Beholder 3

Why is a favourite song usually only appreciated when performed by one artist, and a remake of a favourite film can irritate us from the very first minutes, even though we can watch the original over and over again without getting bored with it? Apparently, it has something to do with the special charm which only certain performers give to a work and which is lost if someone else performs the song or directs the film. The same thing happened with part 3 of Beholder, which came out after a complete replacement of the development team.

Comparison to parts 1 and 2

Like the two previous parts, the third game is developed in the genre of anti-utopian and anti-totalitarian saga and is set in the fictional country Greatest Union – a totalitarian state with ruthless bureaucracy, complete ban on dissent and complete lack of human rights and freedoms. The developers from Paintbucket Games made the third part based on the first two games.

Therefore, the main character will have to visit and mayor, and an employee of a certain ministry. And in all hypostasis will have to make a difficult choice: to be a snitch and scoundrel, but to advance in career, or save your humanity to the detriment of success, or try to maneuver, showing wonders of cunning and subterfuge.

Beholder 3 Characters

The game’s protagonist, Frank Schwartz, is caught in a very difficult situation: he has been framed by the ministry where he worked, accused of a crime he did not commit, and presented with a difficult choice.

Either he and the rest of his family, his wife and daughter, are sent to prison, or Schwartz gets a job as a manager, using this position to ‘snitch’ on all sorts of troublemakers for the secret service. If no red herring can be found, it can be planted. The list of forbidden in the fictional country is huge and includes even such strange bans as the ban on dancing or keeping green apples at home.

The gist of the game

At the same time, the main character must constantly take care of the finances, as he constantly has to deal with various expenses, which at times are very large. And another “headache” – obsessed with career and success spouse and naughty daughter. The latter – another “gift” – a lesbian, non-formal, and, as it turns out in the game, and participants in prostrate rallies, for which the parent will have to shell out a hefty fine.

Beholder 3’s twisted branches

Throughout the game, gamers will have to face the problem of moral choice more than once. You can stand on the side of the reactionaries and position yourself as a complete moral monster, go to all the trouble, such as setting up an old friend and a good man in order to just please the boss.

In any case, promotion in career is guaranteed under such an arrangement. It is possible to side with the reformists, who naively believe that without changing the supreme authority (the country is ruled by a certain leader), it is possible to effect positive change through local reforms. Or it is possible to help the Resistance, which strives “to the foundation and then…”.

Conclusion

This kind of Franz Kafka-inspired game reality should seem to be interesting and entertaining. But the developers very much, alas, underplayed and let things slide. The script is replete with a lot of nonsense. In particular, there are too many informals and other “protest electrats” in the Great Union for a totalitarian and repression-based society.

There are also some plot lines that are underdeveloped. And what is the biggest problem with it is the optimization. Sometimes the game glitches so badly that the user can only ask: “What’s in it for me?”.