An interesting concept but nothing about the mechanics, characters, segments, or narrative fits together in any kind of sensible cohesive way. Though it is often entertaining until the last few broadcasts long overstayed their welcome while doing nothing new mechanically or when it's adding odd elements of pointless family expenses, drama, or tragedy.

An FMV game that has you taking over the vision mixing, censoring, ad picking, headline lean, and other tasks at a news station just as a new political party has been elected. Your choices on what to air at certain times, choices made in text segments between broadcast days, and which and if you follow certain orders or suggestions while doing your job can see the story take different paths or characters actions and fates change over a span of around 10 years.

The actual mechanics end up keeping things evolving over time tend to be dull, often poorly explained to begin with, and trying to get a particular result can lead to confusing moments. Both poor and nonsensical as any kind of political commentary which hurts text story and choice moments drama, tone is all over, segments can overstay their welcome but each broadcast day does have a checkpoint after each ad break. Often entertaining and funny when not focused on the main plot (unless you aren't entertained by a particular segment and find yourself needing to do dull tasks for 10-15 minutes before it ends unless you fail out of it or worse miss something for the narrative you wanted to do then have to go through the whole thing again) but then, due to the style of the game, you will be punished for paying too much attention to the actors and may need to see things you missed after the gameplay segments where you can review the footage that was broadcast, play the ad videos without listening into studio talk or orders, or view the moments that weren't completely available to you. When you preform actions for narrative purposes, sometimes it hurts your broadcast and possibly your score for the segment, but letting the more obvious things happen like playing certain ads or allowing the broadcast to be disrupted don't damage your score or really cause you any problems with getting fired or arrested. I wasn't sure why I was gaining or losing score during certain segments but since it only impacts your money that doesn't really seem to matter it never made much of a difference to me if I was getting an A+ or D.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1680375861428752385

What a wonderful game! It's so very versatile. On one hand, it's this whacky comedy about the media and how dumb it kind of is. It also delights in how media is made, and lets you be the cameraman. It's also in a lineage of "work games" where you do seemingly mundane tasks as fun. And that's all neat.

But it's also a political commentary about extremism. It's a deliberate take-down of propaganda. It's a political drama. It's a deliberate view of censorship and its consequences. It's a moral choice simulator. And it's an effort to put the player in a situation where there really are no right answers.

What delighted me most was reaching the end, and being shown the epilogue screen. I knew there would be multiple endings. I did not know there would be FOURTEEN endings. The nuance allowed and the scope of the editing you can perform within the game is wild, and I love that.

I also deeply think about the visual novel scenes that fill the in-between of broadcasts, where you get to roleplay having your family. You're given multiple choices throughout, and many will leave you wondering, "could I have made a difference?" or "did I do something wrong?" Not in a bad way, but rather, in a way that makes you question the effects of your choices in a really fun way, one that sincerely makes me want to see if I could have had different outcomes. It's also an extremely brilliant contrast, between the somewhat unsavory, censory work you have to do, and also the societal urge to "tow the party line" not for the sake of the party, but for your own sake.

And let's not even mention the actual design of the game. The various minigames and mechanics you have to dabble with are silly and fun. Flipping switching, fighting broken tech, and micromanaging your broadcasts is all just good fun. And the acting, despite it being very b-list on purpose, is actually well done and sincere. Huge props to all the actors, especially in such a broad script! Everyone brings their best to their roles.

It's all just delightful. In a time where people constantly bemoan "politics in my games!" Not For Broadcast gleefully plays around in being entirely about politics. And although it can be a bit hammy and silly at times, its messages are sincere, and it expresses them fantastically. This is a great narrative experience, and one of the weird little games I could basically recommend to anyone, and is one of the few games I would recommend story mode, especially after your first playthrough, as you can go explore all the other options the game offers. Great stuff all around.

It's tough to even know where to start but I guess I'll give a quick clinical summary.
You work as the live editor of a TV news station, most of the game happens through 4 cameras you have to micromanage alongside a variety of other tools and mechanics that you'll use to keep the show going as smoothly as possible.
The station has standards on what to censor and what to promote, but they're not the ones in control of what gets shown, you'll have to come to your own conclusions on what is right to show the public.

The premise is going to sound incredibly boring to some on paper and if you aren't into the political drama, you aren't entirely out of luck, the game on its own is also just, genuinely really funny.
I'd compare it to Tim & Eric or most other live-action Adult Swim stuff except with, I don't wanna say "actual restraint" but it's got a unique pace in coherence with the game's design, all of it's done in 4 separate takes and the only "cuts" are between commercial breaks, I couldn't help but be astounded over how much planning and communication had to be done to get everything right over every session.
I'll have to check the documentary they made alongside the game to get a proper idea which I'll undoubtedly do soon but in my head, all the potential work is a complete headache to even imagine.

