{"id":14711,"date":"2025-04-10T09:50:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T09:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14711"},"modified":"2025-04-10T09:50:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T09:50:48","slug":"you-can-play-the-new-game-in-black-mirror-and-its-an-adorable-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=14711","title":{"rendered":"You Can Play the New Game in \u2018Black Mirror\u2019\u2014and It\u2019s an Adorable Nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The season 7 episode, titled \u201cPlaything,\u201d is an homage to\u2014or possibly a horror story retelling of\u2014Brooker\u2019s time as a video game journalist in the 1990s. Brooker wrote for a games magazine called PC Zone, which plays a role in the show, and once had to review a life sim game called Creatures<\/em>. \u201dThat’s as autobiographical as this gets, because then all sorts of horrible things happen,\u201d Brooker says. The episode\u2019s protagonist pays a visit to Poulter\u2019s character, who sets him down the show\u2019s dark path. Brooker wanted \u201cthe juxtaposition of making it look as cute as possible and having quite disturbing and dark things.\u201d<\/p>\n

(It has to be said that the show\u2019s depiction of a games journalist\u2014a greasy, socially awkward white guy whose stammering and social ineptitude border parody\u2014is so eye-poppingly painful I can\u2019t decide whether to be a little insulted at the stereotype or ask to hear Brooker\u2019s horror stories over a stiff drink.)<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the first time Krankel had pitched a collaboration to Brooker; he says the Black Mirror<\/em> creator had been \u201cmeh\u201d about previous ideas. (\u201cSurely I didn\u2019t \u2018meh,\u2019\u201d Brooker says.) But the episode featured a \u201cTamagotchi gone really wrong life sim\u201d type of game, Krankel says, that Night School had a good feel for.<\/p>\n

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