Many Netflix users will skip over the gaming feature offered by the streaming site – but you’d be wise to keep an eye out for hidden gems. From word puzzle games to immersive simulators, the mobile gaming offerings on the Netflix app boast some fun tie-ins to beloved TV shows, from Stranger Things to Squid Game.

Each game can be downloaded for free via the Netflix app for subscribers. Though some are more general games – like the popular party game Heads Up, in which players are given a person or character and have to guess who it is based on charades from friends – others are either great ways to waste time or to get more lore from your favourite shows.

Puzzled x Stranger Things

If you’re a Stranger Things fan who can’t believe the series is already over – or simply a Words With Friends addict – the Netflix Puzzled collaboration with Stranger Things will take you straight back to Hawkins.

Solve word, logic and visual puzzles in this head-scratching game that transports you to the Upside Down.

It’s not the only Stranger Things offering on the Netflix games site – you can also get into 80s arcade adventure Stranger Things: 1984 and retro game Stranger Things 3: The Game, which allows you to play with friends. 

Squid Game: Unleashed

If you fancy taking on the deadly playground challenges seen in the hit dystopian show Squid Game – without entering the real-life challenge version – Squid Game: Unleashed has you covered.

The multiplayer action game sees the losers eliminated from the game, and you can even team up with friends to survive the twisted competitions, customising your character as you go.

Shadow and Bone: Enter the Fold

A new take on an interactive story based on the Shadow and Bone franchise, Enter the Fold invites players to “shape the fate of the Grishaverse”.

Fans can travel the war-torn Ravka and make choices that impact its future in this fantasy game. 

Netflix Stories: Selling Sunset

Property show Selling Sunset welcomes fans to the Oppenheim Group, selling glitzy LA mansions across the city.

The Netflix Stories edition allows players to take on the role of the newest estate agent at the firm, tasked with selling their way up the property ladder to win a dream listing.

Thronglets

If you missed the Black Mirror episode Plaything, you’d be forgiven for not having an inkling what a thronglet is. But Netflix decided to release a real-life version of the game, playable on mobile.

In the game, players hatch their very own thronglet from an egg and take care of the cute creatures – until something goes very wrong.

Single’s Inferno: Choices

Korean dating show Single’s Inferno also landed its own show. The programme itself follows nine singles searching for love on a desert island, while in the game players compete to do whatever it takes to earn quality time with their crush.

Netflix Stories: Love is Blind

Based on the hit dating show Love is Blind – in which contestants speak to each other without ever seeing their faces before meeting in real life – this Netflix Stories game combines “romance, drama and intrigue”.

Players can make choices throughout the story to map out their own fates in a playable version of the reality show.

Too Hot to Handle

For dating sim fans, Too Hot to Handle has its very own trilogy of Netflix games, similar to the popular Love Island mobile game.

Players can “mix and mingle” with the other singles on the island, but must be careful not to give in to temptation and risk losing the prize pot…

Narcos: Cartel Wars Unlimited

Action game fans will love Narcos: Cartel Wars Unlimited, based on the hit Netflix series about Colombian drug cartels and the operation to capture Pablo Escobar.

In the game, players build their own empire, destroy their enemies and lead their very own cartel. 

Netflix Stories: Emily in Paris

Based on the hit drama Emily in Paris, this Netflix Stories game invites playes to “follow your heart and live out your own story set in the City of Love”.

The interactive story gives you similar choices to the ones Emily faced in the hit show – say ‘oui’ to possibility!