Netflix Games’ latest addition is a nightmare straight from Black Mirror

By Patrick Hearn Published April 10, 2025

The latest game coming to Netflix Games is Thronglets, a Tamagotchi-like experience that hides a story within a story. The real-yet-fictional game comes from the Black Mirror universe and has players controlling and nurturing a digital pet-style creature called a Thronglet. You have to hatch, evolve, and grow the little critters, but beware: they can do more than take over your phone.

In the Black Mirror universe, Thronglets is a title that was canceled in 1994, never again to see the light of day, until someone discovered a way to play it. Raising enough Thronglets results in a harmonic Throng, and by building multiple Throngs, players unlock video fragments that tell the story of the game’s creator: Colin Ritman. The videos are interviews conducted by Mohan Thakur.

If those names sound familiar, they should. Both are fictional characters from Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, played by Will Poulter and Asim Chaudhry, respectively. The reference firmly connects Thronglets to the Bandersnatch universe, but it begs the question: how close do we really want to get to making Black Mirror‘s disturbing scenarios a reality?

The Black Mirror episode “Playthings” about Thronglets airs today, April 10, 2025. You can watch it for yourself soon, but it might leave you questioning whether you want to raise your own Thronglets or not.

The more of the game you play, the more of the “Ritman Retrospective” you unlock. Netflix says it’s more than just a game about raising digital pets — it’s also an exploration of “the depths of human nature and the consequences of our digital obsessions.” As you finish Thronglets, you’ll get a personality test that you can share across social media to see how your results stack against others. Netflix says to share results with the hashtag #Thronglets, but even that feels like a test of sorts.