Netflix’s gaming ambitions have often seemed scattered, moving from simple mobile offerings to studio buyouts and then toward a more casual, phone-driven approach. Yet amid that shifting strategy, Night School Studio’s new horror title Unhinged points to something more promising: a developer with a strong sense of how to make streaming-era games feel distinctive.
Unhinged, which is available now through Netflix, uses the player’s real phone as part of the experience. After scanning a QR code to open Netflix’s controller app, the player receives calls and messages on their own device while the story unfolds on screen. That setup creates an immediate sense that the game world is spilling into the room, especially when Ava’s friend Claire calls from the real-world side of the conversation while Ava remains inside the game.
Beyond that clever device, the game is a compact first-person thriller built around exploration, limited interactions, and a growing sense of dread. The player moves through a storm-hit apartment and nearby spaces using the phone’s gyroscope, with the on-screen pointer often presented as a flashlight beam. Early moments establish the tension quickly: a power cut, a warning on the radio, a flash of lightning, and the uneasy realization that Claire can see Ava’s movements from across the street.
According to the report, that opening gives way to a fast-moving sequence of calls, messages, and unsettling discoveries that push the story into more intense territory. The game also makes smart use of its phone interface to show earlier exchanges with other characters, including an elderly neighbor, Ava’s ex, and a superintendent who comes across as suspicious. Those details help build the world efficiently while keeping the pace brisk.
The larger point, though, is that Night School appears to be doing something Netflix could use more of: making games that feel tailored to the platform rather than merely attached to it. Netflix’s broader gaming direction may still be hard to pin down, but Unhinged suggests the company’s best chance at standing out may come from giving studios like Night School more room to experiment.
Source: eurogamer.net
