Netflix is finally cashing in on all those Stranger Things 8-bit videos on YouTube. The online network has released an infinite runner video game starring Mike Wheeler and other Netflix heroes.




The free online game, which you can play here, is basically the simplest, cheapest version of Super Mario Run you can get (you either jump, double-jump or don’t jump). It features four levels based on Netflix’s most popular shows. Scratch that, I mean three of Netflix’s most popular shows...and Marco Polo. Yeah, for some reason there’s a Marco Polo level, even though that show was canceled after season 2. Makes me wonder if the game was made last year, even though Netflix only recently started promoting it.


Players can race as Narcos’ Pablo Escobar to evade capture in Columbia, or help Piper from Orange Is The New Black catch chickens while avoiding cafeteria trays. Of course, the coolest level by far is the one based on Stranger Things. Not only does it include a cool 8-bit rendition of the Grammy-nominated soundtrack, but Mike receives some mid-game help from none other than Eleven, the badass telekinetic. Mike has to escape security from Hawkins National Laboratory, as well as avoid the clutches of the Demogorgon, who spits out dark balls of darkness for...reasons?



The games are kind of simple and stupid, but if you’ve got like five minutes to spare, it’s harmless fun. They’re basically the 2017 equivalent of a banner ad game. Just replace the Travelocity Garden Gnome with a powerful demonic monster from a parallel dimension.

[Engadget]