The building is called Number One Croydon officially but often referred to as the 50p building
And the shops were in a place called St George’s Walk.
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The real question on everyone’s mind, though - were those buildings there in the 80s? 
As for the binary choices seeming to have no effect - I actually disagree a little bit. Yes, there was limited choice, but I didn’t feel as though my choices had no effect. In fact, there was far more than I was anticipating. They recorded well over 5 hours of footage, which is an insane production cost.
This was far more than I expected/anticipated, and I think it might be slightly unfair and biased to judge an IF film based upon our CoG/HG expectations - there is so much more freedom and capability for branching paths in the written medium.
Side note - I really liked how, if you paid close attention, the branches on Stefan’s wall almost directly mirrored the branches in the movie, itself.
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St Georges Walk was built in the 60s so there would have been shops there in the 80s, can’t tell you if it was those exact shops though.
I really enjoyed it. Not as a game, but more (as some already mentioned) a portrayal of free will, or better the lack of it.
The choices we/he make/s are just one of many stylistic means to achive this illusion. Some branches are cut or you get “game overs” if you don’t pick the “right” choice, but they … echo back into the “main” timeline nevertheless. And imo not because it’s lazy writing, but to show the degeneration of the protagonists mind.
So making choices in this movie for me was totally different then making choices in COGs games. I love both, the games here and the movie on Netflix - but yeah for different reasons.
I don’t know how the Bandersnatch was advertised (a friend recommened it), maybe some disappointment here is caused by false promises made by Netflix?
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So, I looked at a diagram, and it turns out that there are, in fact, two choices that have substantive impacts on the story.
The first is whether or not you follow Colin or go straight to the therapist. If you don’t follow Colin, he’s alive through the rest of the game, and that affects several later scenes.
Additionally, there are four different codes you can enter into the safe. One of them, JFD, is only available, for example, if Colin is alive. Which of the four different codes you input results in relatively different branches.
So, two choices is better than none. But if they had the capabilities to have delayed branching, it annoys me that they didn’t make better use of it.
All that said, I want to use the third choice of the game as a demonstration of bad choice design: do you Accept or Reject the offer to work in the office?
- Yes/no choices are not good because the “no” option is a “blocking” choice. It impedes the flow of the narrative/action. Most people are going to pick the Yes choice the first time out, so you’re slanting the odds. But it’s also just boring.
- It was bad because one of the options was a “Fail” option. Like the classic right/left choice of the old CYOA books, in order to manage branching they just killed the character/story off so they didn’t have to write a branch.
- There was a sort of actual choice here, but the framing of it was so poor that it was obscured. The actual choice was: do you want to work from the office or from home? That’s a much more interesting choice, though we didn’t have enough context to make an informed decision. But that’s what the actual choice was.
Further, point #2 was particular bad because it taught us, the viewer, that our choices don’t actually matter in this story. The presence of the delayed branching choices are easily overlooked because we (I) assumed that all of our choices were basically being ignored, because the third choice in the game told me that they were going to be ignored.
Yeah.
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Are we sure it was a fail option. I think this might just be a point of view thing but I don’t think there are any “fail” options in the story. It’s not a fail its what happens in that universe. The game doesn’t end life goes on after every option. The guy makes a crappy game. So he will do it again in his timeline. When he says “I should try again” I think it means less “play again” it means “Philip will continue in this making video games” I think of this less as a game and more as a viewpoint into the multiple timeways and universes that Phillip can go through.
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Well, they do matter, maybe not the way we are used by COG standards but … If you “fail” the third choice you get additional content, that hints towards multiple timelines for example.
I get that I. Binary choices arn’t a good design concept. II. The way the choices are presented here are sometimes misleading and I understand people get upset about it.
But I still think choices (in this scenario) are just means to an end. An illusion representing the lack of free will.
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And this is an interesting point. But if this is a game about the illusion of free will, it’s not the game I thought I was playing when I started watching it. It’s being marketed as an interactive movie, not a meditation/exploration on the concept/fallacy of free will.
Wouldn’t that just push that idea more? That you think your in control because it’s an interactive movie, then when it starts showing the lack of control you realize you arnt in control you are just seeing multiple paths. A passenger just like Phillip only you can see more then him
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Yeah, I get your point. A friend just told me to watch it without any explanation. And knowing Black Mirror all I expected was a lot of mindf … un and all in all I was pleasantly suprised.
But being advertised as an interactive movie, I understand, people getting upset when it’s … somehow the opposite of choice.
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I know first person movies were a whole thing for a minute there with the advent of GoPros. I wonder if that would make it possible? Keep the PC out of frame by having everything from their PoV, and maybe dub over dialog?
Maybe, but what about name? Gender? I mean, I suppose you could do something like in the Fleet, where you’re addressed as Commander or some other gender-neutral title, and never by name. But at various moments I suspect that would get awkward.
I actually want to address this directly. The reason this was an instant fail was threefold.
I. It was intended to introduce you to the rewind feature.
II. It introduced the theory of the multiverse and multiple timelines all playing out at once (hello, 999)
III. It was a direct allegory to the path ending on the actual game, Bandersnatch, just moments before.
There are a lot of small references to that throughout - you’re playing a game that directly mirrors the game the character you’re playing is creating. The storyline paths are much the same, certain scenes in which you see what is going on in Bandersnatch are then played out, almost line for line, in a scene a few minutes later.
I thought it was rather creative and played the strengths of the medium as well as it could. There were layers to the story that only really came out if you played it through multiple times.
Unfortunately for the movie, itself, as well as Netflix, a lot of people were so annoyed upon their first playthrough, that they didn’t attempt to replay it.
