In Netflix's new Black Mirror movie, you can influence the progression – over a trillion different viewing methods

Netflix has released a new film called Bandersnatch, which is part of the Black Mirror series. What’s special about it is that the film is interactive, meaning the viewer can choose from several different storylines.

Something similar has been seen in literature as early as the 1980s and recently in a few experimental children's films on Netflix. Experiences with children's films have been positive, so now it has been encouraged to try it out in adult-oriented content as well. The sci-fi-themed series Black Mirror often deals with technology and the horror scenarios it enables, so the experimental approach fits perfectly.

The film is set in 1984. In it, teenager Stefan develops a video game from a gloomy fantasy story with several alternative storylines. The viewer gets to influence such big things as well as smaller details. There are five alternative endings. Finally, one can also return to the most important points and examine the alternative storylines. If all possible changes are taken into account, then there are over a trillion alternative ways.

Bandersnatch was written on the open-source Twine platform, which is intended for interactive fiction or story-driven games. The creation of the episode took a whopping one and a half years, as it included work on creating tools for developing branching stories.

The movie doesn't work on all devices, such as Apple TV and Chromecast, or older devices that no longer support the latest Netflix updates. However, many smart TVs, game consoles, mobile devices, and browsers support it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0xWpBYlNM