In 2016, a small team from Barnaul — Warm Lamp Games — surprised everyone by releasing Beholder, an atmospheric simulator of life under the hood of a totalitarian regime. The game instantly gained cult status thanks to its dark presentation and difficult moral choices. Later, a sequel appeared, completely different in tone, but no less interesting. We talked to the developers to find out how this unusual dilogy was created.

But after the release of Beholder 2, the studio and publisher Alawar went their separate ways. The third part of the series was entrusted to another team — Berlin-based Paintbucket Games. Unfortunately, the experiment was unsuccessful: the spirit of the original was lost, and the new game caused a lot of disappointment among fans of the series.

Beholder 3 Free Steam Account

The Paintbucket Games studio, which took on the development of the new part of Beholder, decided not to invent something fundamentally new, but skillfully combined the ideas of the first two games. Now the main character is both a manager in a residential building and a clerk in a gloomy Ministry, where everything is subordinated to the will of a faceless totalitarian machine under the leadership of the Great Leader. As is expected in such dystopias, any dissent is punished, Resistance exists only somewhere on the sidelines, and the spirit of surveillance, denunciations and absurd bureaucracy is in the air.

In both “positions”, the hero – named Frank Schwartz – is forced to act using methods familiar from the previous parts. We penetrate the apartments of residents and the offices of colleagues, install cameras, look for incriminating evidence or plant it ourselves – the main thing is that it matches the huge list of prohibited things. The ban can be on anything: from books and dancing to banal green apples. Then – drawing up a denunciation or blackmail for a couple of extra coins.

And money, oddly enough, is needed constantly. Water, electricity, taxes, fines – we pay for everything, including repairing equipment and removing garbage. Every little thing, from a broken washing machine to a burnt-out light bulb, falls on the hero’s shoulders. Sometimes you have to steal from tenants to make ends meet, but even here it is important to be careful – if someone notices, a fine or a visit from the police is guaranteed.

Frank did not do this of his own free will. He was forced – in the Ministry, where he used to work, they set him up, threatened him with mines and consequences for his family. And now he is a double agent, a spy under duress. In the house, he watches and informs for the sake of money, on orders from above. And in the Ministry – for the sake of survival, career and the opportunity to somehow influence his future. The higher you climb the career ladder, the more you have to sacrifice – both yourself and those around you.

No fees, just freedom – that’s the steam account free experience.

Beholder 3 Gameplay

Like the previous parts, Beholder 3 is not just a dark informer simulator. Yes, the ability to spy, report and manipulate remains, but the essence of the game is much deeper. This is the story of an ordinary person who found himself in a system that grinds morality, but still retains the right to choose: to bend or remain oneself, to climb up or not to betray conscience.

At a certain point, the player faces a dilemma: to join the reformers who dream of at least slightly changing the order of things without affecting the figure of the Leader, or to continue to serve the ossified reactionaries. There is a third way – to play on both fronts, looking for personal gain and informing on everyone in a row. An alternative line also appears – you can help the real Resistance, starting with an attempt to find the wife of a famous musician, who was put behind bars because of her openly anti-regime songs.

In another plot line, we are faced with a morally difficult choice – either to turn in a state security officer or give him a chance to escape. The problem is that he is an old friend of the main character, a person with whom he grew up. And although the system demands loyalty, the human inside protests.

And as always in the series, a personal tragedy unfolds against the backdrop of state intrigues. This time – the story of Frank and his daughter Kim. A teenager, an informal, an open lesbian who smokes weed and participates in rallies for the rights of minorities. For this, she is fined, summoned to the ministry, and once even blackmailed. Frank, unlike his wife, is not just a parent – he is truly close to his daughter, she trusts him and considers him a friend. But his wife demands toughness: find out who “hooked” Kim on drugs and hand her over to the police.

And here a real dilemma arises. The wife suspects that the figure skater, Kim’s friend, is to blame. Frank must decide whether to write a denunciation of the girl, who is most likely innocent, or to protect his daughter’s interests, risking turning the family against him. Because sometimes even silence is a choice.

