Netflix has confirmed when Stranger Things season 4 is set – and, surprisingly, it isn't too long after the third season's final episode.
In a blog post on Tudum , Netflix's own dedicated news site, it was revealed that Stranger Things 4 would take place six months after the Battle of Starcourt Mall. Given that the final episode of season 3 took place in the summer of 1985, Stranger Things' fourth season should be set in the winter of 1985, or just after New Year's Day in 1986.
Interestingly, the time jump between seasons 3 and 4 will be the shortest between entries in the hit Netflix show , too. A whole in-universe year had passed between Stranger Things seasons 1 and 2, while there was a nine-month gap that separated seasons 2 and 3.
Despite Stranger Things season 4 being split into two volumes, it's highly unlikely that there will be a time jump between season 4 volumes 1 and 2. As the Duffer brothers – Stranger Things' creators – revealed in a letter to fans following season 4's release date announcement, the upcoming season has only been split in two due to the amount of work needed to complete it. So don't expect any length of time to have passed between season 4 volumes 1 and 2.
After a long wait, Netflix finally revealed (on Thursday, February 17) when Stranger Things season 4 would arrive. Season 4 volume 1 will launch on Friday, May 27, with volume 2 set to follow six weeks later on Friday, July 1. With season 4 containing nine episodes, however, it's unclear which volume will be comprised of five episodes, and which will contain four.
Analysis: what can we expect from Stranger Things 4's plot?
Spoilers follow for Stranger Things season 3's finale.
There's little in the way of concrete plot information so far, but a brief plot synopsis was released by Netflix after Stranger Things season 4's release date was announced.
"It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins," the summary reads. "Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down."
That doesn't give much away, but there are certain things that we do know about Stranger Things season 4.
For one, it'll take place across four different locations – a first for the supernatural horror Netflix series . These settings have already been revealed in Stranger Things season 4's teaser trailers, with the US and Russia being the two countries that the show's fourth season takes place in. The specific locations are California, Creel House (Hawkins, Indiana), Hawkins Laboratory (Hawkins, Indiana) and an unnamed Russian prison based in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
With Stranger Things 4 set in a variety of locations, it'll be the first time when the show's key characters have been split up, too. As fans will remember, the season 3 finale saw the Byers family leave Hawkins to resettle in California. Judging by the second of the four official season 4 posters, though, Eleven/Jane Hopper will leave her surrogate family to unearth the mysteries at Hawkins Laboratory at some point in season 4.
Meanwhile, Detective Jim Hopper, whose death was teased in season 3's final episode, was shown to be alive and well in the first season 4 teaser. Finally, the rest of the Stranger Things' gang – including Dustin, Lucas, Steve, and Nancy – are set to explore Creel House and the potential Upside Down secrets that it holds.
Based on cast quotes over the past 18 months, too, the show's fourth season sounds like it'll be the most frightening entry yet. There are bound to be plenty of emotional story beats, too, so you better get ready a pillow (to hide behind) and a box of tissues ready for season 4's arrival later this year.
This up-and-coming Android brand just made the 'most complete' gaming phone
2022 has got off to a strong start, with the Samsung Galaxy S22 range already here and likely to be among the best phones of the year, and now the Nubia Red Magic 7 range has been unveiled, and these could well be the best gaming phones we’ve seen so far.
Key to that is their use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset – the best Android chipset available right now, and one that’s not found in any of the top gaming phones that are currently available.
The Red Magic 7 Pro looks particularly impressive though, as this phone also has a 16MP under-display selfie camera.
We’ve not been the biggest fans of these so far, as they don’t tend to perform as well as normal front-facing cameras. But this is the first gaming phone to have one, and it makes a lot of sense here, as it means there’s no interruption in the screen, which could be a distraction while gaming.
The Red Magic 7 Pro also has a 6.8-inch 1080 x 2400 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 960Hz touch sampling rate. It has up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage too, plus a powerful cooling system, and a 5,000mAh battery with 135W charging. That’s enough to juice it up fully in just 15 minutes, and there’s a 165W charger in the box.
The Nubia Red Magic 7 Pro also has a triple-lens rear camera, with a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro camera. There’s an under-display fingerprint scanner too, and shoulder triggers.