I don't think it can be underestimated to say how much of a behemoth this game is, by the way.
At a staggering 50 gigs and 43 hours of footage, it's got the world record for the most FMV in any game ever. Divide that by 4 and you'll get an average playthrough of the campaign, I'm not entirely sure how they calculated the length since there's definitely more than that but whatever, point is it's as long as you can get for an FMV game right now and that is seriously something given how outright experimental the whole game feels, it's got an almost theater kid feel despite being done very professionally all things considered. Maybe it's cuz of the musical stuff, idk.

It's so detached from any kind of gaming niche I'm aware of aside from the revitalization of FMV games that's been kinda on and off for the past decade (Roundabout and Her Story seem really good but I've heard a lot of mixed things about Late Shift) that it's hard to make any comparisons that'd feel right, but that really speaks to its uniqueness more than anything.

I've heard comparisons to Papers Please from a gameplay standpoint and I can get behind that, though managing your home life is relegated more to visual novel decisions. (which on their own get colored by your performance in the main game)
You won't have to choose between paying for electricity or food for your family but you will get asked if paying for immediate small pleasures or distractions instead of a safely budgeted vacation next year is worth it.
They're story-driven, as opposed to Papers' clinical and mathematical money management.

Anyway, if any of this sounds interesting in the slightest, I implore you to check it out. I really don't know if there will ever be a game like this made again but if it does, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
The team's obviously been passionate as hell about this game throughout its entire development and it shows, the dynamic they got here is way too good for them to not do another project together.
Whatever happens, I'm seriously grateful they stuck with this until the very end because this is a genuine achievement of a game.

I had some expectations going into this game but I was still surprised by just how well put together everything was. It's unique and fun! The mechanics work, though sometimes I felt like they got a little in the way - they served more as distractions than actual gameplay. The Thing You Come Here For absolutely rules though. The broadcasts are consistently entertaining, propped up by some very solid acting. If you have any interest in playing this game, give it a shot - there's really nothing else like it.

In a world that feels to me to be oversaturated with Papers, Please-like political sims, in which the player controls an ordinary person influencing the government through player choices, Not For Broadcast manages to stand out to me, thanks in no small part to its commitment to the world it builds, just a little off-kilter from our own.

It's a flawed game, to be sure. In addition to bugs, some of them game-breaking, it's politics are muddled, which isn't necessarily what you want to hear about a political sim. It tries to commit to neutrality in the name of letting the choice between rival factions truly belong to the player, but ends up emphasizing the bad of these factions so heavily that supporting either in any way makes me feel like a heel. Additionally, the visual novel segments which elaborate on the life of the player character do succeed in their goal of forging a more personal connection between player and story, they are infinitely less fun than the broadcast sequences and often I find myself skimming the text in hopes of getting back to the core game quicker.

Still, I love when stories feel to me like they were made with care, and even with branching paths that reveal new FMV footage in each playthrough, episodes feel connected to one another, rarely contradicting facts set up by earlier episodes. You're granted the voyeuristic pleasure of watching back footage outside of the broadcast room to listen in on behind the scenes conversations you missed while you were running the news, and finding footage I haven't yet seen is as thrilling to me as digging out a chunk of cookie dough in cookie dough ice cream. It's easy to become invested in the characters, as superbly-acted as they are well-written, and that investment is ultimately what makes the story land. And though I see that others don't agree, I find the gameplay of the broadcast sections extremely satisfying.

It's a game that, if you give yourself the chance to care about it, is all at once bizarre and heart-rending, as genuinely terrifying as it is darkly humorous. And hell if that isn't my kind of game.

Eu posso não ser a fonte mais imparcial para falar desse jogo já que eu acompanhei ele desde o começo .MAS esse jogo é muito bom , eu amo esse estilo de jogo , que você tem uma mecânica básica no começo e vai ficando cada vez mais complicado , como papers please. A História é basicamente boa, é simples, mas no que esse jogo excede é na re-jogabilidade, tendo uns 12 finais e cada coisinha que você faz afeta TUDO, e tal qual chaves , você pode ver a mesma piada 12 vezes que na décima-terceira vai ser tão engraçada quanto a primeira

English | Español

Mixed emotions with a game that invites us to be responsible for the realization of a TV news program. It's our duty to judge what shall we show and what stays out of being broadcast, at the same time it shows us how stupid can TV be. Everything scales up too quickly in a game that is too lengthy. But the idea is good.

Sensaciones encontradas con un juego que nos invita a ser el responsable de realización de un noticiario de TV. En nuestro juicio está decidir qué mostrar o qué no y muestra cuán estúpida puede llegar a ser la TV. Todo escala demasiado en un juego que sin embaro se hace largo, pero la idea es buena.

Imagine your life as a TV news editor/censor in dystopian England. Now imagine that world with the same humor as Monty Python. The game is actually full of gameplay and it's not just some weird interactivity so it can be excused as a game. Without mastering the controls and gameplay loop you won't get very far at all. You sit at a desk with six monitors in front of you and it's your job to either censor the rebels or the government. Your choices will determine who lives and dies and affect your own personal life.

