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Black Mirror
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Season 3
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Episode 2

Playtest

Playtest

2016
Drama, Sci-fi
TV Episode
57m
An American traveler short on cash signs up to test a revolutionary new gaming system, but soon can't tell where the hoot game ends and reality begins. (imdb)

Directed by:

Daniel Trachtenberg
Daniel-Trachtenberg
Daniel Trachtenberg
8 total credits
American filmmaker and podcast host. He directed the 2016 horror-thriller film 10 Cloverfield Lane which earned him a Directors Guild of America Award nomination. Trachtenberg is also the director of the 2011 short film Portal: No Escape, an episode of Black Mirror entitled "Playtest". He also directed Prey, the fifth Predator film and will be helming a TV series adaptation of Waterworld.
Read more

Writer:

Charlie Brooker
Charlie-Brooker
Charlie Brooker
32 total credits
Credits include: Black Mirror, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, White Christmas and San Junipero
Read more

Starring:

Elizabeth Moynihan
Elizabeth-Moynihan
Elizabeth Moynihan
4 total credits
Credits include: Playtest, How About You, 48 Angels and The Reluctant Royal
Read more
, Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi-Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku
26 total credits
Credits include: Philomena, Loki, Sinners, The End of the F***ing World and Playtest
Read more
, Ken Yamamura
Ken-Yamamura
Ken Yamamura
4 total credits
Credits include: The Wolverine, Playtest, Killing for the Prosecution and The Hybrid: Nue no ko
Read more
, Wyatt Russell
Wyatt-Russell
Wyatt Russell
29 total credits
Credits include: 22 Jump Street, Escape from L.A., Everybody Wants Some!!, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Overlord
Read more
, Hannah John-Kamen
Hannah-John-Kamen
Hannah John-Kamen
15 total credits
Credits include: Ready Player One, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Tomb Raider, Playtest and Thunderbolts*
Read more
, Jamie Paul
Jamie-Paul
Jamie Paul
1 total credit
Credits include: Playtest
Read more
, Jessica Neil
Jessica-Neil
Jessica Neil
1 total credit
Credits include: Playtest
Read more

Franchise:

Black Mirror

Genres:

Drama, Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller

Country:

UK

Language:

English
IMDb
Update history
Suggest an edit

Playtest

2016
Drama, Sci-fi
TV Episode
57m
Your probable score
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer
Average Percentile: 59.42%
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

