Ministry of broadcast is a 2d platforming adventure with some puzzle elements inspired by classics of yesteryear such as another world and flashback where the protagonist attempting to survive and make their way through often create calamity around them and face aversity in their path towards freedom, and whilst having a more modern dystopian storyline remains faithful to the action and timing based platforming challenges faced in those games and even quite literally wears it’s flashback reference on it’s sleeve in one level where the main character holds their hand up with an invisible gun as a pure homage to the flashback prison escape level.
The game itself does have a lot of narrative telling a story more overtly than the aforementioned classics, and tells the story of a person trying to audition for a tv show in order to gain access to the other side of the wall to see loved ones, and through this audition process remains the only individual not handed a role and seemingly put into positions to test the morality and obedience of the individual, leading to gameplay over 5 days of platforming challenges where reality is twisted and absurd becomes the normal as chaos ensues around you.
Gameplay ramps up the challenges as you progress offering a challenge even for a veteran gamer as myself and designed for you to take a few attempts to get through area’s as timing and skill are involved in progressing past the puzzles before you, introducing new elements as you progress from day to day and seemingly themed chaos for each of the days action, all the time your character is simply trying to find their missing shoes, where seemingly countless numbers of unsuitable boots are littered throughout the game for you to find in hidden or not so hidden spots for those who’re looking for an additional challenge.
It took me around 7.5 hours to get through the game and I was able to unlock all 4 possible endings though I didn’t find all 18 of the available shoes in the game, there are some fun and interesting scenes offering humour amongst the dystopian backdrop in particular when you find yourself in the actual tv studio on the final day and all of the scenes are mirrors to the chaos that unveiled beforehand, but in more studio settings than the realism you faced before whilst other aspects which were fake are now real, along with the expected studio crew which chase you down an icy road having no problems whilst you slip and slide down it.
Fun times are to be had especially if you were a fan of platforming adventures such as flashback and another world, as the gameplay is an authentic homage and satisfactorily deals with the challenge aspect allowing for exploration and some minor puzzling with plenty of frantic time based platforming escape sequences in such variety that it keeps it fresh and interesting throughout, all the while questioning your sanity as a talking crow acts as your guide throughout the descent into dystopia.
I definitely recommend giving the game a go if you’re a fan of platformers as this is a very fun modern retro classic that would fit in as though it was a sequel to those games.
Get ministry of broadcast for yourself at https://store.steampowered.com/app/874040/Ministry_of_Broadcast/?snr=1_1056_4__curator-tabs&curator_clanid=6860437