The 'Black Mirror' Thronglets Game Is Just As Weird As You'd Expect—And Honestly, I'm Still Recovering

After watching Black Mirror Season 7's "Playthings," the viewer is prompted to play Netflix's own version of the Thronglets game. During the Black Mirror episode, we follow game journalist Cameron Walker in present-day and the past when he was introduced to Tuckersoft’s new “game,” Thronglets.

Game developer Colin Ritman (also featured in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), shares that the Thronglets are the world’s first sentient digital creatures. The Thronglets are born, they experience emotion, and they learn from whoever is controlling their world. The player has the power to feed them, bathe them, and entertain them.

But we see the dark side of the player’s power when Cameron’s “friend,” Lump, starts dropping rocks on Thronglets, destroying them and introducing them to the dark side of humanity. But the other side is displayed by Cameron, who becomes so obsessed with caring for the Thronglets and helping them grow that he forgoes all human necessities.

His entire being is dedicated to the digital Thronglet beings, who he communicated with while dosing LSD. By the end of the Black Mirror episode, we’ve learned that the Thronglets found a way to essentially take over humanity. Even if their intent is benevolent, the outcome is a loss of free will.

So although we love their adorable sounds and furry yellow bodies throughout “Playthings,” the invitation to play a real-life version of Thronglets feels ominous. Netflix’s message feels like: Hey, watcher! Come find out how the Thronglets will ruin your life too now! And maybe even take over humanity!

I listened. I downloaded the game immediately following the episode. Upon opening the game, a Tuckersoft logo fills the screen, placing us in our own personal episode of Black Mirror.

All we see on the screen is an innocent egg, which you tap to hatch, and voila! Your first Thronglet is born. We learn how to feed them by dropping apples, entertain them by providing a kickball, and bathe them by scrubbing them with a sponge.

As they begin to multiply through mitosis, in which one Thronglet splits into two, they become increasingly hard to care for. We’re given more tools as the Thronglets learn more and more about humanity through our actions.

Apple trees provide a self-sustaining food source so that they don’t starve to death. Baths allow Thronglets to bathe themselves so they don’t die of filth or disease. Spinning wheels give Thronglets the ability to entertain themselves to they don’t bore themselves to death.

But it’s starting to feel a lot less like taking care of cute little Thronglets and a lot more like building the very type of capitalist society that leads to overwork, starvation, toxic waste, and more negative outcomes that I try to stand against. The Thronglets give us impossible options; when the ability to spend less time in the houses and more time working is provided as an option, I say yes just so that more Thronglets can use the houses and fewer die.

By the time I’ve gotten into the groove of caring for the Thronglets, they decide to self-implode. I’m brought to a new planet with just one Thronglet, who asks me what “society” is, what “power” is, and forms their own judgments about me.

Their language develops from basic into “California cool” and beyond. They tease me and they ask me life’s biggest existential questions. Is this what I thought the Thronglets would do or be from watching “Playthings”? I expected them to learn more, to develop beyond a few multiple-choice options.

But in all fairness, I’m pretty relieved they only have so many pathways, proving that their code is just code, and Black Mirror isn’t a reality yet. Find Thronglets on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.