Fans weren’t very happy when they learned that they wouldn’t be getting a full season of Black Mirror this year, but it seems there was nothing to get upset over as what they got instead was much more interesting and exciting.
Yes, as you may’ve heard, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has taken the internet by storm and people can’t stop buzzing about it, and for good reason. Set in 1984, the feature-length episode stars Dunkirk‘s Fionn Whitehead as a young programmer named Stefan who’s working on adapting a chaotic fantasy novel – the fictional Bandersnatch by Jerome F. Davies, who apparently killed his wife – into a video game, which makes him start questioning his own reality.
On its own, that premise isn’t terribly exciting or unique, but the hook in Bandersnatch is that it’s an interactive, Choose Your Own Adventure experience. Which means that as you watch, you’ll be tasked with making many different choices and depending on which path you go down, you’ll get one of several different endings. And though there are said to be five ways the story can conclude, a number of people are reporting a sixth, secret ending which you can unlock as well.
The thing is, though, no one knows exactly how to reach this ending and at the moment, it seems that the only way to view it is to simply hope you stumble upon it through the choices you make. It actually sounds pretty neat, too, as here’s how ComicBook.com describes it:
Stefan is shown back on the same bus he took early in the film to visit game studio Tuckersoft. This time, though, he doesn’t pull out a tape of music to listen to. He pulls out a tape of the finished “Bandersnatch” game. It’s what the tape plays that gets interesting — some strange, dial-up modem connection style sounds and long beeps. Those sounds translate to data that, when run through a ZX Spectrum emulator reveals a QR code. That code takes you to a hidden page on the “official” Tuckersoft website with covers of the fictional company’s games, including “Nohzdyve” and “Metl Hedd” from the film. The “Nohzdyve” page in particular leads to a downloadable version of the game, which requires a ZX Spectrum emulator to play.
Now, we said above that no one knows exactly how to unlock it, and that’s true. However, The Wrap has posted a detailed breakdown of the choices they made which led them to the secret ending. According to them, they’ve tested it a few times and it works, though others online have tried the same thing and had no luck. Regardless, you can check out their decisions down below and try following the same path for yourself to see if it does the trick.
Sugar puffs
Thompson twins
Accept
Accept
Go back
Refuse
Yes
No
The Bermuda Triangle
Shout at Dad
Visit Dr. Haynes
Pull Earlobe
Take them
Follow Colin
Yes
Stefan
Go back
Colin
Flush them
Hit desk
Pick up book
PAC
Throw tea over computer
P.A.C.S.
20541
Who’s there?
Netflix
Try to explain
Tell him more
Fuck yeah
Fight her
Kick him in the balls
Who’s there?
White Bear symbol
Back off
Kill dad
Bury body
Yes
He jumped
Chop or bury?
Chop up body
Destroy computer
Pick up photo
White Bear symbol
Chop up body
Destroy computer
Get rabbit from dad
PAX
White Bear symbol
Chop up body
Destroy computer
Get rabbit from dad
Toy
Yes
We gave this a try earlier and did indeed hit that secret ending, but again, it seems that it hasn’t worked for everyone. Regardless, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is proving to be more and more interesting the more time we spend with it and you can bet that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many secrets it’s hiding.
