Obey or dissent; blackmail or befriend; develop or destroy. You have a choice. What will you choose?
Beholder is a video game about life in a totalitarian state. It was originally released on Steam on November 9, 2016, and supports Windows, macOS and Linux and as of this past January it’s available on the itunes Mac App Store. On the heels of being honored as one of the eight finalists for the Game Developers Choice Best in Gaming Award for 2017. Beholder arrives on a new platform: Facebook Gameroom, as of February 17, 2017.
Beholder has garnered the attention of multiple publications and gaming communities, and recently featured on Metacritic’s 100 Most Talked About Games of 2016 list. It was also awarded IGN Russia’s Best Adventure Game of 2016, and was recognized in numerous categories at Moscow’s DevGamm Awards.
Facebook Gameroom launched in November 2016 as a beta build for developers. The platform allows Windows desktop users to download an app that lets them play all their Gameroom games in one place. Within the app, players can utilize the social aspect of Facebook, creating a whole new world of gaming possibilities.
The Gameplay
Beholder places you in a tormented setting – a society ruled by totalitarianism, fear, and violence. In this grim world, you are forced into the role of a subservient State-Installed Landlord. It is your duty to loom over your tenants, ensuring obedience and complete allegiance. In essence, you are a spy for the State. To succeed at your duties, and avoid certain misfortune, you’ll sneak around, eavesdropping, surreptitiously gleaning information from tenants with seemingly innocent interactions, installing security cameras, and planting bugs.
Along the way, you’ll have to make life-changing decisions. Who will you pledge your allegiance to? Will you protect your family, or the State that controls your entire world? The choices you make will determine the outcome of the game, of which there are several endings.
BEHOLDER IS ALL ABOUT MAKING CHOICES – CHOICES THAT MATTER!
What will you do with the information you collect? Will you report the suspicious activities of a father and orphan his children? Or will you withhold the details about his illegal activities and give him a chance to make things right? You may also choose to blackmail him to acquire the money your family desperately needs.
Features:
You decide what happens: Every decision you make affects the way the story unfolds. All that matters are the choices you make when you interact with the game’s characters. Even a seemingly minor decision can have disastrous consequences. So, think twice and choose wisely!
People aren’t just objects: Each character you meet will have a thoroughly developed personality with his or her own past and present. This myriad of characters creates a unique labyrinth of relationships in which you must communicate with others and then decide what your next steps will be. Essentially, your relationships with others form a puzzle you must solve.
No decision is easy: If you are given the power to destroy the privacy of another person, should you? Or should you treat those on which you are spying the way they deserve? Then again, who decides what anyone deserves? What if two people deserve to be saved, but one has to go? Who will you choose? Is there such a thing as a lesser evil?
You don’t know where you’ll end up: “Beholder” is a game of multiple endings. Although you’ll always have enough information to make a wise decision, there will always be something about you which you might be unaware. “Beholder” is no beautifully calibrated virtual reality! It is life! And it is real!
