The sudden closure of Telltale Games at the end of last year was something that seemed to come out of nowhere, especially considering the amount of content the studio produced and the big franchises it dealt with, including the likes of Game of Thrones, Batman, and The Walking Dead. A lot of stories have come out since the dramatic shutdown, painting a picture of a company ran in a shockingly poor way, but another has emerged that suggests that there were other projects as well that suffered because of the studio’s closure.

We’ve known for a while about the Stranger Things game Telltale had been working on prior to their shuttering, which eventually got cancelled when the studio was shut down, but it seems like that wasn’t the only game based on the Netflix series that suffered that fate because of what happened to Telltale.

From an article written by The Verge, we now know that Telltale was working with Night School Studio, developer of Oxenfree, to create a game that bridged the gap between the second and third seasons of the show. The Verge chose not to show the footage they saw to protect their sources, but it was described as being a first person chapter-based title that featured narrative decisions that would carry over to each successive episode, much like Telltale’s internally developed titles.

It’s not clear how far along the project was in development, as sources claim communication between the two studios became “separated”, and that it seemed to became harder and harder to get a direct line of communication going. It could have perhaps been during the time when Telltale was imploding in the shadows- which, incidentally, also saw Night School Studios miss payments for their work.

“There was still a total lack of clarity on what was happening to our project,” one source said. “Our project was basically just thrown into limbo immediately, and not based on the quality of it, not based on where we were in the production timeline, but just because the company that was funding it was in dire straits. We transitioned really quickly from working on a game that we were all very proud and excited about that was really cool, to just taking buckets and trying to get water out of the boat because we were pretty far in the hole, financially, from this game.”

It seems that whatever this game would have been is most likely lost to time, much like Telltale Games itself. Which is a real shame- but at least we’ve still got a different Stranger Things game to look forward to.

After reportedly losing a financier in a deal, Telltale Games was hit with something of a crisis, which has led to the studio announcing its shuttering, which has in turn led to all of their future projects getting cancelled. One of those projects is Stranger Things, based on the Netflix television show, and even though Netflix has confirmed that it will go ahead with the game with another developer, we will, sadly, never get to see Telltale’s take on the license.

However, thanks to leaks over at Reddit and 4Chan (compiled by PCGamesN), we can now catch glimpses of the game in several GIFs. The small bits of footage, which you can view below, show the player moving about and interacting with the environment, and also showcase the visual changes that were going to be brought about by the Unity engine, as well as a couple of first person horror sequences taking place in the Upside Down, where the player hides from the terrifying Demogorgon.

If anything, it just makes me even sadder that we’ll never get to see this game being brought to life. It could have been something very special, since the tone and setting and the very nature of Stranger Things seems to gel very well with Telltale’s formula. That said, it also gels pretty well with Dontnod, so maybe we can move on to hoping for that combination now.

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The closure of Telltale Games sent shockwaves across the entire industry, coming as it did so abruptly and suddenly for a company that seemed to be on the path to recovery. In the wake of their closure, questions about their portfolio abound. And while we know that The Walking Dead: The Final Season may be cancelled, or that Minecraft: Story Mode will be going through as planned, the fate of some of their other projects remains less clear.

One of said other projects is the Stranger Things game, that, much like the Minecraft: Story Mode interactive series, Telltale was making in conjunction with Netflix. While we do know that Minecraft is proceeding, what about Stranger Things? Speaking to Polygon, a Netflix representative said that the company plans on producing a game based on that property in spite of the Telltale closure.

“We are saddened by news about Telltale Games,” Netflix said in its statement. “They developed many great games in the past and left an indelible mark in the industry. Minecraft: Story Mode is still moving forward as planned. We are in the process of evaluating other options for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium.”

Which is fair—Stranger Things is far too lucrative an IP to not proceed with making a proper game to monetize on it right now. I just wonder who it will go to. Telltale could have handled making a great game in that style; maybe it can go to Supermassive, the makers of Until Dawn, instead?

Following news of Telltale and Netflix working together to bring an adaptation of Minecraft: Story Mode to the popular streaming platform, news has dropped that the partnership has also opened up a popular new IP for Telltale to bring to consoles and PC at some point in the future. Players will enter the Upside Down with Telltale’s Stranger Things at some point.

Techradar was among the first to break the news, with Netflix and Telltale both confirming the existence of the project. The site also had a mysterious source that suggested the title was originally set to launch alongside Season 2 before being pushed back. The licensing deal will likely allow a similar flexibility as their Game of Thrones work with HBO, which saw Telltale original characters meet up with official fan favourites.

Telltale and Netflix have both confirmed that this title is being created first and foremost for traditional gaming platforms such as consoles and PC, instead of the experimental situation mentioned above with Minecraft: Story Mode. Will we see this come out sometime near Season 3? Only time will tell. But Gamingbolt will be there to let you know about all the hottest announcements.