Best Netflix Games

Highlights

• Netflix offers a variety of high-quality games for free to subscribers, including popular titles like Into The Dead 2 and Kentucky Route Zero.
• Netflix plans to expand its gaming catalog in the future with upcoming releases based on iconic IPs and beloved video game classics.
• Games like Desta: The Memories Between and Spiritfarer offer engaging narratives and unique gameplay mechanics that make them worth playing.

The popular streaming platform, Netflix, is dealing in more than just film and television now. They have branched out into games too, with their Netflix Games service. Anyone with a Netflix subscription can download and play Netflix Games for free, and they have a large amount of really high-quality titles.

These include some charming, more independent games, but also some highly popular big names. For anyone with a Netflix subscription and an interest in games, it is worth perusing the selection that Netflix has on offer. For a place to start, these games are some of their best.

Updated February 4, 2024 by Nyah Payne: Netflix is intending to expand its catalog of games into 2024, with many upcoming entries planned. These games include stories from iconic Netflix IPs, such as The Dragon Prince, Rebel Moon, and Squid Games, as well as beloved video game classics like Braid, Monument Valley, and Hades.

As exciting as these upcoming selections are, Netflix already has a wide array of games to enjoy. As they broaden their gaming collection, Netflix users should keep an eye out for their exciting new content, as well as some of these titles from previous years.

11 Into The Dead 2: Unleashed

Google Play: 4.6/5 Stars

• Released: 2022-04-05
• Publishers: Netflix, Inc.
• Genre: Action

The Into The Dead games are well-loved classics when it comes to mobile zombie games. They act as a roguelike endless runner game, with players purchasing upgrades after each run to try and kill more zombies and, ultimately, make it even further in the next run. Also, players can get dogs to help kill zombies.

What more could they want? Well, Netflix took the series and added their own game into the mix, complete with a narrative, campaigns, and various new game modes! For fans of the original Into The Dead games, as well as those new to the experience, Unleashed is a must-play!

10 Lucky Luna

Google Play: 4.6/5 Stars

This game is a short and sweet puzzle platformer. Players control Luna, a small child in a fox mask. The only mechanic is swiping the screen to move, and the only aim is to progress through levels of platforming challenges while collecting as many pearls as the player can, all while following their little fox companion.

The swiping mechanic can get a little fiddly at times, making the puzzles a little challenging to navigate, but it is a pretty game with a very concise narrative. Players could spend a long time trying to beat high scores, especially in the endless mode. This may not appeal to everyone, but the main story can be beaten in a little over an hour, making it well worth a try.

9 Kentucky Route Zero

Metascore: 86

For those who are looking for a more surreal and narrative-driven game, Kentucky Route Zero is the way to go. The story is depicted in a gorgeous minimalistic art style that seems to feed the mystery. It surrounds multiple characters in multiple locations, although predominantly Conway and Shannon and their attempts to navigate a strange road, known as Route Zero.

Navigating the story involves a lot of reading, and players also get to make dialogue choices during the story. It’s a beautiful, surreal, and bizarre experience, that can only really be appreciated through play. If players want a game that includes an office floor filled with nothing but bears that aren’t acknowledged by the characters at all, this is the game of choice.

8 Desta: The Memories Between

Metascore: 73

Desta is a quiet and beautiful puzzle game, masterfully delivered. The narrative follows a young person called Desta as they return to their old home and navigate some complicated emotions and relationships. Desta processes these emotional trials through their dreams. Their dad taught them to work through their feelings by playing catch, so the puzzles take the form of bizarre combinations of catch and dodgeball.

With a large variety of power-ups and unique team members to gain, the puzzles quickly feel unique and engaging, and Desta’s narrative drives the urge to complete them. To top it off, the game has a lovely colorful pastel art style and feels really warm. Some of the sweetest moments in the game are just Desta in their room with a ball. It’s a moving and engaging puzzle game, worth trying out.

