Did you know that your Netflix app comes with a game library which currently boasts over 20 mobile games for you to download and play free with your Netflix subscription? Some of these games are Netflix exclusives and others would normally cost you between $3 and $20 through the App Store, Google Play Store, or Steam; so, if you’re tired of playing free mobile games with ads and various play to win mechanics, whether you’re looking for a full fledged RPG, a quick and easy arcade game, or you’re just curious to see what’s out there, here is a list of some of the best games the streaming titan has to offer.
Another reason to keep your Netflix subscription are these British comedy shows
1. Stranger Things: 1984 & Stranger Things 3: The Game
Do you remember the days when every blockbuster movie had a tie-in game? Gamifying even the most basic of plot beats into an entire level? Well the franchise of 80s nostalgia is now also the video game of 80s and 90s nostalgia. Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game let you play through the first and third seasons of the show respectively as SNES-era dungeon crawlers.
It harkens back to old school Legend of Zelda (check out the upcoming Breadth of the Wild 2) and Dragon Quest but all the while the iconic soundtrack of the show plays behind you in charming 16-bit, and if you’re really looking for a challenge, Stranger Things: 1984 even has a “1984 mode” which increases the game to an authentic 80’s level of difficulty. If you need something else to scratch that Stranger Things itch while you wait for season 5, give these games a try.
2. Arcanium: Rise of Akhan
Arcanium is a deck-building roguelite that holds its own among games like Slay the Spire, and Monster Train. In it, you build a team of three heroes out of the game’s list of 13 unique unlockable warriors like a Pyromancer Fox, a Swashbuckling Cat, or a Merciless Rhino Executioner (the executioner is a Rhino, he isn’t an executioner of rhinos. Even in a fantasy realm I imagine that’s still an egregious crime).
You travel through the game’s hexagon board overworld in whatever direction you want, rather than in most roguelites where you progress in a single linear direction, give or take a few forks in the road to spice things up. Complete quests, hunt for treasure, but keep an eye on the threat meter. The more time you spend exploring, that meter will get higher and the higher the meter, the harder the final boss will be.
3. Shatter Remastered
The original Brick Breaker is up there with Snake and Tetris when you think of games that have been on our mobile phones since they had a physical keypad, and Shatter is a refreshing new twist on a game that is constantly getting fresh new twists.
What separates Shatter from the others however is its inclusion of dynamic boss fights, and the added ability to push or pull the air to either move your ball closer to you or push your ball further away in an attempt to steer its trajectory without waiting for it to come back to hit you. You also need to use this vacuum ability to suck up the shattered remains of the bricks you’ve already broken, in order to unlock temporary buffs like a shield against incoming boss attacks and a gatling gun that allows you to break the bricks yourself. Also, killer soundtrack. Use headphones.
4. This is a True Story
This game is for people who are maybe looking for something that is interactive and narrative driven while not feeling too much like your typical video game. This is a True Story is an educational RPG that focuses on water scarcity in Africa by having you play as Bontu, an African woman who also narrates the game, as she walks for miles across the desert to get to fresh drinking water.
The game is not a bummer by any means, Bontu actually remains quite jovial and exuberant as she tells you her story, focusing on the love she has for her family and friends and the hand painted art style with which the game is set against is beautiful. It’s the gamified experience itself that shows you the problems you’d have to solve and the hardships of what this daily journey demands of its people.
5. Exploding Kittens
This is a mobile game version of Matthew Inman’s (The Oatmeal) popular card game of the same name, but now, this version offers all the wonderful perks a video game has to offer which is the ability to play it at any time with anyone in the world, or against a robot if you are without an internet connection (or you are very very shy).
The concept of Exploding Kittens is essentially that somewhere in the deck there is an exploding kitten card, and whoever gets stuck with it loses the entire game. Every other card in the game is focused on trying to get your opponent to be the one who gets stuck with it. It’s like a mix between Go Fish, Uno, Magic: the Gathering, and Hot Potato, and if that sounds like chaos that’s because it absolutely is and it absolutely rules.
6. Wonderputt
Finally, Wonderputt is a mobile putt-putt golf game that really takes advantage of the virtual medium by creating increasingly inventive courses. Granted, most Putt-putt golf video games do this, but Wonderputt gives you courses such as: A course where different platforms change the size of your ball, affecting its ability to move through space, A course in which you must build the entire course beneath you as your ball travels over thin air before you are able to unlock the course’s end, and a course in which you must shrink down to subatomic size, avoiding black holes and hitting specific walls in order to set off a detonation.
All of this is backed by wonderful sound design, including lilting soundscapes and a delightful ASMR experience as each new course pops and clicks itself into existence.
Want to find other free games you can play online? Check out these online board games you can play right now
