Beholder Demo

Totalitarian regimes sound like science fiction to those born in freedom, but there are many examples out there, both in the past and in the present. However, some have imagined another kind of regime, one that is constantly watching your every move and controlling your thoughts. While this isn’t a real thing yet, it’s not very difficult to imagine a future where such things might be possible.

Beholder is a very interesting game in which you play the role of an apartment building manager in charge of watching over the other tenants. The action takes place in a dystopian world ruled by a totalitarian government, where almost everything is illegal or at least prohibited in some way. Your goal is to spy on everyone else and make reports regarding their behavior.

On top of that, you also have to take care of your own family, as well as choose whether to respect the law yourself or bend the rules in your favor. You can also call the police on other tenants and have them taken away, although even that has major consequences, especially if the people in question have families. In short, there’s always a choice, and it’s never an easy one.

The way you gather evidence on tenants is by entering their homes whenever they are out, because otherwise you are not allowed to do so. You can also install cameras to see what they are up to when they are home, but most cameras have limited range, so you might still miss some things. Even so, you can use blackmail or forgery to stick someone up, not to mention steal if you really need the money.

There are just so many things you can do in Beholder, so it’s difficult not to recommend the game, even if there’s only a demo out at the moment. The atmosphere is perfect for the setting, not to mention the fact that you have so many options at your disposal, which allows you to easily change the course of the story along the way. The soundtrack and the graphics go very well together as well.

In the end, Beholder is a great concept and it’s masterfully executed, which is great news if you are a fan of simulators. The only issue is the camera control and the character movement, because you have to drag the camera around and use point & click to get from one place to the other, which can be a tad slow and inconvenient.