If you’ve watched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Netflix, you may have noticed that this is not a common episode in the series. It is necessary to interact, almost play, with the choices and these will define the whole development of the story. This type of interaction with the narrative, generating consequences, is already an old known in the games. Then meet some games similar to Bandersnatch.
1. The Walking Dead: Season One (PS4, Xbox, Switch, PC, iOS)
The first season of the adaptation of The Walking Dead universe for games, launched in 2012, put the now defunct Telltale Games on the map. Just like any developer game, you’ll have to make choices throughout history, many of them controversial and distressing. You have to decide, in a few seconds, who in your group saves from a zombie attack, for example.
The game “plays” with their emotions (even in a sadistic way), making the player create an immense affection for the protagonists Lee Everett and little Clementine, and then throw them into another dangerous situation. It’s hard to hold back the tears at the end of the game. This first season of TWD was a critical success and won several awards, among them the Game of the Year in 2012.
2. Life Is Strange (PS4, Xbox, PC, iOS)
Life Is Strange, published by Square Enix, was released in 2015 and brings the story of young photography student Maxine Caulfield, who has the peculiar power to turn back time. With this, it (ie, you) can redo some actions.
Each action, continued or redone, generates its own butterfly effect and impacts on the unfolding of the narrative. That is, sometimes it may be better to just face the consequences of your actions than to try to “go back in time” and erase them.
3. Until Dawn (PS4)
Until Dawn, exclusive to PS4, has a story that looks like a lot of teenage movies, lost in the bush, one by one getting sick and only the “good guys” survive. Well, in that game, they can all die (and in the most grotesque ways possible) just because of one wrong choice of you.
You control the destinies of all the characters, who need to survive a mysterious killer and supernatural beings. All this with them isolated from the world in a hut, on top of a mountain and surrounded by snow. Cliche? Maybe, but it gives a few nonsense.
4. Heavy Rain (PS3, PS4)
Heavy Rain was the game that made Quantic Dream famous for its narration detail and a system of cause and consequence, sometimes ruthless. All developer games have this footprint, but Heavy Rain brought something special.
The title puts the player in a criminal thriller to try to figure out who the Origami Killer is, who kidnaps and kills children. If you do not make the right choices, at the right time, you (besides the killer) will also be responsible for several deaths.
“How far would you go to save someone you love?”
5. Her Story (PC, iOS)
Her Story does not follow well the line of the other games of this list. In this case, in addition to the visual difference because it deals with clips with a real actress, her choices affect not the story itself, but the way you listen to events.
You have access to a police computer with several video interviews of a suspected murder. The player finds these clips through search terms when browsing the computer. You need to pay close attention to each video to “find” the exact keyword to fetch the next clue. Following in the right steps, Her Story reveals something even more distorted and shocking than Bandersnatch himself.