Netflix has added Codenames Party to its games library, giving subscribers a new social title built around word association. The addition continues the streamer's efforts to expand its collection of family-friendly and party games, a push it has been making for roughly the past year and a half. Like the other party games in Netflix's lineup, Codenames Party does not require a console or any extra hardware. Players join a session by scanning a QR code and then use their mobile devices as the controllers.
Codenames began as a tabletop game of word association and later moved online, where it offered a way to play the cooperative game virtually. The standard format splits players into two teams, each led by a rotating Spymaster. That player gives a clue intended to help teammates identify as many of the goal words as possible. The Netflix edition includes the classic team mode along with a variant called Case Studies, in which all players guess from pre-made word and clue sets instead of relying on their own Spymasters.
Netflix has also introduced a new option called Party Mode, which drops the team structure entirely. In this version, each player must devise a single clue that links a unique batch of eight words drawn from the same set of 16 available options. Points are awarded in two ways: for correctly guessing words from other players' sets, and for having one's own code words correctly identified by the group when that player's clue comes up. The setup places every participant in both the clue-giving and guessing roles over the course of a round.
The release fits Netflix's broader strategy of building a games catalog that leans on titles suited to groups and households. Party games that run through a phone and a shared screen lower the barrier for subscribers who want to play together without owning dedicated gaming equipment. Codenames Party joins that collection as the company continues to fill out its roster.
Engadget staff members have played Codenames at team hangouts, and according to the outlet, assembling a group of writers for rounds of the game tends to produce amusing results. That anecdote reflects the kind of casual, social play that party titles are designed to encourage. The game is available now through Netflix Games.
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