Netflix's Unhinged Turns Your Phone Into a Horror Game Controller — Launching June 30
Netflix is expanding its gaming ambitions with something genuinely inventive. Unhinged, a first-person horror game from Night School Studio — the team behind the critically acclaimed Oxenfree — launches June 30 for all Netflix subscribers. But this isn’t just another title in the platform’s growing catalogue: it’s an experiment in blurring the line between the screen and the room you’re sitting in.
Your Phone Is the Controller
The defining feature of Unhinged is that it requires no traditional gamepad. Instead, players scan a QR code to pair their phone with the Netflix app. Once connected, the phone’s physical movement maps one-to-one to the hand of protagonist Ava — tilt and move your phone, and Ava’s flashlight follows in real time, illuminating the dark corners of the apartment you’re navigating.
This isn’t a gimmick layered on top of a conventional control scheme. The phone is the control scheme, turning the device already in your pocket into an intuitive extension of the game world.
Your Phone Will Actually Ring
The immersion goes deeper. When Ava receives a call or text message in the game, your real phone rings, vibrates, and plays the caller’s voice through its speaker — while environmental audio continues through the TV or device running the game. This split-audio design delivers character dialogue and ambient sound from different physical sources simultaneously, creating an uncanny sense that the game is reaching into your real life.
Star-Studded Voice Cast
Night School Studio has recruited a notable voice cast for its compact horror experience. Zoë Kravitz (The Batman, Big Little Lies) voices protagonist Ava. Sadie Sink, best known as Max from Stranger Things, plays Ava’s friend Claire. And Troy Baker — one of the most prolific voice actors in gaming — takes on the role of Ben, the apartment building’s superintendent.
A Storm, a Blackout, and an Intruder
The story unfolds during a stormy night in an apartment building. After a power outage plunges the building into darkness, Ava realizes she’s not alone. What follows is a desperate attempt to escape a home invasion, with the player guiding Ava’s every move.
At 20 to 50 minutes in length, Unhinged is deliberately structured like a single episode of a Netflix series — something you might play in one sitting rather than chip away at over days.
Two Ways to Play
Unhinged offers two modes catering to different playstyles. Standard mode includes timed survival challenges: a shrinking timer forces you to find interactive objects before the clock runs out, with failure sending you back to the last checkpoint. Story mode strips away the time pressure and eliminates player death entirely, letting you experience the narrative without gameplay friction.
Unhinged represents an interesting direction for Netflix’s gaming efforts. Rather than chasing AAA scale, the company is funding experimental, short-form experiences that leverage the hardware subscribers already own — and in this case, turn that hardware into part of the horror. Whether the phone-as-controller mechanic proves more than a novelty will be clear when the game arrives June 30.