i love being an evil landlord

Interesting Concept, Tedious Execution

Beholder immediately caught my attention with its unique premise: you play as a government-installed landlord spying on your tenants in a dystopian surveillance state. It sounded like the kind of dark, choice-driven narrative I usually enjoy. Sadly, the execution didn’t live up to the potential.

The atmosphere is strong — bleak and oppressive in just the right ways — but the gameplay loop quickly becomes repetitive. You spend most of your time running back and forth, installing cameras, digging through drawers, and waiting on timers. It feels more like busywork than engaging decision-making.

Worse, the choices that should feel weighty and impactful often come off as arbitrary. The game pushes you to make morally complex decisions, but then punishes you harshly no matter what you do. Instead of feeling like you’re navigating a dangerous system with agency, you feel trapped in trial-and-error gameplay that punishes experimentation.

On top of that, the interface is clunky and the pacing is slow. Even when dramatic things happen, they’re buried in a mechanical loop that rarely feels rewarding or immersive.

I really wanted to enjoy Beholder. The art style is striking and the themes are compelling, but the experience itself is more of a chore than a compelling moral challenge. If you’re looking for meaningful narrative choices, there are better games out there.

It took all my willpower to not report my daughter for reading a book.