Beholder 3

Beholder 3 is an adventure game by German studio Paintbucket Games, founded by former employees of Yager Development studio. The game is the third installment of the Beholder series inspired by George Orwell's works. In the game, we play the role of a manager of a block of flats, spying on its residents following the orders of a totalitarian government.

Plot

Like the previous parts of the series, the game takes place in a totalitarian, dystopian country where the government controls all aspects of people's lives. The main character is Frank Schwarz, a former agent of the government ministry. The protagonist is framed for a crime, loses his job and is arrested, but manages to protect himself from prison by making a deal with a high-ranking official.

Schwarz becomes a spy under contract to the party, working undercover as the manager of an apartment block. His job is to surveil the apartments, looking for contraband and reporting suspicious behavior. Frank must do his job, sustain his cover, provide for his family, and scheme and manipulate his superiors to regain his original position. The game is non-linear, allows you to make choices and has several endings.

Mechanics

The gameplay in Beholder 3 follows the proven scheme known from the previous parts of the series. We observe the action from the side, in the form of a cross-section of an apartment building. It is divided into apartments, in which our targets reside. Our task is to install cameras, listen to conversations and break into apartments during the absence of tenants. The player learns personal information about their lives, and ultimately has to make difficult decisions, handing them over to the ministry or covering for them, risking his and his family's freedom.

In order to maintain our cover, we must keep the people living in the apartment building comfortable, paying bills and repairing damage to the apartments. We also need to have money every day to support our family. Thus, lack of cash can lead the player to abandon morality and harm the residents for the sake of making money.

Game modes

Beholder 3 includes a single-player campaign only.

Technical aspects

Graphic design of the game does not differ much from the previous parts of the series. We observe the game from a 2.5D perspective, three-dimensional models move only in two dimensions. The characters are shown monochromatically, as black silhouettes with white eyes. Graphics support the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the game.