I would argue that though our choices may be limited, they still matter. There are so, so, so many hidden scenes that reference your earlier choices. They aren’t major effects, no, but they are there.
As @Natman1025 and @Schnitzel said, it was more a piece on how we go in feeling that we have free will, only to be held back by this binary. It was so very Black Mirror. We, the audience, are getting played just as much as Stefan, the character is.
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I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m not a big fan of black mirror. But the idea of an interaction movie was too good to pass up.
Now for the choices, the fact that choices pretty much don’t matter at all untill near the very end really sucked ngl.
Also, the whole free will idea and also kinda the idea of who are you (the viewer) to be playing god was so obvious from an absolute mile away. [And I never liked the whole second idea cause as the creator of a narrative, you’re essentially god by creating all the characters and issues.] Plus, the idea felt very easy level fake deep?
The plot itself was rather somewhat interesting and the twists were kinda cool. (My favorite part was Colin being erased from timelines until he magically appears?) And also, rediscovering Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics.
Overall, I was very happy about an interactive movie and I hope that maybe the idea willgain in popularity. The actual movie itself was interesting but very cliche/obvious. And I wish the branching occured earlier on.
Though I love how the lack of branching is referenced in the 5/5 game review ending but it doesn’t rectify it.
Overall it was enjoyable, not perfect (far from it) but enjoyable imo.
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Quick question before I try this… does one have to have seen any of the rest of Black Mirror to view it?
Regardless I hope it leads to more interactive content on Netflix and other streaming services. I’m still crushed that Telltale has collapsed since now Minecraft Story Mode is on there (albeit liable to never be completed with the rest of S1 and S2) it shows that it would have been a great place to upload a lot of their past projects like Tales from the Borderlands, Wolf Among Us and the two seasons of Batman especially. But now I guess Netflix will have to look elsewhere for such content.
I would be curious if we ever get a full interactive series on Netflix where viewers can make choices for the protagonists and some can lead to entirely different episodes based on those decisions…
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It might be slightly off topic… but i would think there is one clear advantage of CYOA or interactive game ( including pc game) over interactive movie… The Stats system
For an interactive game or CYOA , in addition of implementing a Right or Fail choice which determine the outcome of the next scene, we could also design them based on the successful skill or stats of the choice , in the sense that there aren’t any right or wrong choice… but only choice that require a successful check of a stat, which i feel is more believable …
For example , when facing a situation where we could have a choice of running away or persuadion … running away depend on speed and dexterity , while persuadion depend on charisma and wisdom … MC need to know their own strength and weakness in making a choice to succeed …
But in such interactive movie, how is it possible for viewer to know exactly the strength and weakness of a character to make a right choice for them ? 
I think you are being too hard on it. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it was wonderful, but it did expose a lot of people to interactive fiction.
Even Telltale Games have mainly illusions of choice, yet still sell very well, often with praise.
Semi-related, has anyone tried hopping on reddit where people are talking about Bandersnatch and plugging Choice of Games there?
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You don’t have to have seen Black Mirror - all Black Mirror episodes are more or less standalone, anyway, and this movie is no different. However, having an understanding of the feelings the series evokes helps cultivate a deeper appreciation of what Bandersnatch is doing.
I wholeheartedly feel that those who are both a) not fans of the show and b) fans of long, extensive CYOA novels/IF games will not enjoy this movie.
If you are either a or b, you might like it.
As for Telltale - those games left me frustrated, 9 times out of 10. At least Bandersnatch remembers your choices - same cereal, same music, various hidden things you will only get if you followed a very specific path…TG just went the cheap way and wiped your decisions clear away, never to be even referenced.
Let’s put it this way: personally, I can forgive major railroading, if the game actually makes nods to the decisions I made, especially small ones. If it doesn’t do that, I feel like my choices don’t matter.
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I felt entertained yet somewhat disappointed. I hoped for a it to focus on the game a bit more, not so much on Stefan’s Mental Health. but since it was dealing with a book whose author went insane, I made sense. and while I wished the weren’t failure choices, but what can you do.
I should also mention I haven’t seen any other black mirror related thing before this.
I kinda wished there were more endings as what I consider an ending has a review on the game. and I also wished there were other ways for me to get a 5/5 game. but that is probably from me wanting a more game development focused movie.
I also thought that the branching symbol driving Stefan insane was pretty stupid. since all it mean is a choice has a different outcome, and in game development the character doesn’t have any real Free Will.
overall the movie has its problems but this is a return of interactive movies, so there will be mistakes along they way. I personally would give 2.5/5 stars
but in all actuality I would give it a 3.5/5 stars
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You’re right of course. But that choice made me chuckle twice–first time when I picked “No” to see how the game dealt with an improbable selection, and was amused by the flash of horrified confusion on Stefan’s face as he struggled to explain why he’d just said that… and on my second watch-through I got to retrospectively appreciate the longest and funniest of the “haven’t we met before” exchanges. So that choice gets a pass from me for having a sense of humor, as well as establishing a couple of things about the story.
Says the man whose company published Paradox Factor? 
Which I kept flashing back to in the second half of the movie–the repetition-with-variation, absurd dark humor, and the “best” ending being extremely bittersweet all felt very familiar. @Lucid, maybe you’ve got a fan on the Black Mirror team.
Overall I’d give Bandersnatch 3 out of 5. I agree that it was a missed opportunity to do something more ambittious. But it made me laugh enough (and occasionally creeped me out) and had the best use of O Superman in years, so I didn’t feel too disappointed.
Here’s hoping next time they make the chioces less binary – though I’m not sure if that would help or hinder the pursuit of marketing data which will surely be part of the consideration…
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