Beholder 3 Plot

At first, it seems that everything is going as it should: the dialogues sound lively, and there is a sarcastic view of bureaucracy in the spirit of Kafka. But as you progress, you begin to feel that the game does not grab you emotionally. The only exception is Kim’s storyline, and even there, things are not so simple. The question arises: where did radical nonconformists in punk clothes come from in a totalitarian state, and who also organize gay parades? All this does not look like part of a living world, but like an artificially inserted agenda.

It is difficult to explain in words why Beholder 3 is “not the same” – especially when compared to the previous parts. The themes are the same, the motifs are repeated, and here and there you even hear familiar lines. But something is missing. Soul? Sincerity? Perhaps. Or maybe there is simply too much secondary stuff accumulated. Add to this the logic that crumbles in places. For example, if you save a childhood friend, help him escape, then later you still find out that it was allegedly because of you that he was put in jail – because someone planted something. Although you had nothing to do with it at all. The game punishes even for good deeds that, logically, should not have negative consequences.

And this is not an isolated case. Here you catch an aggressive tenant, save the family – but a couple of days later his children come to you and complain that dad is arguing with mom again. Although dad has been in prison for a long time. Such glitches knock you out of the immersion. And bugs? There are plenty of them. Story quests sometimes freeze, the controls break after loading, money disappears, the interface shifts, fonts overlap, and the optimization, to put it mildly, leaves much to be desired.

But the worst thing is the structure of the passage itself. The game turns into an exhausting marathon: run back and forth between floors, fuss between the Ministry and home, fix the stove, buy cameras, install wiretaps, pay fines, keep track of deadlines. Otherwise, it’s a failure. Got to the next level of the Ministry? And there, the same mechanics, only everything is more expensive and tedious. You need more money, which means more running around.

When routine, bugs and plot inconsistencies hit you at the same time, the whole immersion goes to hell. The game stops being a story about people and their destinies, turning into a dull race in a circle. And at some point, you catch yourself thinking: “Why am I even continuing to play?” – and just turn it off without a drop of regret.

Is Beholder 3 Worth Playing: Pros, Cons, and Impressions

Beholder 3, alas, did not live up to expectations. Instead of a tense thriller about life under surveillance, we got something that itself resembles a totalitarian machine: cold, faceless and in places simply not working. Of course, it is a noble paradox – a game designed to expose the system, itself drowned in its worst manifestations. I really want to believe that this will not become the new norm: either the team realizes the mistakes and rethinks the approach, or the project should be returned to the previous authors. Or maybe just let the series rest – because the fans will definitely not survive another such attempt.

Pros:

• The visual style and general atmosphere of the original have been preserved;
• There are interesting dialogues and non-standard quests;
• There are successful plot scenes and colorful characters;
• The audio part is well implemented – sound, music, atmosphere.

Cons:

• The gameplay feels boring, secondary and sometimes mechanical;
• Most situations do not evoke an emotional response, as it did in the first parts;
• The characters are not captivating – you do not empathize with them;
• A lot of bugs and poor optimization prevent full immersion.

Beholder 3 System Requirements

How to play Beholder 3 for free on Steam via VpeSports

You didn’t even have time to understand when everything changed. Yesterday you were an ordinary person, today you are the manager of a gloomy house where other people’s secrets are hidden behind the curtains, and someone is already watching you. The previous caretaker was taken away without further ado. And now you are here. A basement instead of an apartment, a cell instead of comfort, and a duty to inform on others if you want to stay afloat.

Beholder 3 does not give you the right to be just an observer. This world requires participation. Who is lying? Who is hiding? Who is writing denunciations on you? Decisions have to be made quickly – and almost always they are dirty. Will you help a tenant whose child is about to be taken away, or will you send him to the system with cold confidence? You can’t be kind here. You can only be alive.

The good news is that you don’t have to pay to enter this hell. All you need to do is register on the site, and the game will be available through a free steam account. No mess with installation or files — just you and this dreary, frighteningly realistic story, where every step can be a trap.

When you’re done — tell us what you felt. Not everyone manages to pass this test without consequences, even if it’s just a game. Your opinion is important, but if the comment doesn’t appear — rewrite it a little and try again. Approval will come, and with it — further instructions by email.

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