Beholder 2

A towering ministry becomes both workplace and prison in this bleak political adventure, where every promotion comes with a moral cost. You play Evan Redgrave, a low-ranking intern drawn into the machinery of an authoritarian State after a personal tragedy raises troubling questions about his father’s fate. Behind the building’s sterile offices, propaganda posters, and endless corridors sits a web of corruption, fear, and ambition. The mood is darkly comic but never comfortable, asking whether survival under a dictatorship is possible without becoming part of it.

Most of the action revolves around navigating the Prime Ministry, speaking with officials, fulfilling assignments, and choosing how far you are willing to go for influence. Evan can investigate secrets, manipulate coworkers, report citizens and colleagues, forge alliances, or quietly undermine the system from within. Conversations and decisions branch into different consequences, while money, favors, evidence, and access to restricted areas all become useful tools in your rise through the bureaucracy. Deadlines and competing objectives add pressure: helping one character may cost another their livelihood, freedom, or life, and there is rarely a clean solution waiting at the end of a quest.

Beholder 2 stands out through its imposing Ministry itself, a vertical labyrinth of departments where each floor represents another layer of institutional absurdity and cruelty. Its hand-drawn 2.5D presentation gives the setting a grim, theatrical character, while the writing mixes personal drama with satirical digs at surveillance states and careerism. Multiple endings and radically different approaches make repeat playthroughs worthwhile, especially for players curious about choices they avoided the first time. Fans of Papers, Please, Orwell, and the original Beholder will find familiar ethical tension here, though the stronger focus on dialogue and narrative makes it accessible even to newcomers who prefer story-driven games over demanding systems.