViewMaster with his right fist.

Chapter Four: The Spy

In November of 1984, the player shifts to Vecna's perspective as he spies on Mike, Will, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson at the Wheeler House. The Shadow Monster warns that possessing the children may not be easy, but Vecna proceeds to enter the minds of each boy. He taunts them over their fears and insecurities; Mike on his fears of losing Eleven again because he wasn't strong enough, Will on being outgrown and isolated from his friends, Lucas on wanting to be someone more than what people judge him as, and Dustin on losing his friendships and being targeted by bullies. However, Vecna is unable to break either of the boys, due to their mentality being strong, but is able to slowly weaken Will due to suffering trauma the most out of his friends.

When Will gets a nosebleed, Vecna re-enters his mind and taunts him over his friends growing up without him, but Will is able to exit out of his mental plane and reawaken as Mike tends to his nosebleed. The Shadow Monster scolds Vecna for losing many times to children and choosing to possess Will due to finding him similar to himself. The Shadow Monster then forces Vecna to relieve his memory of being defeated and banished by Eleven in 1979, telling it's time to revisit his past.

Chapter Five: Transcending the Human Form

Henry again re-experiences being defeated by Eleven in 1979, in which he is sent through a gate between dimensions. Awakening in the depths of Dimension X, Henry explores his new home and fends off Demodog attacks. He soon stumbles upon a sentient cloud of black particles; the entity first adopts the voice and form of Alice, Virginia and Victor before settling on the likeness of Dr. Brenner (referred to in the in-game subtitles as "Shadow Brenner")

Shadow Brenner subjects Henry to visions and makes him re-experience his memories; however, Henry rebels and learns he can escape the memories by using psychic rifts. Henry travels through the minds of creatures connected through the hive mind as Shadow Brenner tries to distract him with further visions. Henry threatens Shadow Brenner and systematically destroys Demogorgon-esque lifeforms located at the core of each mind.

After some time, Henry appears to win control of the hive mind; Shadow Brenner disappears and the Shadow Monster takes their place. Henry vows to use the Shadow Monster's power and hive mind to escape Dimension X and enact his revenge.

Chapter Six: The Possession of Billy Hargrove

On June to July of 1985, the player shifts to Billy Hargrove's perspective as he drives his car. A silhouette of the Mind Flayer flashes in the sky and a swarm of Demobats attack and crash into Billy's car, causing Billy to black out. After being possessed by Vecna and the Mind Flayer, Billy arrives at a phone booth where he tries to call 911, only to find himself in the Void where he sees a red silhouette of Vecna as the Mind Flayer and his car floating into the air before finding himself outside of Brimborn Steel Works.

Billy then finds himself back in a dark landscape where he sees his car keys floating in the air. After taking them, Billy drives his car, listening to his radio advertise a commercial for Starcourt Mall and a psychic offering her services to find love before seeing a silhouette of the Mind Flayer in the sky again. Back in the void, Vecna takes the form of the Mind Flayer, ordering Billy to gather the "weak" and "feed" him the flesh of Hawkins. Billy goes back to driving his car as his radio starts talking about father and son relationships before briefly seeing a duplicate of himself holding a baseball bat. Returning to the Void, Billy sees a red door banging and getting closer as the radio hosts taunt him over not convincing his mother to stay with him and how he will never rid himself of his father's influence. When the red door disappears, Billy sees the silhouette of the Mind Flayer once again before approaching a bathtub where a radio host tells him to ignite the monster he really is. When he gets closer to the bathtub, he sees Heather Holloway climb out before she is caught and devoured by a flesh monster.

As Billy drives his car again, he runs over piles of blood before returning to the Void where he feeds a flesh monster a few unconscious bodies as the voice of Dracula and a demon from a Halloween event taunt him over having no mother. When he goes back to driving to his car, Billy's radio plays a channel that advertises relationship advice before he sees neon lights shaped like hearts and promote girls as the host frantically pleads to be loved. While Billy goes to feed some unconscious individuals to more flesh monsters, the radio hosts taunt him over how he wants to be loved and doesn't get into a relationship with any girl he meets.

When he goes back to driving his car, Billy faintly hears El's voice on his radio before he feeds flesh monsters more human bodies. As he drives his car, Billy hears El's voice again before seeing a giant flesh monster appear before him. El's voice becomes more clear to hear and Billy suddenly runs over El with his car, blacking out. A giant mouth then appears above El and Vecna speaks through Billy as he discovers her to be located at the Hopper cabin before El fearfully pushes herself out of the Void. This causes Billy to be back in his car where he drives up to the Spider Monster who consumes him and his car whole.

Chapter Seven: The Trap is Sprung

On July 4, 1985, the player shifts to the Spider Monster's perspective. When the creature arrives at Hopper's cabin, it starts shooting its tentacles into various parts of the house, through the walls, windows, and roof. After shooting its tentacles various times around the cabin, the perspective shifts to Mike pulling a piece of the Spider Monster's tentacle off El's leg, injuring her. Vecna's voice can be heard taunting El on how he has severed her of her powers and how he will kill her friends, showing illusions of Billy kneeling over the corpse of his stepsister, Max Mayfield, Mike getting impaled, and Will, Lucas, and Dustin mindlessly walking towards the Spider Monster before the creature's head is telekinetically ripped in half by El.

