Ministry of Broadcast is a Cinematic Platform Game developed by the Czech Republic-based Ministry of Broadcast Studios and published by Hitcents. It was released on 30 January 2020.
In a totalitarian country, the government builds a wall that divides the country in two. You play as a man who has to win a reality TV show organized by the government in order to see his family, who are on the other side of the wall.
Ministry of Broadcast provides examples of the following tropes:
- Anyone Can Die: All contestants die. Only the Protagonist can survive.
- Bookends: If you accept the offer the game ends with same scene it started only now you are the scientist to evaluate new contestants.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: The only way to get through many puzzles is to horribly abuse the other contestants. Toward the end of the game, this leads to all of them dying because of your actions.
- Downer Ending: If you refuse the offer then you get executed and thrown behind the wall. If you accept then you become a scientist who will torment next generations of contestants until you get replaced and executed.
- Golden Ending: Finding all 18 pairs of shoes and taking Joe's at the very end of the game allows you to Take a Third Option and escape through a hole in the wall. It's a small, individual victory against the regime with no guarantee the protagonist will reunite with his family... but it's something.
- The Hero Dies: If you reject the offer at the end, you get executed.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- The crow is very rude and cruel towards the protagonist, but it is revealed that she is so cold because she hates humans for their past sins and is actually trying to help the Protagonist.
- The protagonist can also qualify. Despite his various atrocities, he only wants to see his family and it is obvious that he genuinely wants to be friends with Joe.
- Minimalism: Easy graphics, no dialogues and short length.
- The Only One: There can be only one who wins the contest.
- Suddenly Voiced: While the protagonist paddles a boat through the sewers, the crow gets a series of fully-voiced lines while acting like the narrator of a nature documentary.
- Tragic Hero: The protagonist only wants to see his wife and father. To achieve his goal he has to commit some evil acts he isn't proud of, and in the end, it is revealed that he won't achieve his goal no matter what he does.
