It was released physically on December 23, 2016, under Trent Reznor's own label The Null Corporation, while those who had pre-ordered received a download link a day early.

[1] The second Nine Inch Nails EP of original material following Broken (1992), it marks longtime collaborator Atticus Ross's first appearance as an official member of the band.

The EP received positive reviews from critics, who praised the return to Nine Inch Nails' older, more abrasive sound, and debuted at number 26 in the US.

In an interview promoting Apple Music, Trent Reznor mentioned he has started "messing around with some things" in regard to a new Nine Inch Nails album, stating, "It's not a record I'm trying to finish in a month.

[16][13] Reznor said of creating the EP: Something that we have always felt strongly about is the role of what we call rock has been one that should feel untethered and filled with expression and uncompromised and at times challenging.

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[21] Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press praised the record, describing it as "everything we would expect from Reznor and Ross, offering textures we’ve never visited and contexts with conscience.

"[16] Consequence of Sound critic Zoe Camp thought that the EP "stands, alas, as a pyre dependent on the kindling of nostalgia, as opposed to innovation," and wrote: "between the abundant déja vu and the periodical redundancy, Not the Actual Events' purported 'impenetrability' manifests as a riotous retread instead.

"[13] Pitchfork's Benjamin Scheim described it as "slight", but stated: "At moments it delivers the kind of visceral fury that NIN hasn't recreated since its mid-'90s Downward Spiral heyday.

"[8] Sputnikmusic staff writer Raul Stanciu praised the record, writing: "The fairly impenetrable wall of sound Nine Inch Nails created here is admirable, especially since everything is presented in just over 21 minutes.

"[10] AllMusic senior critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine thought that "it seems somewhat less than the sum of its parts -- maybe it's the brevity, maybe it's how the arrangements are more memorable than the melodies -- it's nevertheless worthy, not so much as a cacophonous palette cleanser after 2013's Hesitation Marks but as an effective demonstration of craft.

"[12] Describing the record as "probably the grimiest Nine Inch Nails release since The Fragile, Spin's Winston Cook-Wilson wrote: "Rather than running the gamut between overdriven steamrolling and receding, glitchy ambience as on most of the work Reznor loosed between 1994 and 2008, the EP realizes a specific, portentous mood from several equivalent angles.