You start with basic controls and the game doesn't get too crazy at first. There are four monitors that can be switched between numbers 1-4 and there are green, orange, and red LEDs under each one. The next monitor is the live camera and the last monitor is the delayed broadcast that the people see. You can adjust the volume for each of these broadcasts. On your far left are the power and switches for each board you control. These are only used at the start of each chapter to turn everything on or during certain sequences to mess up your broadcast. On the far right is usually nothing outside of an occasional thing and underneath the desk are video tapes you must load during commercial breaks. It's important to play some and not others which affects your pay and ranking. Advance is the government tapes and Disrupt are the rebels. It's important to play the Advance tape during the second break to get max points.

Your main job will be flicking between cameras when the green LEDs light up. Certain shows will only have one fixed camera and you can't stay on that camera for more than ten seconds or the audience will get bored. You can flick to an orange camera for a few seconds to mix things up, but flick to a red camera, and your ratings drop. Things get tricky later on when people go off script and there are multiple people talking. You also have to watch your censor meter. When people cuss you have to press space during the red segments or your ratings drop fast. Later on, you can censor the Disrupt pro-talk with blue waves or censor Advance pro-government talk with orange waves. The last meter you need to watch is your broadcast signal. This can be adjusted with the mouse wheel once it starts going out of sync. Later on, you can tune in to a Disrupt broadcast for an anti-government playthrough by following the orange waves instead of the white ones.

While that's the basic gameplay there are some other things added later like audience reactions and during songs you can flick the cameras to the beat of the song for a rating boost (which is really hard and doesn't ever seem on the beat). You really need to focus and watch those LED colors as they're the main thing you will watch. Sometimes you can be pro-government or anti-government by keeping the camera on certain subjects or even loading tapes from Disrupt in certain chapters. It's up to you to censor the people's voices or play along.

The game is constantly engaging and you never get bored. This gameplay loop sounds fun, but it wouldn't matter if the content you're watching is boring. Thankfully, it's utterly brilliant. The humor is very much along the lines of Monty Python. One broadcast segment has you editing a sports match of people tossing an invisible ball into a trash can. It's hilarious. Another scene has a reporter, Patrick Banon, not realize he's live on the air spewing anti-government remarks, his camera woman steps in for him, but Megan Wolfe (the female news anchor and one of the main characters) calls her Patrick Banon to cover everything up. She is now Patrick Banon throughout the rest of the game like no one would know. But it's all played off like it's half-serious. The writing is just perfect and I couldn't stop playing the game to see more of the humor rather than find out if Advance would get overthrown or not.

There are many mockeries of real-life people and events. There's a COVID-19 pandemic segment in which killer dolls are breaking out of a facility and everyone has to stay in lockdown. There are celebrity mockeries of Chef Gordan Ramsey, Ariana Grande, Donald Trump, and some that could be a swath of other politicians or celebrities. There are so many characters, skits, and segments, even the commercials are hilarious and you can easily miss them if you don't turn the volume up on the delayed broadcast. Of course, there are elements that are thrown in like killer dolls attacking the studio and you need to click on them before they shut things off, a heatwave that causes equipment to shut down, as well as flickering cameras, and controls that lock up. You will be very entertained during the 9-10 hours it takes to get through one playthrough.

There's also a second part of the storytelling that I can't tell if it's done on purpose or not. You play through a total of seven years as a broadcast editor, but the in-between segments are text-based and shown over what looks like low-budget asset flip-style graphics that you would see on a rip-off Steam game. It's a stark contrast from the excellent writing and acting, but I think it's done this way on purpose. You do make a few choices in these segments that affect how your family perceives you. Responding to your daughter or wife a certain way. Your success in being pro-government gives you more money and gives you an easier life which reflects in these segments. I never got attached to myself, Alex, or my family as it just felt like interludes.

With that said, Not for Broadcast is an insanely well-written FMV game with a fun gameplay loop that is easy to learn, but tough to master if you want good ratings. I love the branching paths and the replay value is very high as there are entire skits that you won't see based on your choices. Every actor is great and especially the character Jeremy Donaldson. He's a fantastic character and is wonderful to see on screen. I love how you can rewatch the segments and mute each camera to hear what went on in the background while another shot was being broadcasted. Members arguing in the studio in the background is always fun to see. I just wish the checkpoints were closer together. This really hurts the game a bit as some chapters are up to an hour long and you must rewatch for up to 20 minutes to get back to where you failed. I also wanted to jump in at any checkpoint to replay a segment to see the alternative footage, but due to the choices needed in previous chapters, you have to replay the game again each time. For what it's worth, this is one of the best indie games to come out in recent years and revolutionizes the FMV-style game.