Compact view
Compact view
Average Percentile: 59.42%
foxyrussianFoxyRussian
More
20 Nov 2016
92
81st
Scary and tense. This episode becomes a nonstop rollar coaster half way through and it really unnerved me. The lead is so likable that the ending mindfuck hits really hard.
20 Nov 2016
neonmanNeonman
More
16 Nov 2016
38
2nd
Easily my least fave episode (so far). For the first fifteen minutes, nothing makes sense and things just circumstantially happen to allow the story to move forward. It's a very interesting concept relating to both mind control and video games, but its execution is awful mainly because of how smugly self-aware Brooker's script is, and the main character is insufferable. A wasted opportunity.
16 Nov 2016
deaddillydeaddilly
More
10 Nov 2016
70
47th
Genuinely terrifying. I've found movies in this genre (The Game, Total Recall) to overstay their welcome, so it was nice to get a condensed version. The endings to most BM episodes are excessively cruel and this is no exception.
10 Nov 2016
matthagenmatthagen
More
29 May 2025
54
59th
Seen: 2.
29 May 2025
hotsakehotsake
More
23 Jul 2024
65
63rd
This would've been so much better if the main character wasn't so insanely annoying.
23 Jul 2024
sfgse83rf3sfgse83rf3
More
29 Aug 2022
3
65th
One of the better episodes of the show. Which isn't much, but still.
29 Aug 2022
orcunyondemorcunyondem
More
09 Jan 2021
91
88th
I love the Total Recall vibe, this was pretty good.
09 Jan 2021
vv238vv238
More
29 Mar 2020
45
45th
I found this particular episode to be a bit lacking. It never felt scary to me and the themes of simulated reality and losing memory are par for the course when it comes to sci-fi. Playtest isn't bad, it just doesn't do anything new, anything interesting, or even anything all that well, just passable.
29 Mar 2020
muutanetmuutanet
More
28 Jul 2018
63
55th
Wunmi Mosaku was nice. I also liked the most of the beginning and build the story, but the playtest itself was not that cool.
28 Jul 2018
maakalmaakal
More
04 Apr 2018
72
43rd
Good, but among my least favorite episodes. It just didn't have the same creativity as others, and I didn't understand why so long was spent at the beginning fleshing out this character. None of it seemed to matter.
04 Apr 2018
djrossdjross
More
22 Mar 2018
55
53rd
Nobody enjoys a bad trip.
22 Mar 2018
sanchezjaimesanchezjaime
More
14 Oct 2017
100
64th
Brilliant
14 Oct 2017
thedicemanTheDiceman
More
02 Oct 2017
85
98th
Awesome.
02 Oct 2017
hellboy76hellboy76
More
02 Aug 2017
68
65th
Sufficiently creepy turn.
02 Aug 2017
forehead1forehead1
More
21 Mar 2017
50
49th
Basically a much weaker version of eXistenZ. Russell is okay - if a tad irritating - in the lead, and it's got enough going for it to kill an hour, but there's really nothing here that hasn't been seen before elsewhere.
21 Mar 2017
jerkyJerky
More
31 Dec 2016
65
83rd
Like many Black Mirror episodes, what makes it so scary is that the tech is either available or right around the corner. How real Virtual Reality can become is a very scary premise.
31 Dec 2016
beer94Beer94
More
30 Dec 2016
75
84th
Takes a bit of time to get going compared to other episodes but jeez, once it does it doesn't hold back. Intense is an understatement.
30 Dec 2016
rosenritterrosenritter
More
17 Dec 2016
3
9th
The problem with this episode is that any of the eccentric Japanese video game developers that Shou Saitou is based on (take a guess) would've made a far more interesting game given this technology.
17 Dec 2016
overratedoverrated
More
11 Dec 2016
62
66th
Really it's that Futurama Scary Door ending that brings this down.
11 Dec 2016
hofschneiderHofschneider
More
09 Dec 2016
86
83rd
Everything that scares us in the 21st century is in this episode. Including our knowledge of what's scaring us and the scary awareness that this shouldn't scare us because we know that this is scary. Scary.
09 Dec 2016
perrystroikaPerryStroika
More
18 Nov 2016
65
67th
Holy fuck. Tried to watch this by myself. Couldn't get through it. The extreme sadism of the piece really bothered me, and Wyatt Russell seems like such a nice guy. Had to wait for some friends to watch it with me.
18 Nov 2016
mattorama12mattorama12
More
09 Nov 2016
84
93rd
Wyatt Russell is genuinely perfect here. [SPOILER] It captures descent into madness about as good as I've ever seen. I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually been scared by a movie/tv show, and this was one of them.
09 Nov 2016
kasperlKasperL
More
05 Nov 2016
55
38th
I really like Wyatt Russell (who reminds me a lot of Owen Wilson and is also the offspring of some guy named Kurt). It's a very watchable episode, but I'd rewatch 'Total Recall' or 'eXistenZ' over this any day of the week.
05 Nov 2016

Cast & Info

Directed by:

Daniel Trachtenberg
Daniel-Trachtenberg
Daniel Trachtenberg
8 total credits
American filmmaker and podcast host. He directed the 2016 horror-thriller film 10 Cloverfield Lane which earned him a Directors Guild of America Award nomination. Trachtenberg is also the director of the 2011 short film Portal: No Escape, an episode of Black Mirror entitled "Playtest". He also directed Prey, the fifth Predator film and will be helming a TV series adaptation of Waterworld.
Read more

Writer:

Charlie Brooker
Charlie-Brooker
Charlie Brooker
32 total credits
Credits include: Black Mirror, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, White Christmas and San Junipero
Read more

Starring:

Elizabeth Moynihan
Elizabeth-Moynihan
Elizabeth Moynihan
4 total credits
Credits include: Playtest, How About You, 48 Angels and The Reluctant Royal
Read more
, Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi-Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku
26 total credits
Credits include: Philomena, Loki, Sinners, The End of the F***ing World and Playtest
Read more
, Ken Yamamura
Ken-Yamamura
Ken Yamamura
4 total credits
Credits include: The Wolverine, Playtest, Killing for the Prosecution and The Hybrid: Nue no ko
Read more
, Wyatt Russell
Wyatt-Russell
Wyatt Russell
29 total credits
Credits include: 22 Jump Street, Escape from L.A., Everybody Wants Some!!, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Overlord
Read more
, Hannah John-Kamen
Hannah-John-Kamen
Hannah John-Kamen
15 total credits
Credits include: Ready Player One, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Tomb Raider, Playtest and Thunderbolts*
Read more
, Jamie Paul
Jamie-Paul
Jamie Paul
1 total credit
Credits include: Playtest
Read more
, Jessica Neil
Jessica-Neil
Jessica Neil
1 total credit
Credits include: Playtest
Read more

Franchise:

Black Mirror

Genres:

Drama, Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller

Country:

UK

Language:

English
IMDb
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Suggest an edit
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