7 Cats & Soup

Google Play: 3.6/5 Stars

Cats & Soup is already a popular idle game, and Netflix Games has brought it to a Netflix audience. Cats & Soup is as simple as it sounds. It’s about cats… that make soup. What more could players want in a game? As with most idle games, its mechanics slow down after about the first half hour of play, as the player’s cats just get on with making their soup. But, as idle games go, it’s a particularly cute one.

In the Netflix game, players also won’t need to fork out any real money to get any of the in-game currency, as it can all be gained through other in-game currency or simply waiting long enough. The main joy of the game is players can make their soup groves look quaint, collect a bunch of cute cats, name them, and dress them up. It’s a great game to have on in the background.

6 Ghost Detective

Google Play: 4.4/5 Stars

Ghost Detective is a point-and-click hidden object game with a cute and spooky mystery narrative. Players follow the life and death of the detective Tessa. After she is killed, the ghost of Tessa must work through these puzzles to solve her murder.

The game includes various versions of hidden object puzzles, has an endearing art style, and a narrative that is intriguing and spooky, while also being cute and easy enough to follow. It is a great Netflix game to play, for anyone looking for a casual and cute ghostly experience.

5 Before Your Eyes

Metascore: 77

Before Your Eyes is a cool game with an engaging narrative and very thematic mechanics. In Before Your Eyes, players are introduced as a deceased soul, who has been chosen by the Ferryman for the chance to reach eternal paradise. The catch is that the Ferryman will have to vouch that they’ve lived a good life.

To do this effectively, he needs the player to go back through their memories. Players won’t be able to stay in a memory for long, as the game recognizes a character’s blinking, and the scene will move forward each time a player blinks. Before Your Eyes finds a unique way to remind players that life truly passes by in the blink of an eye. In this case, literally.

4 Reigns: Three Kingdoms

Metascore: 71

This game uses the swipe left and right mechanics of dating simulators, alongside a unique card game combat mechanic, to create a simulation and management game about ruling an ancient dynasty. The storyline is varied and entertaining, and players will find themselves wanting to play time and again.

A playthrough can vary between making choices that the player feels moral or fun or, perhaps more effectively, actively trying to balance their four different statistics that can fluctuate through each decision. It’s a unique and engaging game and is worth playing.

3 Valiant Hearts: Coming Home

Metascore: 73

Valiant Hearts is a popular World War One puzzle game with a strong and emotive narrative. Netflix Games has released a sequel that follows the visual and mechanical style of the original game while telling a new story.

This narrative primarily follows James, an African-American soldier following his brother, Freddie, to war. As with its predecessor, it’s a compelling and emotional narrative. Coming Home covers the racism and bigotry faced by the Harlem Hellfighters, the impact that they had on the war despite this, and the hope that they find during the darkest moments of war.

2 Spiritfarer

Metascore: 84

Ultimately, Spiritfarer is a touching tale about grief. It has grown widely popular, and Netflix Games brings it to a wider audience. Spiritfarer follows the story of Stella and her cat, Daffodil, who have taken on the role of Charon the Ferryman. It is up to them to shepherd souls to their final rest. They own a ship that they can grow and build upon, making it mechanically a management game.

But the story is about far more than Stella and Daffodil. Primarily, Spiritfarer is about the animal-like spirits that the pair are welcoming onto the ship. Each must work through their most challenging emotions to move on for good. Mechanics on mobile can be a little fiddly, but this shouldn’t outweigh its impactful narrative. It’s a touching but mostly uplifting game about grief and saying farewell.

1 Oxenfree

Metascore: 80

Oxenfree is an unsettling mystery game that follows a group of young friends on an abandoned island. It is a very popular game that Netflix has picked up for good reason. Its primary mechanics are just movement and making dialogue choices, but there is a unique importance placed on the use of their radio.

The island appears to be haunted by a being that communicates through radio waves… or sometimes by possessing the player character’s friends. It’s a very chill but undeniably spooky game that, without spoiling too much, benefits from repeat play. It is the perfect time for new players to give it a try, as a highly anticipated sequel was released this year.