Toeing the party line is always the most lucrative option, which naturally creates plenty of moral quandaries.īeholder: Complete Edition (so-called because it includes the Blissful Sleep DLC) is all about the tough decisions, and achieving some kind of balance between making a life for yourself and retaining a shred of humanity. But those thanks won't reward you with the money you need to keep your son in an education, or to pay for the costly repairs from a recent terrorist (or, depending on your view, freedom fighter) attack. You could warn them that they're under state surveillance, or even offer to help them. Recommendation: If you’re a fan of suspenseful political games that balance surveillance and resource management with a dystopian setting, then Beholder is definitely worth picking up.It's not imperative that you sell your fellow man up the river.
It’s an interactive moral dilemma that will force players to rethink everything they thought they knew about themselves. Then, I went back for more.īottom Line: Beholder feels like it isn’t saying much politically, while still shouting at the top of its lungs about what is and what could be. I ended up questioning decisions I made, wondering whether or not I was as good a person as I thought I was, and in desperate need of a glass of wine after a handful of playthroughs. Just like, I’d imagine, they would in real life.īeholder is the type of game that feels both far-fetched and familiar, holding up a mirror to our own world while still feeling distant enough to force the player to use their imagination. The choices are hard, and the aftermath never feels entirely worth the stress. You can report on your tenants, help them, or even blackmail them, and depending on what you do – and how you respond before and after you’ve done what you’ve done – there can be half a dozen or more different outcomes for any one situation. The amount of branches in the narrative are near-staggering, with what seems like an infinite number of outcomes. Money is always short, repairs are always needed, and there never seems to be enough to go around for anyone.
Even more so, a game that makes me want to immediately close out and start over, no matter how much time I’ve put into it, because I’ve let something terrible happen. I needed $20,000 to save her life, but the claustrophobic complex that has become my entire life seems to bleed money from me, and I have to be careful who I blackmail. All the while, I watched the hours tick down on my daughter’s life. At any given time, I was juggling four to five different quests, each as demanding as the last. It’s always exciting when I find a game that causes me to feel something – anything – about the decisions I’m forced to make. Every choice you make will lead you to a different type of heartbreak as you struggle to juggle your duty to your government, your opportunity to rise against that government, and your obligation to your family. Beholder is an atmospheric moral dilemma wrapped in a resource management investigative adventure game, set in dystopian 1984. This makes it easier to dehumanize the characters enough to turn them over to the government for the crime of owning fish, although only slightly. Each character is little more than a silhouette with eyes, distinguishable from one another by little more than their size and shape. The art style of the game is dark and grim. Beholder is a game about oppression – and you are the oppressor. All things considered, it was the best outcome – for me.īeholder is a Papers, Please-reminiscent point and click adventure that casts the player in the role of Carl Stein, landlord-turned-spy, who is tasked with collecting information on his tenants, reporting their crimes to the government, and collecting rewards for doing so. I call the Ministry to report my success and collect my cash.
In her misery, his wife packs her belongings and leaves. On my third attempt, the police arrive, beat the daylights out of Klaus as he and his wife cry, and take him away. The next play through, Karl shoots me just outside his apartment. She dies because I couldn’t complete my task of getting rid of Schimmer quickly enough. Unfortunately, my daughter’s health has been deteriorating, and I can’t afford the spectacularly expensive medication needed to save her life. I do everything in my power to help him escape instead of facing imprisonment. By all accounts, they seem like decent people. Schimmer lives in Apartment 1 with his wife, and doesn’t appear to have committed any real “crimes.” Sure he’s in possession of some banned books – but books? Come on. Suddenly, I’m tasked with evicting the very stubborn Klaus Schimmer. The originals – like it being illegal to harbor a criminal or create drugs – make sense. Every day, new government directives come through.
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