Recent reviews by Tanook

TLDR; unique, enjoyable mechanics combined with a surreal humour and dedicated devs mean you should absolutely give Not For Broadcast a try

Not For Broadcast may be best described as a mixture between Papers, Please and We Happy Few.

As with Papers, Please, the gameplay is focused around a novel and, at first thought, potentially menial task; in the case of Not For Broadcast, managing the editing of the live National Nightly News, with each new day bringing greater complexity to the task. What starts as a simple set of instructions morphs into a chaotic management of buttons, bleepers and screens, the goal to keep the National Nightly News on air without (too much) disruption. Alone the gameplay of Not For Broadcast is interesting and fun, presenting an accessible but entirely new genre of live TV management which is refreshing to get to grips with.

However, where Not For Broadcast shines, but where it is potentially striving for a particular audience, is in its theme and content. Not For Broadcast is set in a British dystopia, akin to We Happy Few's pastiche of Brave New World, focusing on a surreal world with sinister undertones, rather than the full-blown grayscale tyranny found in Papers, Please, drawing from 1984. There are differences compared with We Happy Few of course, namely that rather than Joy, the drug plying the people in latter is a political movement, Advance, whose populist policies hide potentially nefarious plans but also due to the story-focus of Not For Broadcast, the game held together by the actors playing the irate presenters or the bewildering guests. The humour of Not For Broadcast is certainly an acquired taste - think Monty Python or Shooting Stars - and would be, no doubt, confusing (or intriguing) for non-Brits but I personally found it funny, even laughing out loud on occasion.

This is not to say that Not For Broadcast is perfect; some of the mechanics can be infuriating at times, such as the static slider and not all of the jokes, especially those in the commercials, land perfectly. However, without a doubt, Not For Broadcast's small flaws are carried by its unique mechanics, surrealist humour and, above all, the dedication and commitment of the NotGames team, evident in their updates and their newest Lockdown Update, to provide players with additional content in lieu of the next installment planned. Not For Broadcast is clearly a labour of love and you should absolutely give it a try.