Review of Not for Broadcast – the pinnacle of the dystopian genre

We have also prepared a review for you in the form of a video, which you will find above.

While big blockbusters mostly stick to established themes and genres, these are small indie games that often use original ideas. And one of these is Not for Broadcast from the British studio Not Games. A game that went into pre-release back in January 2020, with new content being released on an ongoing basis over the next two years. But the development was greatly complicated by the pandemic. It’s with this game that we can’t get mad at the developers for just making excuses. The whole game consists of real footage filmed by the team along with the actors. This is to make it look like real news.

• Platform: PC
• Publication date: January 25, 2022
• Developer: non-games
• Publisher: tiny assembly
• Genre: FMV, simulator
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 50 GB
• Game time: 8 ocloc’k
• Sales version: Digital
• Price: 20.99 € (Steam)

Not for Broadcast is set in an alternate version of the UK in the 1980s, when elections were dominated by the new Advance Party, who want to change the way the state works and introduce a “better tomorrow”. But it’s clear from the outset that Advance’s motto is “the goal sanctifies the resources,” and while the party is improving rapidly in some respects, its methods are, to put it mildly, immoral.

The protagonist of the whole story is Alex Winston, who works for the local TV One channel, so by some chance he ends up in the main news of the National Nightly News, where he takes care of censoring inappropriate words, switching cameras, choosing commercials, etc. much more. At the same time, however, this means that you, as Alex, have tremendous power in your hands. Your decisions directly affect events not only in the UK, but practically all over the world.

The individual mechanics are easy to understand and very fun. Since the game is constantly throwing new content at you, they are not too repetitive. The only problem is some confusing moments when you don’t know exactly where to switch the camera. This mainly concerns the beginning of individual segments. Otherwise, I evaluate the gameplay very positively, because thanks to it, Not for Broadcast is not just another interactive movie.

But the main thing, of course, is the story, and it’s really great. From my point of view, this is the best treatment of the dystopian genre that I have ever seen in games. It’s common for a game to have split mode (evil) and resistance (good). But that’s not the case with Not for Broadcast, which really portrays the good and the bad on both sides. And although I’m not a big fan of the following quote, Geralt’s line “If I have to choose between two evils, I prefer not to choose at all”, it really works perfectly here.

It was not easy for the developers at all, because they are dealing with really complex topics in the game, but even better that they did not come up with any “correct opinion” and left everything up to the players. History faces classic issues we face in everyday life, be it politics, media, money, family relationships, or intergenerational misunderstandings. What’s most exciting, however, is that the developers also incorporated a lot of exaggeration and humor into the dark story, which resulted in an ingenious combination.

Individual shows are incredibly spectacular and, most importantly, very diverse. From classic news, you can move on to sports, where the main task is not to get into the basket. There are also interviews with singers or actors and weird shows that are really bizarre, which of course is their goal. You won’t miss out on some really catchy songs that usually fit current situations in the game and a bit in our world.

As I mentioned, the writers use full motion video for all content on TV, which is really great considering how much content there is in the game. It will take you about 8 hours for one pass, but believe me, that’s not all. Before the release, the developers boasted that they filmed almost 43 hours of video material, which also made it to the Guinness Book of Records as the game with the most FMV content. The previous record was broken by 35 hours. However, the point is not that quantity is more important than quality, just the opposite. You are waiting for 3 episodes (each with 3 broadcasts) and 2 specials (Lockdown and Telethon), all in excellent quality. Not only because of the script, but also because of the great acting that you probably don’t expect from such a small game.

In addition, the game will encourage you to play it repeatedly, mainly due to the large number of options. And I understand what you are saying now. Any other title attracts “an important choice that will affect the entire playthrough of the game,” but this is indeed the case with Not for Broadcast. There are an incredible amount of choices waiting for you during the game (not only on TV, but also at home) and it really depends on seemingly smaller ones. Thus, everyone can have a very different experience, because according to the decision, the broadcast itself changes at some point. As for the ending, it offers up to 14 different endings.

To sum it up, Not for Broadcast is one of the most original indie games I’ve ever played. The title offers a whole new perspective on dystopia as such, which is why I recommend it to anyone who loves books by George Orwell, Karel Capek or other similar works. However, it is worth noting that knowledge of English (or another supported language) is required, as there are no Czech subtitles in the game. But if a foreign language doesn’t bother you, I can guarantee you will have fun and be happy to re-enter Not for Broadcast. For that matter, it’s a pity there’s no New Game+ mode in the title, and you have to go through the tutorial again with every new game, even if you already have control. However, this is only a small lack of beauty.