Netflix is giving away a lifetime subscription to its service for playing a video game, but there’s a catch: The winner has to beat everyone else in the world.
To promote its original movie The Old Guard, starring Charlize Theron as an immortal mercenary, Netflix created a video game and a tournament. The contest started Friday and will run through Sunday, July 19, at 11 a.m ET at oldguardgame.com.
“It’s a browser-based, top-down, beat-em-up where you play as the lead character of the film, and fight off hordes of enemies using only the film’s iconic one-handed Labrys (aka a giant, double-bladed ax),” Netflix said.
The person with the top score in the world after the contest is over will win an “immortal” subscription.
“But how long is immortality, really? Netflix can’t promise a truly eternal subscription to its service, but it can offer the closest alternative: 1,000 months of service, which comes out to a bit over 83 years,” Netflix said.
Second place gets a subscription for a year and third gets a six-month one.
The game is a no-frills, fairly rudimentary affair, with one room and simple controls to move around. To use Andromache, players move using the arrow keys and attack using the spacebar. Andromache has a health bar and will revive if killed, but that will affect the score. Players can build up combos by getting chained kills as well.
There’s no purchase necessary to play the game, but registration is required, and it asks for a birth date and phone number. There’s no limit to how many times someone can play, and only their highest score will be recorded. Netflix is going to keep track of the scores with a top 10 leaderboard on the site, and a list of the winners will be posted on July 25.
Scoring works like this: Every killed enemy gives points, determined by a combo multiplier. Also, the faster a level is cleared, the higher a player’s score will be.
The Old Guard premiered on July 10 and is based on a graphic novel by Greg Rucka, a comic book writer who’s worked on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman comics. It also stars KiKi Layne and Matthias Schoenaerts, and it’s directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.