Chapter Eight: Eleven

In March of 1986, the player shifts to El's perspective as she sits inside the Nina Project. She hears the voice of Dr. Brenner who tells her to focus on the monitors inside the tank and tells her due to her brain signals being scrambled, he believes she can get her powers back if she recovers from her amnesia by regaining her memories during her time as a test subject in the year of 1979. El then wakes up in the old Hawkins Lab's Rainbow Room where she is greeted by One, posing as an orderly. El speaks to One, mixing her voice and that of her younger self where One informs her she is missing a training session and assures she'll do great. The lights in the Rainbow Room flash before El walks over to a math disk game. One appears and gives her advice, causing El to back away from the game where the lights flash again and One to disappear. A door opens and screaming can be heard outside the Rainbow Room. When El exits the Rainbow Room, Brenner's voice can be heard throughout the halls of the lab, telling El that they must proceed one memory at a time or they will become lost in their fight against the Upside Down. El approaches a door where she sees Brenner torturing One before he closes it as his voice tells her to focus and remember the memories she lost.

When El opens another door, she returns to the Rainbow Room where she has the same encounter with One who informs her of the same training session. She finds her diorama of Hopper’s cabin on one of the tables. She reaches for it and touching it triggers a flashback to the moment she was bitten and the appendage being pulled off her leg. Immediately, she is back in the lab, reliving her time with him there. She repeats the process, this time overhearing a conversation between Henry and Brenner about her. She exits the room and repeats the process but this time the hallway is dark. She briefly sees the corpses of the children dancing around her before disappearing as she continues down the darkened hallway. She enters the room realizing what he has done. She finally stands up to Henry, lifting him and sending him crashing into the one way mirror.

Chapter Nine: The Resurrection of Mad Max

“No…you’re not going”. Eleven is kneeling over Max’s body being cradled in Lucas’ arms. She reaches into her mind and finds herself back in the skatepark, the memory corrupted by vines and demobats. She spots Max skateboarding away and calls out to her. She repeals the vines and the creatures with her powers, cleansing the memory. She rushes over to Max, witnessing a memory of Billy patching up her wound after one of her falls. Max recognizes El and Henry begins to speak through Billy telling her she is too late and reaches for her. A gate opens up and Max falls in, pulling Henry in with her, El follows.

She finds herself at the Byers house, witnessing the moment Max stood up to Billy after his fight with Steve. She follows her out of the house and then finds herself in the hallway at Hawkins High. More vines and creatures attack. Henry continues to taunt El as she continues trying to cleanse the corrupted dreamscape, telling her she will be seen as nothing more than a monster like him. She heads down the hall and finds herself back at the Snow Ball, defeating even more creatures before entering another gate.

She finds herself in another memory, watching Max and Lucas on a date at the drive-in. The memory is consumed by more vines and democreatures. Henry is taunting her the entire time, telling her that what she is doing makes her no different than he is, that they are alike and that they will always be outsiders. She holds them off with her powers before another gate opens. Max takes a truck and tells El to keep going before driving into the gate. Max disappears and El finds herself at the trailer park, only the memory itself has been corrupted to the point of collapse. El quickly finds Max and she witnesses a memory of her with her mom, telling her how happy she is that she found friends. They both enter the trailer and she finds herself back in void space.

She finds Max, who tells her not to listen to him, that she is her best friend. El tells her that she pushed her off her skateboard with her powers when she was talking to Mike. Max tells her that it only makes her human to feel jealousy and that it doesn’t make her a monster. They shift to the Starcourt Mall and Scoops Ahoy, reminiscing about the fun they had, until Henry finds them. They find themselves in the moment when Billy was killed by the Mind Flayer. Max is consumed by the memory and begins to relive it. El tries to get Max to snap out of it but gets attacked by more creatures. The Spider Monster appears and El releases a shockwave that causes the monster and the mall around them to disappear.

Lighting strikes and the Shadow Monster is looming over them, with Max’s body held up with vines in offering. Apparitions of bodies and demogorgons rush towards the tower of vines holding max and are consumed, bringing Max closer to the ground. El shouts that he can’t have her and continues to push back the unending hoards of bodies and demo creatures that are running towards them. She finally releases another powerful shockwave and Max is released from her hold. With a bright flash, they end up back on the bridge in the skatepark.

Max decides to take it from there. She thanks El and tells her that no matter what happens she must promise she’ll remember her. Before El could respond, Max pushes her out of the dreamscape. She ends up back in the void where she started. She hears Max's heartbeat restart and sees her wake up with a gasp in Lucas’ arms before it cuts to black.

Mixed Reality 1

Cast

• Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna/Henry Creel
• Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner
• Ali Hillis as Eleven
• Brenna Larsen as Will Byers
• Sandra Saad as Max Mayfield
• Zeno Robinson as Lucas Sinclair
• Giselle Fernandez as Mike Wheeler
• Jacob Craner as Dustin Henderson
• Ryan Colt Levy as Billy Hargrove
• Abby Trott as Nancy Wheeler
• Dominic Catrambone as Jonathan Byers/Oscar/Scientist #3/Kyle
• Cari Kabinoff as Susan Hargrove
• Charlie Hewson as Victor Creel
• Alexa Kahn as Virginia Creel
• Cassandra Lee Morris as Alice Creel

Release

The game released on Meta Quest VR on February 22, 2024, having been delayed from its original scheduled release date on November 30, 2023.^[3][4][5][6]

Marketing

Trailers

Stranger Things VR - Official Announcement - Netflix

Stranger Things VR - Gameplay Trailer - Netflix

Stranger Things VR - Gameplay Preview

Stranger Things VR - Official Launch Trailer - Meta Quest Platforms

Gallery

References