Choose Your Own Misadventure

Netflix is a game platform, now. What a time to be alive.

Black Mirror is a fantastic and haunting series, with great production values and excellent writing -- but its most distinctive feature (like its spiritual predecessor, The Twilight Zone) is how it subverts the expectations of the sci-fi viewer, and challenges the assumptions - especially the optimistic, happy ones - normalized by its contemporaries.

Bandersnatch does that, too, but it also subverts the expectations of the adventure game player.

Narratively, and here be spoilers:

Bandersnatch isn't just about selecting a path through the story -- the choice-making mechanic is intrinsically part of the story, itself. The point at which Stefan starts to believe he's being "controlled" by an outside force felt like a BioShock twist moment to me; I'm absolutely tickled by how my agency was integrated into the story itself.

And like the best Black Mirror episodes, Bandersnatch revels in its misleads. Early choices set the story up as though your choices are trivial, or meaningless; and Stefan's realization supports the idea that you, the player, are "being played" by Bandersnatch's writers. This set-up makes the effects of later choices feel all-the-more dramatic.

The pair of "Netflix choice" endings felt a little overly silly, but I can't really disparage them for having some fun with themselves.

Mechanically, Bandersnatch has some room for improvement, but also gets some things surprisingly right. Specifically, regarding how you can find and view alternate paths/endings.

Con: There's no "save file" equivalent, so once you've reached the credits, Netflix can't tell you which endings you've seen and what choices you might want to re-attempt.

Pro: In many cases, before the credits, Bandersnatch does give you the opportunity to return to a pivotal moment and try something else. It uses smartly sped-up/re-cut footage to start the story over, and bring you quickly back to the moment of choice.

It ain't perfect, but Bandersnatch is wonderfully entertaining; it has real, meaningful interactive qualities; and it treats its Adventure game heritage with respect and awe. This is an all-around treat for the game aficionado.

Also, Jeff Minter is in it. (I did a double-take when I saw his name in the credits.)

Better than: Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Not as good as: Her Story
I mean really: If we can call dreck like Shadow of Destiny a "game," Bandersnatch has more than earned its place here.