Codenames Party brings the hit competitive puzzler to Netflix Games with your phone as a controller

• Netflix Games is expanding its offerings with the new Codenames Party
• It's a new spin on the hit puzzler from Czech Games Edition
• Guess in classic teams of two, or take on pre-prepared puzzles in the new Case Studies mode

Netflix Games has often been an overlooked part of the streamer's services, but recently Netflix have been leaning more heavily into an interesting new angle: phones as controllers. And the latest to take advantage of this is Codenames Party, an adaptation of the hit competitive puzzler by Czech Games Edition, now available on Smart TVs and web browsers!

Codenames sees players divided into teams of two, with one playing the role of guesser and another the clue giver in a secret agent-type deal. The aim of the game is to guess the correct words, and avoid either turning over cards featuring your opponents' agents, or those with civilians.

Cracking the code

Codenames is a classic for a reason, and while it can be tricky to get the hang of it's one of those rare tabletop games that you'll be completely grabbed by before the end of your first session. With that in mind, it seems a natural fit for Netflix and their new 'phones as controllers' initiative.

The addition of Case Studies, which puts up to 10 players in the role of guesser against pre-prepared puzzles, is also an interesting one. But part of the difficulty (and fun) of Codenames has always been ending up on the same wavelength as your partner, so I think this'll mainly be popular with larger groups of people looking to play.

Admittedly, I wouldn't blame you for being a bit worried that Netflix might sacrifice its (excellent) selection of mobile games for some of these types of games. But anything that means we get more to play on Netflix is, I think, good.

In the meantime, if you're looking for other puzzle games to play, then you can train yourself up for guessing in Codenames with some other single-player selections. Check out our list of the best puzzle games on Android for some of our picks!