After the success of the first chapter Warm Lamp Games takes us back to the gloomy world dominated by the Wise Leader with Beholder 2. In this new chapter published by Alawar Entertainment, the Orwellian atmospheres that characterized the first episode become even darker and deeper and without neglecting a note of black humor, dragging the player into an increasingly oppressive spiral of secrets and conspiracies. The new adventure will drop us in the shoes of Evan Redgrave, newly hired to the Ministry following the death of his father, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the halls of the government building where the protagonist will have to work. 
Climb the pyramid
The young Redgrave will take his first steps within the Ministry in low-level clerical positions, but will have to quickly settle into the murky world of work if he is to make a career and reach executive positions. We will have a number of hours to spend in the office, dividing ourselves between our work assignments and investigations to find out the truth about our father's death. The time available is not much, so mathematically impeccable attention must be paid to make the most of the nine hours of the day. Once the working hours are over we can go home and spend some time for ourselves, watching TV or studying some good books to learn new skills before bed, preparing us for a new day at the office.
Of course it is in the rooms of the Ministry that the bulk of the action takes place. Here, in addition to respecting the work objectives, we must be able to establish interpersonal relationships with colleagues and superiors. And it is precisely in these dynamics that Beholder 2 shows its richness and depth of narrative play. Each of the characters we will interact with will have a personal background to investigate, favorite TV shows they want to talk about to make friends, aspirations and weaknesses on which to leverage to gain respect or perhaps a promotion. Enjoying a good reputation in the eyes of colleagues and superiors will be as important as earning money to pay the bills in our apartment.
The system created by Warm Lamp Games in fact, plans to bring the terrible social dynamics told in dystopian works such as 1984 or sadly taught us by history in a videogame version: in the State of the Wise Leader there is not much room for feelings and any breach of the established order could mean the execution of in front of the cheering crowd of our collaborators, rather than a surprise visit by the police to our home, events that obviously will determine the game over. In the event that this happens, the best choice will therefore be to review our choices and perhaps give less confidence to the many characters who will approach us throughout the story.
To go up the hierarchical pyramid of the Ministry, we will therefore be able to choose whether to work diligently or perhaps blurt out our colleagues' secret secrets to superiors, or even torment their psyche so that they somehow decide to leave their job vacant. Of course, the others will do the same to us and we could end up with a nice complaint from an anonymous informer to deal with once we get home. The facets it takes on Beholder 2 they are many and testify to an excellent job by the developers to “transform” purely narrative elements into gameplay, constantly letting us understand the world that is the background to the game.
Beholder 2: a mix of genres
Beholder 2 therefore puts at the center of the gameplay and the narrative a series of choices and possibilities, all in the hands of the player who will have to deal with his own conscience and deductive abilities. In this respect the game, while not shining with originality, is in fact animated by a nice mix of investigative phases, noir thriller narration and logical-deductive games, well represented by a pleasant 3D that still maintains the minimalist traits of the first chapter. The difficulty is very inconstant and we often go from very easy tasks to others that are much more difficult to complete.
The porting on PlayStation 4 of the work of Warm Lamp Games however, it has a small ripple compared to the PC version released months ago. Finally, as you play, you realize that perhaps the PS4 controller is certainly not the best tool to "command" the unfortunate Redgrave. The response to analog commands seems to be rather slow and imprecise, especially when we have to make the character walk or select the various objects with which it is possible to interact within the various rooms. On the other hand, the navigation of the menus is quite simple and intuitive.
On balance, Beholder 2 turns out to be a very good product of its kind, but still intended for a niche audience. The title of Warm Lamp Games manages to captivate the player and thrill him with the articulated plot it tells, with the same ease with which it could throw him into total despair in the event of a game over. Anyhow, Beholder 2 reveals that he knows how to tell a funny descent into the most subtle recesses of the human soul, staging the all too realistic tale of totalitarianism.
