Welcome back to Pushing Buttons! This issue is going out on my birthday. Presents would be nice, but what I actually want is a week off to finally play Elden Ring. Only slightly more importantly, today is also when the finale of Better Call Saul airs in the UK, closing out a story that began with Breaking Bad’s first TV episodes in 2008. I will really miss this series – there is nothing in television quite like creator Vince Gilligan’s sumptuous shots and tight dark-comedic writing. I’ve often wondered why there’s been no Breaking Bad video game – especially because Netflix has shown a great deal of interest in the games, from buying studios to bankrolling endless TV adaptations. (Side note: did you know that Netflix subscribers get access to 24 mostly excellent games for free, including the sci-fi masterpiece Into the Breach? I didn’t, until last week.)
I would have expected some drug-empire management game, maybe spliced with scenes from the show, or with scene-setting and dialogue from its writers. Or perhaps an interactive-movie tie-in along the lines of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, where your reactions send the story spinning off in different directions. It would be expensive, sure, but Netflix has never minded spending money.
