Black Mirror Bandersnatch: Best Choices to Make

Netflix and Charlie Brooker are blending video games and movies into one branching experience with the release of Black Mirror Bandersnatch. Here are our choices for the best choices to make.

In this special interactive movie, users are able to choose their own path, guiding a gifted young programmer, Stefan Butler, towards his goal of publishing a video game.

This wouldn’t be Black Mirror if there weren’t twist and turns laced throughout though, as many of the choices that can be made have interesting consequences.

Note: We’re going to be spoiling parts of the film/game, so do not read if you don’t want anything spoiling. We suggest playing it once through on your own at least.

Best Black Mirror Bandersnatch Choices

What is Netflix?

In 1999, the Matrix got a lot of people tripped out with its storyline, leading many to believe that maybe their life isn’t real and that we are all apart of a simulation.

While that has yet to be proven in our reality, Stefan isn’t so lucky in Black Mirror Bandersnatch.

About halfway through the show, likely following a number of retries, you’ll run into a scene where Stefan yells at his computer to give him a sign. One of the options you can usually select simply says Netflix.

Choosing this will trigger text on the screen stating that you are watching him on Netflix. You can cut the conversation off or continue to try and explain what is going on to Stefan.

Either way, the gifted young programmer has a mental breakdown and is taken to see his therapist, Dr. Haynes. When he arrives at her office, the conversation gets interesting, resulting in another amazing choice.

Best Black Mirror Bandersnatch Choices

Fight the Therapist

When Stefan visits Dr. Haynes after the Netflix choice, their conversation gets weird rather quickly. Instead of the usual talk about his mother and mental health, the therapist asks why you picked the most boring ending.

To remedy this, she suggests that we should add more action. The only two options you are give are “yes” and “fuck yeah.”

Next, the choice between diving through the window and fighting the doctor is given. While the window option provides an interesting meta ending, choosing to fight the therapist is even better.

Dr. Haynes comes out swinging and Stefan retaliates. After a fierce back and forth with her, trading punches and throwing each other around the room, Stefan’s dad joins the fight.

Another back and forth results in you being pinned up against the wall. Punching your dad in the balls or karate chopping him both leads to Stefan being pulled out of the office by his father, screaming someone from the future has been talking to him.

Best Black Mirror Bandersnatch Choices

TOY

While it is another bleak ending in Black Mirror Bandersnatch, this secret finale is well worth the effort, as it’s far more endearing than the others.

Near the beginning of the movie, a conversation with Dr. Haynes revealed that Stefan’s mother died in a train crash when he was young.

He confides that he blames his father, as she was only late because Stefan’s dad hid his childhood toy bunny, stating he was too old to be playing with it.

Since Stefan is fixated on looking for his bunny, he makes his mother late for her train while she waits for him to find it. To make matters worse, he doesn’t even end up going with her, meaning their last interaction was a negative one.

Following a set of particular circumstances and a dream sequence, Stefan is able to right this by going back in time and placing the bunny under his bed.

This time when his mother asks him if he is still coming, he is able to say yes, due to no longer being distraught by the lack of having his bunny.

The catch is that they are still late. This means that they both get on the same train that killed his mother in the past.

The thing that changed in this scenario is that Stefan is now also on the train. It is implied he died along with his mother after showing them both on the train.

In reality, we are shown that he died in Dr. Haynes’ office during one of their sessions. One moment he was talking to her, the next he was dead.

While certainly still macabre, this ending is far more positive than the others, as Stefan gets some semblance of peace by getting one last moment with his mother.

Best Black Mirror Bandersnatch Choices

Kill Dad, Chop Up the Body

Throughout Black Mirror Bandersnatch, Stefan obsesses over making his game perfect. There are numerous scenarios where he fails and then states he needs to try again.

Even with numerous efforts and hard work though, only one path leads to perfection for Bandersnatch. In order to get five out of five for his game, the young programmer needs to fully commit to the book that inspired him.

Just like Jerome F. Davies before him, Stefan needs to kill and chop up a loved one in order to find the peace and quite necessary to make the game perfect. Where Davies kills his wife, Stefan kills his dad, both chopping them up into pieces.

Not only does this ending reveal the dark bits of foreshadowing and irony hidden throughout, it also results in another cool secret ending.

In it, Pearl, the daughter of Tuckersoft programmer Colin Ritman, is rebooting Stefan’s game, even after it was revealed he was a murder and it was taken from stores.

It all comes full circle as we are shown her working on paths that represent Stefan’s real-life journey and the decisions that can be made throughout the show.

Best Black Mirror Bandersnatch Choices

Frosties or Sugar Puffs

A lot of narrative-driven video games present their gameplay to users by telling them that every decision matters. They make just about everything a choice, from the music you pick to the clothes you wear.

While some of these small choices result in interesting changes, they rarely affect the plot.

The first choice you make in Black Mirror Bandersnatch is very similar, as Stefan’s father simply asks him which cereal he wants, presenting it in a dramatic fashion.

It seems silly at first, as you wonder how choosing a different breakfast would change something. That is until you realize that it foreshadows a possible grim ending for Stefan and his father.

If you choose Sugar Puffs for breakfast instead of Frosties, Stefan’s dad notices a dog digging up his flower bed. He gets angry and states that the dog will be the death of them.

In one of the scenarios, Stefan kills his dad and Colin and then buries them in the backyard. The same dog that can be seen digging up the flower bed soon digs up the bodies, resulting in Stefan’s arrest.

This small bit of foreshadowing is a nice touch, showing the Black Mirror Bandersnatch team put a lot of effort into crafting a branching narrative.

That is everything you need to know about the best choices in Black Mirror Bandersnatch. For more information and helpful guides be sure to check back to Twinfinite.