Beholder 3 is a major step down from Beholder 2. I mean, I knew it would be more similar to the original Beholder (which I had trouble getting into) than the second, but I was not expecting it to have this many problems. Let’s start with the basic premise and how it hurts the game

Having the game juggle the apartment management from the first game and the workplace espionage from the second sounds cool on paper, but is terrible in practice because it spreads the game too thin. Once you unlock the ministry, the apartment stuff feels largely inconsequential for most of the game unless you really want to do side missions. As for the ministry, this time your goal isn’t just to rise to the top, but also navigate the warring political factions, and this is done fairly well, but even then it feels a bit shallow. I feel like it could’ve been so much better if it was the main focus of the game, instead of there being a ton of other shit going on.

The game also brings back the ticking clock from the original Beholder, which I can't stand. The time management in Beholder 2 was infinitely superior. It let you strategize without making you feel rushed. There were times in this game when I legitimately wasn’t able to enjoy the story because I was so stressed about the timer. This is made even worse by the glitches. Most of the glitches surround the tasks and whether certain events have been triggered.

Sometimes missions would disappear from the mission screen but still be in effect, sometimes they wouldn’t count as completed even if I completed them, sometimes I would run out of time for a quest despite the quest supposedly not being timed, and sometimes a quest would activate at a point in time where it would be basically impossible to complete it. There were so many instances where quests were obviously bugged it’s impossible to ignore, and since the entire game revolves around these things, it’s a big fucking deal.

I’m not usually this hostile toward game devs, but it’s honestly shameful they let the game release in the state it did. And the worst part is I don’t even know the full extent of it. Between plenty of obtuse hints for the quests and the fact the game doesn’t let you save most of the time, forcing you to rely on autosaves (but still has the save button on the pause menu) I can’t even tell which frustrations were glitches and which were intentional design choices half the time.

Now finally we have the characters. I’ll save Frank and his family for last because I have more to say about them. The leadership of each political faction were all somewhat interesting (particularly the reformers) but I feel they all would have benefited greatly from getting a similar amount of screen time that the floor bosses in beholder 2 did. Seriously, despite being the entire reason Frank gets sucked into all this, Lotte Altmann feels like such a non-entity in the story.

As for the other characters, they’re even worse. Since there are so many of them, most of them are incredibly one-note, or completely forgettable. Sure you can sometimes find out more info on them by going through their things, but even then, that requires you to go out of your way to break into their offices, which costs money this time. Really, outside of the leaders of each faction and Frank’s family, I can think of about 5 or 6 characters who felt somewhat fleshed out. And that’s out of over a dozen co workers and about as many tenants.

Finally, I’m all kinds of mixed on Frank’s family. Starting with Frank himself, I can’t say I like him. Sure, a lot of the time he’s just a typical protagonist without many defining traits, but he can also be an insufferable dumbass at times. There are several times in the game, especially early on, when something is happening to Frank, and it should be painfully obvious what’s going on, but Frank simply can’t take a hint. I also hated his wife Sabine, but to be fair, I think you’re kind of supposed to hate her. I’ll get to why later.

I cared so little about Frank’s son Alexander that when he was permanently stuck in a wheelchair and giving Frank a speech calling him a failure of a dad for not being able to get the medical treatment he needed, I honestly found it more funny than anything. Finally, we have his teenage daughter, Kim. Kim is an insanely well written character.

She’s a rebellious teenager who constantly causes problems for you, but they managed to make her really likable. Mainly because she’s legitimately nice, and her only real crimes are smoking weed briefly before quitting, attending a protest, and being gay. None of which are bad things, but all of which put her, and by extension you, in the government’s crosshairs. Sabine has a legitimate point when she wants Kim to conform more because in a totalitarian state, not doing so is going to get you in serious trouble, but forcing Kim into that box also feels wrong because she’s not hurting anyone. It really adds a personal element to the conflict surrounding the state, and whenever Kim’s wellbeing was in jeopardy were the main times I felt actual suspense in this game (you know, aside from that stupid clock).

And that’s what makes this game so goddamn frustrating. Buried underneath the glitchy mediocrity, there are a few elements that are legitimately really good, and it hurts that they weren’t in a better game.