Interactive YouTube Videos Return in ‘A Heist with Markiplier’

If you’re anything like me, you’ve wasted a good chunk of your life on YouTube. Back in the early 2010’s, I spent many a lazy afternoon browsing through a very special type of video: the interactive adventure. These were generally brief little stories that would let you click on annotations to determine how the rest of the adventure would play out. While these kinds of videos aren’t quite as prominent as they used to be, YouTube is officially resurrecting them with their latest major original series, A Heist with Markiplier.

This new series stars Markiplier, one of YouTube’s most recognizable gaming personalities, as he embarks on a major heist. Following in the tradition of those classic interactive videos, viewers will be able to influence the outcome of the adventure, resulting in 31 unique endings across 61 individual videos. You can get a taste of what to expect from the full reveal trailer above.

While this won’t be the first time that Markiplier has ventured into the interactive adventure genre (that honor would go to 2017’s A Date with Markiplier), it’s still a major new direction for the popular YouTuber, who is best known for doing Let’s Play videos of popular games on his channel. The series features higher production values than his typical videos thanks to its status as an exclusive YouTube Original, and unlike previous YouTube Originals, no subscription will be necessary to watch it. Instead, it will be available to watch for free for everyone when it releases on October 30.

With A Heist with Markiplier, YouTube is creating a union of new and old. On one hand, although last year’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch revived interest in interactive adventures, it doesn’t change that it’s a genre that saw its heyday back in the 2010’s, making it hardly the most relevant style of film for today. On the other hand, YouTube is putting Markiplier, easily one of the platform’s biggest content creators, as the face of this fairly niche series. It will be intriguing to see how these elements are handled in the final release.

Personally, I know I’m not alone in feeling nostalgic for the simple days of interactive YouTube videos, so it’s heartwarming to see this tried-and-true formula return in A Heist with Markiplier. But what about you? Does this bring back as many memories for you as it does for me? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.