Choose your own adventure titles seem to be having a bit of a surge in popularity recently. From Bandersnatch to Markiplier we have seen a lot of videos with branching paths pop up over the last few years. We’ve even seen a few proper video games try out the multiple-choice narrative thing. Now, Carmen Sandiego will be the newest franchise to receive the gamified video treatment.
The new special is a one-off entitled Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not To Steal and is an offshoot of the Netflix animated reboot which debuted on the streaming juggernaut earlier this year.
Both this special as well as its parent series are, like most of the other Carmen Sandiego properties, aimed at a slightly younger demographic so don’t go in expecting anything too crazy. This will certainly be more along the lines of Bandersnatch than any of Carmen’s actual games and even then, don’t expect it to be nearly as complex.
Honestly, it is a little surprising that Netflix went and made another one of these. Before making Bandersnatch they sought to acquire the license for the Choose Your Own Adventure brand, were unsuccessful, but went ahead with making the game anyway, going so far as to actually use said brand at several points in and around their product. This resulted in Chooseco LLC, the company that owns the rights to the Choose Your Own Adventure brand, suing Netflix for 25 million dollars.
Still, Bandersnatch was quite the hit and they already had the technology so here we are. It makes a lot of sense to do this with Carmen Sandiego well-known video game heroine and antagonist. And the trailer makes it look like a fun time for both families and kids alike.
Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal arrives on Netflix March 10th.
Videogame Journalist by day, Author of Weird Fiction by night. If you don’t like one, might I suggest giving the other a try? I am here to inform and entertain and seek to be either or both when elsewhere. ; 3
