Beholder

An intriguing chance to find out if you're just as bad as Big Brother, but it falls at the final hurdle. [Feb 2017, p.81]

Beholder is a management sim and a moral quandary all in one. It’s easy to become consumed by the lives of Carl Stein and the apartment dwellers he’s been hired to spy on, with a story full of twists, turns, and terrible fates.

Beholder is based on a strong concept, and it has moments that land well, but it’s also held back by repetition and an unexciting script.

What stood out to me most about Beholder, however, was it’s distinct art style and music. None of the characters have faces or coloring whatsoever, but they have more character than many other games out there. You can really tell which tenant is which, even though they may all look the same at first glance. The black-and-white motif of the character design is fantastic sitting on top of the dystopian backdrop of the apartment complex. The entire look and feel of the game has that sort of grit-and-grime that really give players that feeling that they themselves are being watched by The Ministry. The music, also, is outstanding and gives the game a sort of gravitas that few other games have.

To say that I had fun playing Beholder isn't really accurate. The game world is characterised by oppression, decisions with no good choices, objectives that just aren't obtainable without taking huge risks, and the ever-present need for creating detailed, precise paperwork. It's exhausting and sad. But if the goal of the game's developer was to provide a depressingly captivating moral accountability simulator where hardly anybody ever wins, it's a massive success.

After I got used to Beholder’s interesting setting and thick atmosphere of hopelessness I got bored with the game quickly. [01/2017, p.61]

The excellent simulator of caretaker/snitch allows you – in funny and most importantly in repayable way – to try how was to live in the absolute totalitarian society. [Issue #270]

The criticisms only come because Beholder sets its sights at such lofty heights and complex issues but fails to reach them. And of course, it suffers by association with the ethically sensitive and artistically cohesive Papers Please. What it achieves, however, is an entertaining and challenging strategy game. It is just good, which is a shame because it could have been brilliant.

While replayability may not be the strong suit the price and the narrative definitely warrant several hours of play time.

Beholder is a fairly unique game of spying, decision making, and disaster avoidance. The story of a secret rebellion uprising against an authoritarian government has been told many times before, but at least government controlled property landlord is a fresh perspective on things. It won’t take you that long to complete, but it doesn’t outstay its welcome, and you’ll have a good time balancing all the things that need doing for those few hours.

Beholder is an interesting and quite original title, even if it doesn't offer anything extraordinary in terms of gameplay. Strengths of the game lie within the peculiar theme and the need to make hard decisions.

Beholder is able to make us feel guilty and stressed thanks to its atmosphere of oppression and extremely hard decisions. A great option if the player is seeking something different.

With a fantastically sombre and sinister art style, impeccable sound design and an innovative idea, if I were to have to describe this game on the fly I would say it’s a title somewhere between Papers, Please and The Sims, two games I have thoroughly enjoyed in the past.

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. It's an interactive moral dilemma that will force players to rethink everything they thought they knew about themselves.

While Beholder isn’t exactly a title that’s set to shake up the indie scene, the intriguing premise and solid execution makes it well worth seeking out all the same.

Beholder delivers a tough experience from the narrative standpoint, and a challenging gameplay. The player will face hard choices, and will have to live with the aftermath of its decisions every single time. The graphic is appealing, though sometimes it feels like the burden that the player has to carry - especially with the high number of quests given at the same time - can be a little discouraging. However, this is an original and suggested game.

Beholder is a somber, harsh experience in terms of both its theme and its gameplay. The naggy and sometimes baffling routines of the residents can get in the way of a good story at times, and it's too short overall. Still, it's an interesting addition to the growing "authoritarian state" genre, and well worth its small asking price.

The interior of the tenement building is a fantastic nest of voyeurism, and the game injects the awful things you’re doing with a sense of tongue-in-cheek wickedness. It may not be beauty that lives in the eye of this one, but Beholder does have some intelligent moral conundrums to levy at you. Unfortunately, the repetition and dull play leave a big hole in the middle where the game’s heart should beat.

Money’s always in short supply in Beholder: Karl has to pay for repairs, buy food and medicine, give his kids some pocket money. To stay in the black, Karl can report activities of his tenants to authorities, steal from them or blackmail them. Each decision impacts lives of those around him, and even well-intended actions may lead to unfortunate consequences. [Issue#215, p.57]

Beholder lacks the elegance and atmosphere of Papers, Please, and you won't be replaying its short campaign too often, but these almost real characters and gut-wrenching decisions you'll make to turn their world into a living hell, are absolutely worth your time.

Fortunately, after more than a quarter of a century since the fall of the Iron Curtain we can just play totalitarian. Luckily for us, Beholder is top class. As a career snitch, you destroy people's lives, but perhaps you even repent afterwards. The classy strategy with variety of options is nearly flawless, although shame on so many restarts in the campaign!

With great cartoon graphics, brilliant game design, and an amazing soundtrack, Beholder is a gem that should be experienced by everyone at least once. An oppressive, depressing, and sad gem, but a gem nonetheless.

While it does have issues, I hope that the brevity of Beholder’s appeal and the sloppiness of its translation don’t dissuade anyone from checking out one of the year’s more conceptually-ambitious indies. While I’ll hopefully never find myself in a position similar to Carl’s, I’d like to think that games such as Beholder help me to understand, even just a little, how a middle-class everyman can be coerced into performing heinous deeds, as so many throughout history have.

Beholder does an excellent job of making you feel hopeless. I was immediately infected by the game’s clouded atmosphere. I felt ready to do whatever it took to keep my household afloat. And while certain gameplay elements broke this spell, the game is worth playing. Even the most saintly players can find a little awful in themselves with Beholder.