Fashion
Netflix’s Surprising Selection of Free Video Games
A Netflix subscription gives you access to hit games like Into the Breach and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, along with TV tie-ins like Squid Game: Unleashed.
Three years ago, Netflix introduced a perk in an attempt to stand out from the cord-cutting fray: video games. Subscribers can pick from a variety of smartphone games and play them for no additional charge, each free of advertisements, microtransactions and other typical nuisances.
The selection of games has since grown in quantity (70 games and counting) and popularity (Grand Theft Auto games have been downloaded more than 36 million times). Some of the titles are exclusive, including Monument Valley 3, a sequel to the isometric puzzle games that was released on Tuesday; some are Netflix themed; and some are critical darlings. But which ones are worth pausing your “Love Is Blind” marathon to play?
As Seen On Netflix
Too Hot to Handle 3
Many of Netflix’s cheesiest shows have been adapted into smartphone games in which players become the protagonists of popular shows like “Emily in Paris,” “Outer Banks” and “Selling Sunset.” Generally, we recommend just watching these shows instead, as the writing in their “interactive fiction” adaptations is underwhelming.
But if you enjoy the tawdry side of reality dating TV, it’s worth putting yourself into a contestant’s shoes in Netflix’s three Too Hot to Handle games. Their TV-14 content wins out thanks to the writing’s self-awareness.
Each bachelor and bachelorette lays on a mix of clichés and surprising rejoinders while goading you into joining lusty competitions, with a dollop of supermarket-aisle romance-novel prattle stirred in for good measure. Pick a match (or two or three), make and break alliances, and enjoy a gentle amount of interactivity — just enough to help you invest in the drama, and nothing more.
