Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is a must watch for Telltale fans
I won’t spoil anything but is a Netflix story branching film that really makes your mind blown if you are a fan of story branching videogames.
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I won’t spoil anything but is a Netflix story branching film that really makes your mind blown if you are a fan of story branching videogames.
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While Bandersnatch is definetly an interesting and sometimes even absurdly funny experience, the whole thing just collapsed after a while, since the choices often don't matter at all and even force you to rewatch sections to pick the other - obviously the only right - choice.
There will be comparisons to Telltale's games, but it works much better there, even if not perfectly, because you're still progressing through the story. There are only a handful of scenarios across all of their 43564 games, where a choice would end up in a game over screen. Sure, their choices don't matter more often than not, but the illusion is much better and sometimes choices actually do matter in really awesome ways, like in Batman: The Enemy Within, where the last episode completely changes depending on how you treated the Joker as Bruce Wayne.
I just don't think Bandersnatch tells a coherent enough story at all. It's kind of a mess, but I definetly enjoyed certain moments.
Well as I seen it, it does just that. It gives you an illusion of choice just like Telltale games does, that’s why I found it endearing.
@MrGraffio Going to put it in a spoiler tag cause I think you've both overlooked the whole point of the episode:
Nearly all Black Mirror episodes are aimed at telling a dark story or narrative. The point of Bandersnatch was that all the choices you make along the way aren't ours we are influenced by the world/environments by meeting the demands of society. The episode really asks the question are we in control or is the system in general controlling us instead, aka the establishments, the norms etc. We're all under the command of something just like Pac Man. By giving us the false hope of getting a happy ending Charlie Brooker & Black Mirror are controlling us the viewer e.g. by making us go back again and again in another failed attempt to get a happy ending. Each time you get a bad ending you are awarded with 2.5 stars by the game reviewer which causes you to go back in the hope of eventually getting 5 stars which can be achieved albeit through gruesome results. There is no "right choice" just multiple bad results and outcomes.
This is my interpretation anyway.
I’m wondering if something like this was going to be the concept Telltale had in mind when they announced a “super show.” Remember that everyone, because I sure as hell do. Gee, maybe if Telltale had any concept of risk-taking and poured money into new and creative ideas or games, instead of just licensed properties and recycling the same formula over and over again, they would still be around. Isn’t that right, Kevin Bruner.
I mourn the loss of it everyday. Original IP ftw.
Truly, they'd be in a better position than they ended up. If The Walking Dead's second season innovated and used the gameplay and visual improvements of what we have in the Fourth season, it'd keep them in a better light and talk about.
I still don't understand how they managed to optimise their Telltale Tool to work as well as it does in TFS.
Anyway, I'm getting off-topic.
Haven't seen the Black Mirror movie yet, but I'm going to.
I absolutely get what the episode is trying to tell us. The problem is, that certain choices result in a situation, where we have to go back and do the other choice for no real reason. Best example is the choice to either accept or decline the offer of your boss to write the game in house or at home. If you accept the choice, Colin walks by you and say's wrong path and then it's game over and you definetly have to decline the offer to progress through the story.
That's the same problem with The Walking Dead: The Final Season where there are certain choices that simply end in a game over screen, which leaves me more confused and irritated than everything else.
As I said, I totally get what it's trying to tell me and there are moments where it actuslly kind of works, but it unfortunately doesn't make for a cohesive or interesting story. It actually get's a little bit annoying at times.
Every telltale veteran would say that this wannabe TTG is very poorly designed.
It's upsetting that it's getting undeserved worldwide praising when minor games like Late Shift or Minecraft Story Mode does it in a much better way.
It's cringing from start to finish and obfuscate the true art that Telltale mastered during these years.
Wouldn't go that far, but it is overly praised over conventions that story mode and Late shift perfectly utilized with a narrative that isn't trying to be a commentary on "life" and how choices truly don't matter bla bla bla yadda yadda yadda. Its fine. I just want to see it done better (in a netflix format) utilized by other people