Crossing Souls review – fun Stranger Things-style nostalgia for the 80s

Fourattic/Devolver Digital; PlayStation 4, PC, PlayStation Vita
There is nothing original about this Kickstarter-funded game with a plucky Goonies-style gang of 2D characters - but that is the point

When Crossing Souls' protagonist wakes up in his pixelated bedroom, it's not exactly difficult to divine which decade we're in. The walls are adorned with posters of Ghostbusters and the now-defunct space shuttle. A clunky gaming console sits by a box-shaped TV. An artificial, fizzy green drink has spilled on the wooden floor. This is most definitely the 1980s. Crossing Souls' chief ambition is to evoke nostalgia, and that goal it is evident in everything it does.

In the summer of 1986, the blue-haired main character, Chris, leads a band of four school friends around their California hometown. They are a Spielberg clichi(C): the geeky inventor-type, the annoying but lovable younger brother, the chubby one with a big heart, and the red-haired kickass girl. The chums come across a mysterious ancient artefact that will turn their sheltered suburban lives upside down. Soon they're battling the forces of evil, crossing dimensions and even travelling through time.