The fact that the developer was clearly inspired by the universe of George Orwell’s 1984 is obvious to the naked eye. Here is a Ministry that corrects the past in the interests of the state. And the analog of the “thought police” who, just like in the book, kidnap people only at night; omnipresent cameras and total control; and even Big Brother Wise Leader is always watching you not only from the bookshelves, but also in the monitor.
The developer has carefully transferred even such a trifle as a whisper – in Beholder, characters sometimes switch to it when they talk about something illegal. The influence of the famous dystopia is felt everywhere: from the eternal war of superpowers to episodic characters based on the images of O’Brien and Parsons.
The game’s writers did not miss the opportunity to leave a whole mountain of funny references and even parody the writer’s sense of humor in passing. In both 1984 and Beholder, society is presented as caricaturedly patriotic. The double standards and lies in which people in both works live are subtly played up. The only difference is that the protagonists of both games in the series do not necessarily believe that “2 + 2 = 5”
The plot of “Beholder 2”
We play as Evan Redgrave, who receives a letter from James Cunningham with sad news – Evan’s father has died. Evan goes to the capital of the state, the city of Helmer. The main character is tormented by doubts, because his father held a high position and died under very strange circumstances – he fell out of a skyscraper window. Evan hasn’t spoken to his father in years, but he’s never noticed any suicidal tendencies.
With the help of his father’s friends, Evan gets a job at the Ministry. He intends to find out what really happened and who is to blame for the tragedy, as well as to solve the mystery of the mysterious Heimdall project that his father was working on.
The hierarchy in the Ministry is clear: the higher the floor, the higher the position. Our hero starts from the ground floor, learning to perform routine work duties and getting to know his colleagues along the way. People in Beholder 2 may not be what they seem at first glance. But we still have to find out in the future…
Unlike the first part, Beholder 2 has completely switched to 3D format. Now the main character moves not only in four directions. The picture is no longer flat and even more gloomy. There are more large objects and small things on the locations.
The background of the world is well drawn, for example: crowds worship the Wise Leader, and slow airships cut through leaden clouds. The scale of the locations has increased significantly, now the game is not limited to the slums of the house, but takes the player to the square; we will be let inside a skyscraper, where party workers are rushing around in a hurry and even forced to stand in rather realistic queues.
At times, the game becomes painfully similar to the movie of the same name “Sin City” and its visual receiver – the game “The Saboteur”
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Beholder 2 gameplay and dilemmas of moral choice
“Beholder 2 is primarily about moral choices: lend a helping hand, turn away or finish off an already injured person, drive a colleague to psychosis or help in their personal life, set up a person or warn them of an impending threat. At the same time, the game seems to push the player to commit heinous acts and sometimes penalizes altruism and kindness.
The whole plot is divided into days. This or that action takes precious time, which is a full-fledged resource here. Your task is to climb the career ladder and get to the next floor, and there are four of them in total: 1,12,25,37.
To do this, you will need to earn a certain amount of reputation and choose from 2 ways to get promoted: find indisputable dirt on the floor manager, inform James Kennings about him, then he will help to fire the manager and then arrest him. In Orwellian terms, the boss will become a non-face.
Or declare your desire to join the Competitive Environment 1.0.1 program. Then you will need to bleed your nose voluntarily or force your colleagues to leave their posts.