The standard Red Magic 7 has a lot of similar specs, but some key differences. Its refresh rate is actually higher at 165Hz, but its touch sampling rate is a lower 720Hz. It also has an 8MP selfie camera in the top bezel – not under the display, and it tops out at 512GB of storage. The other major difference is the battery, which is 4,500mAh, with 120W charging.
Both models are packed full of RGB lighting as you’d expect, with glass backs and metal frames, and both are available in an outrageously lurid Cyber Neon shade, a transparent Deuterium Transparent Edition (which shows off some of the inside), and a relatively restrained Night Knight (also known as black).
The phones have so far only been announced for China, but global versions are set to be unveiled on February 22, and to go on sale on March 10.
We don’t have global pricing yet, but in China the Nubia Red Magic 7 starts at CNY 4,000 (roughly $630 / £465 / AU$875), while the Red Magic 7 Pro starts at CNY 4,700 (around $740 / £545 / AU$1,030).
Analysis: gunning for the Asus ROG Phone 5's crown
Our current top gaming phone pick if the Asus ROG Phone 5 , but the Red Magic 7 Pro has that beat in some ways. It has a faster chipset for one, along with more storage at the top end, faster charging, and a higher touch sampling rate.
However, the ROG Phone 5 has a bigger 6,000mAh battery, which is an important factor in gaming phones. It also has a higher 144Hz refresh rate. Less importantly it also has more megapixels in its cameras (though none of them are under the display).
Most other aspects of the two phones are similar, at least on paper, so based just on specs the Red Magic 7 Pro might have the edge overall, since power is arguably the single most important thing for a gaming phone. It remains to be seen how those specs will come together in practice though.
Horizon Forbidden West loads so fast on PS5 the developers had to slow it down
Horizon Forbidden West’s PS5 loading times were so fast that developer Guerilla Games have revealed that they had to deliberately slow them down and increase the time players spend hanging on loading screens.
Game director Mathijs de Jonge told Engadget that the PS5’s internal SSD allowed for drastically increased loading times over the PS4 ’s hard drive, letting players boot up the game or fast travel across its map within seconds, rather than minutes.
However, the speeds were so fast that playtesters didn’t have enough time to read the gameplay hints displayed on each loading screen, missing out on tips about Aloy’s gear and the environment of the Forbidden West.
“In Horizon Zero Dawn , we called it fast travel, but it could take maybe a minute to actually load,” de Jonge said.
“With the PS5, it’s maybe four or five seconds, it loads so quickly that players can’t even read the hints.
“We had to add a very simple feature where it hangs on the loading screen for enough time so you can actually read at least one hint while it loads.”
It’s a simple solution and one that’s been implemented in many games before. When you fast travel to another location on the map, the game will use the PS5’s speedy SSD to load the new area in a matter of seconds, but will remain hanging on the loading screen until you press X to continue.
The loading time isn’t reduced, and you can press X right away if you’d rather not read the hints. But those players who are after a few tips can read to their heart’s content.
Analysis: consequences of design
Since the next generation of consoles were released, the PS5 and Xbox Series X /S have been praised across the board for their SSD storage. The boot and load times of both consoles are vastly quicker than their predecessors, letting you hop into games near instantly, and swiftly swap between titles using the Xbox’s Quick Resume and the PS5’s Switcher features. The idea of waiting several minutes for a game to load might soon be a thing of the past, as developers and players grow accustomed to the read and write speeds of SSDs.
But, aside from delivering a smoother experience to players, faster load times have a knock-on effect to game design. As the developers of Horizon Forbidden West found, instant loading doesn’t only get players into the game faster, but influences how they interact with that game; its moments of rest, its downtime, and, in this case, the opportunity to remind players of instructions.
The faster load speeds afforded by SSDs have already been taken advantage of by Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart . That game sold itself on leveraging the console’s new hardware to load whole new dimensions in an instant, adding to the game’s fluidity.
While extending loading screens for the sake of gameplay hints might not be as exciting, both instances demonstrate how next-gen hardware can open the door to new design possibilities, both intentional and unexpected.