{"id":46520,"date":"2024-02-23T15:23:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1997654"},"modified":"2024-02-23T16:08:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:08:28","slug":"stranger-things-vr-is-definitely-not-trying-to-make-you-empathise-with-vecna","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/stranger-things-vr-is-definitely-not-trying-to-make-you-empathise-with-vecna\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranger Things VR is \u201cdefinitely not\u201d trying to make you empathise with Vecna"},"content":{"rendered":"

“What was Vecna doing during these earlier seasons of the show?” <\/p>

By Rob Leane\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 23 February 2024 at 14:23 PM<\/p>

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Putting players into the slimy shoes of Vecna, Stranger Things VR<\/a> is out now on Meta Quest<\/a> headsets.<\/p>\n

But how did the indie developers at Tender Claws end up working on one of the biggest fantasy brands on the planet?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pitched for it,\u201d Tender Claws co-founder Danny Cannizzaro tells RadioTimes.com<\/a> over Zoom, the night before the game launches into the world.<\/p>\n

He explains that the pitch took place \u201cafter season 3, before season 4 came out, and before Vecna was a thing in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our pitch for it was that VR is great at representing these kind of abstract memory, dream, mind spaces, and the show already had Eleven psychically projecting into the void and these kind of similar spaces, and doing telekinesis, which we thought would just be really fun gameplay thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea developed into what Cannizzaro describes as \u201ca game that is set in the characters\u2019 memories and dreams, and expands them emotionally rather than trying to just do some side adventure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that ended up lining up really well with what the series creators and writers had in mind for season 4,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, as we started getting the season 4 scripts, and saw that the big bad of the whole series was someone that could manipulate your dreams and nightmares, we were like, \u2018Okay, this lines up really well with what we want the game to do.’\u201d<\/p>\n