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In Beholder 2 you play the role of Evan Redgrave, the son of a recently deceased worker for The Ministry. It’s highly unlikely that your father fell out of a 37 story window on accident, so who murdered him and why? He was a well-respected ministry worker, but the totalitarian government is very heavy handed and does not tolerate any mistakes. In fact, you’ll get to witness the public executions of many of your co-workers. Your goal is to rise to the top and to find out what got your father killed. Climbing the corporate ladder will not be easy and you have to fight for your promotions either by backstabbing or by earning your boss' favor with menial tasks.

Some of the jobs given are illicit in nature. One of my bosses had me throw a party by securing the food, liquor, and prostitutes for the occasion. During the party, you’ll see people drunk, using drugs, and partaking in orgies. Even with the blurred censor box, it’s pretty clear what is happening behind it. By doing your deskwork or boss’ tasks, you’ll earn reputation points. With reputation points, you can access conversation arcs that would not otherwise be available. As you get to know your coworkers, you’ll discover their dreams and weaknesses to use to your advantage. If you discover that they are doing something illegal, you can report them and earn favor with the leader while witnessing their public execution. The executions can be pretty bloody. For example, one of the floors has a giant shredder that grinds subordinates to a pulp.

If you do your job well you’ll earn some money and reputation points. However, with a new bill to pay arriving almost every day, your money doesn’t go very far. Illegal jobs are tempting if you want to be able to support your family. Another expense is paying to watch different television shows to open up starter conversions with your various co-workers. Alternatively, you can hack into their workstations to dig up some dirt on them. In order to hack into workstations, you’ll need to read books on hacking and that takes time.

You have a limited amount of time per day to complete various tasks. It pays to check bushes, carts, and file cabinets as they often have useful documents and other valuable items in them. Eavesdropping on conversions can provide some helpful insight as well. Be sure to save time for getting work done to meet your quota and being able to pay your bills on time.

Talk to everyone you can. Find out what shows they like and what their family situation is. Ask them about your coworkers and their aspirations. With the information gathered, you can backstab or convince them to leave voluntarily. There’s an office phone on every floor that will tell you how many more reputation points are needed for your next promotion. There is also a competition available on every floor to get promoted ahead of your coworkers.

Though this game autosaves, I highly recommend using multiple save files. I made the mistake of using one save file and did something that got me killed. The autosave happened after my poor choice and was not very helpful. I do like that there are multiple paths and options, but be sure to manually save when doing something new and risky.

Visually this game is very similar to the previous game except that it’s now in 3D. At first, it’s black and white but other dreary colors gradually seep in. The dystopian atmosphere is well executed in this title.

Though most of the dialogue is gibberish, there is some English voice acting. The bad ending I got was nicely narrated. With all of the language and blaspheming, I’m glad that the dialogue is mostly gibberish. Pretty much every curse word is used, even the f-bomb. God’s name is used in vain too and sometimes it’s not even capitalized.

If you enjoyed the first Beholder game then you will probably like this one. The gameplay is similar yet fresh. Morally, this series has gone downhill and make sure that you’re okay with the sexual content, language, and blaspheming before considering it. Though there are plenty of choices to make, morally questionable ones are not always avoidable.