Beholder Reviews
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. The unpleasantness doesn’t always feel worth the hassle, and few players will realise the ultimate goal of saving their family and escaping the mundanity of their tenement basement life without kowtowing to the state.
A good management sim with an interesting style, but it may be a bit grim for some
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 for something different.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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 does an excellent job of making you feel hopeless. I was immediately infected by the game’s clouded atmosphere.
I've never played this type of game before, and although I didn't necessarily enjoy every single minute of gameplay, it's memorable for the ideas it presents, and the different ways in which it plays out.
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.
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 a game where the simple mechanics are just the tip of the iceberg. The game bombards the player with hard moral choices in a world where every decision may have dire consequences.
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.
Beholder 2 is an immersive dystopia RPG with a desperate story, interesting gameplay, and hard choices.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Despite much of this review, Beholder is not a bad game and at the price asked, I think it is worth a buy. 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.
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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Beholder is a deeply terrifying look at the concept of an Orwellian nightmare through the lens of a video game.
When a game wants you to toss aside your morals for the greater good
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. With the subtle application of moral choices of Papers, Please mixed with the sim management of The Sims I can wholeheartedly recommend Beholder as a quick pick me up this Christmas if you’ve got the rumblies only state intervention will satisfy.
With great cartoon graphics, brilliant game design, and an amazing soundtrack, Beholder is a gem that should be experienced by everyone.
'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.
Beholder doesn't hold your hand, because the things you're doing could be considered heinous, or even uplifting; it's entirely up to you. This level of freedom is often teased, but not met. While there are issues that drag the game backwards, players should seek to overcome them, because this is a truly bleak world, and it has no problem letting you know it.
Beholder doesn't hold your hand and this can become an issue. It relies heavily on the player to self-teaching themselves about much of the game's mechanics.