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Beholder

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Play OverviewPlay Overview

Beholder (2016) is a detective game where you spy on tenants in a building, discover their secrets and report violations of laws to the authorities. As the game unfolds and you see more of the controlling totalitarian state, an uneasy tension develops between your conscience and your mission. How the game ends depends on your choices.

In the first game, you play as Carl, a government-installed landlord in a totalitarian state. Your main task is to secretly spy on tenants to hear their conversations. To do this you can bug apartments, search their belongings and profile them. You then have to report to The State anyone capable of violating the laws or plotting subversive activities against the Government to the authorities.

Each character has a unique personality, circumstances, and issues. Every decision that a player makes affects the way the story unfolds. The game has multiple endings each of them being a sum of the decisions made by a player. It's up to you whether you decide to play along with the powers that be or look to subvert its control.

In Beholder 2, you play the son of the man who has been killed, Evan. It's improbable that he flung himself out of a window and to the ground from a high rise. Instead of spying on tenants like in the first game, you work directly for a corporation. Here though, you find just as many immoral people and actions - co-workers who are drunk, participate in orgies, and engage in all sorts of debauchery. You have to look out for yourself while keeping the company happy, and investigating your father's unhappy end.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Beholder 4 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 9 months ago.
Kids not old enough for this yet? There are lots of games similar to Beholder (Series). Here are some similar younger-rated games:

Play StylePlay Style

This is a Role-Play game with Narrative, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Stealth and Strategy elements. This is a single-player game.

DurationDuration

Play Time: This game will take between 6 hours and 8 hours to complete.

Age RatingsAge Ratings

Content Rating

The first Beholder game is rated PEGI 12 for frequent scenes of mild to moderate violence to fantasy characters.

Beholder 2 is rated PEGI 16 for strong violence towards fantasy characters, bad language and drugs. There are occasions when a character can be killed either through hanging, beheading or being coerced to jump onto large spinning circular saws blades and if unwilling to do so, they are physically dragged and kicked onto the spinning blades. This is accompanied by screams and copious amounts of blood. The moment at which the character meets the spinning blade is not observed, but there is still sufficient bodily detritus and blood seen as the incident unfolds. Events such as these are presented as 3D cut scenes, which adds to the overall gratuitous nature of the violence, which are invariably greeted by applause and cheers from the non-playing characters, as the victims are seen as traitors. There is also an instance of the use of the sexual expletive '*!@?*'. It is seen as on-screen text. Although there is the consumption of unnamed drugs, the visual effects and the demise of the character after having taken them are sufficient to regard this event as the use of an illegal drug.

Beholder 3 is rated PEGI 16 for the use of strong language (‘*!@?*’), as well as milder terms such as ‘*!@?*’, ‘*!@?*’, ‘*!@?*’ and ‘*!@?*’. The game also features references portraying the attitudes of a totalitarian state. These include references to gay people being abnormal, perverted and diseased, and to the idea that their sexuality can be changed to be more acceptable to the regime. However, these attitudes are not condoned. There are also references to alcohol and drugs.

CostsCosts

Beholder usually costs £2.39 to £17.99.
 

Beholder

Steam Store PC £11.79 Free

EA Play

Steam Store Mac £11.79
Android Store Android Free Free

Google Play Pass

Beholder 2

PlayStation Store PS4 £11.99
Steam Store PC £14.99 Free

EA Play

Switch Store Switch £13.49
Steam Store Mac £14.99

Beholder 3

XBox Store Xbox X|S £16.74
XBox Store Xbox One £16.74
PlayStation Store PS5 £15.99
PlayStation Store PS4 £15.99
Steam Store PC £14.99
Switch Store Switch £17.99

Beholder Complete Edition

XBox Store Xbox One £11.99
PlayStation Store PS4 £2.39

Beholder: Complete Edition

Switch Store Switch £11.99
There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
  • In-Game Purchases: Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
 
Offers Blissful Sleep paid content that offers a new story. It changes the game by gaining you an ultimatum: you are scheduled for the "blissful sleep", euthanasia that you must escape. This is included in the Beholder Complete Edition. 
 
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DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 09/11/2016, updated in 2023

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Players: 1

Genres: Role-Play (Narrative, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Stealth and Strategy)

Accessibility: 23 features

Components: 2D Side-On

Developer: Beholder Game (@Beholder_Game)


Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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