I’m sure many, if they haven’t read it themselves, have at least heard about such a work as “1984” by George Orwell. A totalitarian state taken to the point of absurdity, endless grayness and strict control on all sides. And so, just recently I was lucky enough to participate in
Beta test of the game Beholder, with a very similar theme and setting.
Beholder is an indie simulator, in the style of This War of Mine, where we have to play as Karl Stein – new manager of class D apartment building at 6, Kruszwice. What happened to the previous manager?? When Karl, along with his family, arrives at a new place of work, his new employer transparently (in direct text) hints that the hero’s predecessor failed to cope with his duties, and now house management is entrusted to the shoulders of the protagonist, on whom the boss has high hopes.
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The duties of the manager, among other things, include total (or not so much) surveillance, which consists of installing cameras, conducting searches, drawing up characteristics of residents and writing denunciations. To facilitate the surveillance process, there is a store where you can buy new equipment in the form of cameras. They are bought for authority points, which we receive for completing main missions. Every few minutes new directives come, and someone who just a few hours ago was an exemplary citizen becomes an outlaw.
In addition, there is a not entirely legal store where you can buy things that are not available in the government store. Here you will find chocolate, books, and even sweaters and dresses, in general, for every taste and color. These things are needed for side quests, which even in the Beta version are enough to captivate you for a few more tens of minutes. These tasks are not particularly difficult and are solved quite quickly, but they are all very skillfully integrated into the main narrative and work on the atmosphere so well that you want to complete them out of a desire to see how the story will develop further, and not out of a desire to gain a little experience and money. There is even some kind of intra-family conflict here. The hero has to combine the fulfillment of his national duty with his family duty, which, I think, the writers will be able to develop into something much deeper than it is now.
The state comes first
Of course, talking about the entire plot based on the Beta version is a bad idea, but the main missions that the developers offer give hope for a deep, interesting and, no less important, non-linear plot. Yes, this non-linearity may ultimately come down to only two options, but considering how different these two playthroughs could become, I think it pays off a lot.
The general mood of a totalitarian state, where the basis of everything is service to society, is conveyed, albeit exaggerated, as in the same “1984,” but so organically that you involuntarily become imbued with this atmosphere. It all plays extremely pleasantly and even, to some extent, meditatively. Not least thanks to the music and visual style.
Music, calm and drawn-out under normal circumstances, can suddenly become alarming at moments when another denunciation has reached the right place, and the unfortunate tenant is being led into a police car. Although there is nothing particularly memorable in the game, from the musical compositions, which is somewhat disappointing.
As for the external component, Beholder pleasantly surprises here too. I haven’t seen a game in recent memory with such nice, almost cartoon-like graphics. All the characters are drawn simply, but interestingly, with some twist. The general, somewhat muted tone of all colors prevents the eyes from getting tired, while at the same time working on the atmosphere.
What can we say in the end: Beholder is an extremely entertaining project that can captivate not only with interesting visuals, but also with an entertaining story, which, in a certain century, is not about saving the world from everything and everyone by a brave Marine, but about the life of an ordinary citizen of his country, who faces a difficult choice – to become an obedient mechanism for the sake of his family, or to be good-natured, and perhaps end up like his predecessor.