Aunty Donna, one of Australia’s favourite comedy trios, has officially entered the world of gaming, releasing a new interactive sketch known as Aunty Donna’s Bandersketch!
Taking cues from Netflix’s interactive Black Mirror special Bandersnatch, the choose-your-own-adventure story sees players joining Aunty Donna to create their next comedy sketch, providing input into the characters, direction, and what happens next.
Of course, in true Aunty Donna fashion, the sketch isn’t quite linear and if you make the wrong choices, you could be exiled to the streets of Melbourne – or meet a more fatal end.
Aunty Donna’s Bandersketch – quick links
A strong experiment
Aunty Donna’s Bandersketch! is a lighter-hearted parody of interactive media and games, and it’s simple but wildly effective because of its awkwardness and tension.
The entire sketch plays out in multiple embedded videos, which load in as you make your choices. There’s a new path with each decision – and plenty lead to silly, uncanny plots.
If you really, really want a ‘duck with no pants’ as your lead character for a comedy sketch, Mark Bonanno will shame you into taking a walk first – leading to a 40-minute unskippable cutscene where you’re travelling from the trio’s Grouse House studio through Melbourne’s outskirts.
And if you’re going for maximum chaos, as one fan noted, it’s surprisingly easy to kill Mark as events progress. You’re actually only three choices away as you begin your journey through Bandersketch!
This interactive project is an extension of Aunty Donna’s slapstick and irreverent comedy style, made all the more silly and loud with its interactive and game-like elements.
It’s a very fun experiment from the Aunty Donna team as it continues to grow its Grouse House comedy platform, which aims to elevate local Australian comedy as a whole.
Bandersketch! draws on the tradition of FMV games
What’s neat about this foray is that Aunty Donna is leaning into a rich history of interactive Full-Motion Video games with its release.
There was a time when FMV games were incredibly popular, as they used limited graphics and technology to allow players to make choices in an interactive film setting. Among the most famous of these was 1992’s Night Trap, which asked players to save a group of teenage girls from a vampire infestation.
It was controversial at the time for leaning into racy themes, but with time and distance, Night Trap has become better understood as a pioneering and innovative interactive experience (and one that wasn’t nearly as controversial as popular opinion suggested).
Night Trap, and other games in the interactive game genre eventually went on to inspire modern interactive games, including the dystopian Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which Aunty Donna parodies here.
It’s clear Bandersketch! is built on a love for choose-on-your-adventure stories as a whole, with its funny interactive elements adding layers to this multi-part and multi-end sketch. For those looking for new frontiers in the comedy world, it’s worth exploring just how silly and irreverent this new Aunty Donna creation gets.
Also on ScreenHub: PAX Aus 2026: World of Warcraft lead Holly Longdale joins as Storytime Speaker
Holly Longdale, Executive Producer of World of Warcraft, and a tenured veteran of Blizzard Entertainment, will headline the speakers at this year’s PAX Aus 2026 in Melbourne in October.
The annual Melbourne show celebrates gaming in all its forms, from the world of digital games to tabletop and beyond. This year, Longdale will deliver a keynote speech as the elected Storytime Speaker, sharing her wisdom and experiences after years of working on high-profile, award-winning online video games.
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