One of the creepiest and most dystopian puzzlers around has got to be Beholder. While the concept of being a crooked landlord spying on your tenants for a tyrannous state is pretty bleak, there’s no denying that it can suck you in and keep you there with its strategy-lite elements. Now, this brilliant game is yours to keep for free, but you’ve not got long to claim it.
In a similar fashion to Papers, Please, Beholder is mostly about profiling and investigating the citizens of a hyper oppressive state. While not a strategy game in a traditional sense, it absolutely requires you to be tactical, manage resources, and play your cards at the right time.
As the landlord and manager of an apartment building, it is your job to get to know your tenants and learn as much as you can about them – not because you’re a kind-hearted, chatty soul, but because you’re a rat. Without being detected, you must spy on those living in the complex, eavesdrop on conversations by bugging their apartments, and even rummage through their personal belongings when they’re out, all with the aim of creating in-depth profiles on everyone in the building.
If after all that snooping and profiling you suspect anyone of violating state laws, speaking out against the regime, or planning to cause trouble, then you should report them to the authorities. However, your own morality can come into this – while betraying the regime could endanger yourself and your family, there may be ways that you can cover up and protect your tenants, should your heart wish to.
While Beholder wasn’t a stratospheric hit with the critics when it first came out all the way back in 2016, it’s a different story with players. On Steam, its user review score sits at a ‘very positive’ 91% and it still enjoys a small trickle of players even today, eight years on from its launch.
Now, you’ve got a chance to play it and keep it for free thanks to the Epic Games Store. Beholder is this week’s featured free game, and all you need to do is head to its store page, redeem it, and it’ll be added to your library forever more.
Beholder is free on the Epic Games Store until Thursday, November 28. Once its time in the spotlight is over, it’ll be replaced by another popular and highly-rated game, Brotato, so watch out for that one.
For more similar experiences, why not check out our guides to the best puzzle games and the best management games, which will both force you to engage your brains and spin many plates at once.
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