Beholder for Xbox One review: An interesting concept that falls short of greatness

Strategy titles are ever a welcome sight on the Xbox One, and then I initially had high hopes for Beholder. And in many means, it lived up to my expectations. Between the beautifully crafted dystopian setting, atmospheric musical score, and initial solid writing, I was definitely hooked into the experience.

Yet, the meat of Beholder — the gameplay — is where serious flaws are revealed. Though the game tests both your multitasking skills and moral reasoning, the repetitive nature of the gameplay and the lack of true replay value proceed Beholder from existence something truly special.

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Story and setting: A boob for your masters

Beholder takes place in a course of dystopian near-future in which social club is controlled past a government known as the Ministry. The Ministry hires special employees to deed as managers for apartment complexes. It sounds okay enough, until you lot learn that their master job is to spy on every attribute of the lives of tenants, reporting misconduct to the authorities.

You accept control of Carl, who recently chose to take this position and lives as a manager in a circuitous with his family unit. After watching the previous manager who failed to perform his duties get browbeaten by the police and arrested, it immediately becomes articulate to you that, agree with the Ministry'south policy on privacy or not, refusing to do as the organization says is non ideal.

As the Ministry begins to unveil new, increasingly ridiculous laws (such as outlawing the ownership of apples) you're faced with the difficult choice to either uphold the law in order to continue you and your family in skillful condition, or to ignore the invasive policies, letting your tenants live private lives but risking yourself in the process.

Will yous choose to stand with this organization, or fight it? This is ultimately the main question that drives the game's narrative. It's a compelling one, to be certain, but it falls flat after a few hours due to the lack of whatever graphic symbol in both the protagonist of Carl and the numerous NPCs. The story is dynamic with several endings, merely there'due south no reason to become attached to anyone and as a event, replaying the game to feel the different scenarios is a chore.

Gameplay: Continue tabs on everyone

As the director of your building, information technology's up to you to constantly make certain that you know what everyone is up to. By using money you earn to buy cameras and other equipment, you tin can create effective security systems that allow you to see everything happening, everywhere. Cameras don't always work, though, and sometimes yous're forced to manually spy on people by other methods, such as peepholes.

Every bit more than and more people move in, making certain yous have an effective program in identify to go on tabs on them all is where Beholder is at its all-time. Speaking to them all is besides advantageous, every bit you can learn data most them which will give yous potential hints nigh what they might do in the futurity or bring into your complex.

Sadly, though, interacting with the NPCs is a deadening process, and very few of them are interesting. In addition, the exact same people motion in during replays, and this lack of diversity ultimately make Beholder an unpleasant grind to render to after your first completion. Finally, the controls can often times feel a bit confusing and clunky, and that'south a big problem in a title that expects y'all to multitask efficiently and in a timely manner.

Beholder for Xbox One bottom line

Though it introduces a great concept and backs information technology upwardly with competent visuals, music, and decent writing, Beholder is restrained from farther success cheers to multiple issues with the gameplay mechanics, controls, and poor replay value.