Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker’s long-running dystopian look at a future that already feels here, recently celebrated the release of its seventh season. It even saw the return of a character from its 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch.

But if you are looking to refresh your memory on this callback, then good luck, because Netflix has removed the ‘choose your own adventure’ style special from its platform. Permanently and with little notice.

Bandersnatch gave the viewer the choice of what story beats would play out through numerous choices. It was not just a simple forked path but innovatively tracked the viewer across multiple watches, contained secret scenes to unlock depending on what choices were made, and displayed alternate endings depending on the user’s own Netflix history. It was, at once, active and reactive. A well-thought-out execution for such an overt gimmick.

Netflix and the films no one is actually watching

The deletion is prompted by the streaming giant removing its Branch Manager engine, tech built to host and contain the interactive elements from outside the capabilities of Netflix’s usual interface.

But the bespoke nature of this tech and the little care Netflix has towards preservation mean that experiencing these works as they were intended........

© Herald Scotland