Beholder 2 is an adventure game set in a totalitarian state in the 1980s, so it's dark and grim, which is to be expected. In case you may not know, a totalitarian government is where individual opposition to the state and its claims are completely restricted to citizens and the government exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. So yeah, dark and grim but back to the game.
You control Evan Redgrave, son of a prominent ministry official and newly employed department officer within the ministry. Your mission throughout the game is to do what it takes to get to the top of the career ladder, but how exactly do you do it?
You start off by just listening to citizen concerns and filing the pertinent paperwork to refer them to the proper authorities until the opportunity arises to move onto better things. For instance, Evan can get hired by different people to different tasks for them, like spying on your coworkers or lying on them. The game's entire premise is screwing anybody and everybody over. You are the only one that matters here. Everybody prays on your downfall, and it's your job to use them as stepping stones to claim your place as the boss.
The dark humor is a riot in this game, don't get me wrong, but there's no moderation with it. It just gets so stale so fast, the same with your starter job. You listen to the citizen's conversations, refer them to the officials, and then lather, rinse, and repeat. The game loves to remind you you're in a totalitarian society. The whole thing operates in a Papers Please type mechanic.
The game revolves around three main components: money, time and prestige. Each day of work has a set amount of time. Use it wisely and decide what task you want to start and/or finish. To earn money and prestige, you need to complete certain mini games that actually require you to read and think. You can't just constantly press A and expect everything to fall into place. That can actually be said for the entire game itself. I think of it less of an adventure game and more of a strategy game, if anything. There's a lot of planning and decision making. Whether you want to play the good guy role or the normalized cruel D-bag, you're gonna wanna plan how you wanna proceed with each of the actions you take.
Graphically, the game pulls off the depressing dreary look they were going for with everything getting the noir treatment. It fits the premise of the game. The game lets you freely explore the ministry and see everything it has to offer. As you rise up corporal's ladder, things begin to change around you, giving the game a refreshing coat of paint. However, like all paint, it begins to dry up. The music itself fits the gloomy theme as well. As I mentioned before, reading is a key element in the game as all the characters mumble and grumble their words.
Beholder 2 is something unique and different. It's an easy and simple game revolved around becoming the top dogs in the beginning. Its dark humor can be pretty entertaining, but when it's constantly forced it becomes bland. Gameplay can be the same way at times. Until you get promoted, you're pretty much doing the same thing day in and day out unless somebody has a special task for you, so the game is pretty slow. Regardless, it's still satisfying screwing over everybody and watching as Evan gets promotion after promotion. Of course, that's only if you don't end up with a bullet in the back of your head.
