Games like Beholder 2

The Squirrel's verdictWhere Beholder 2 puts you among NPCs to surveil and manipulate, The Alters centers on one character split into multiple versions of himself, managing a survival base under a time limit. The split between base-building and dialogue runs roughly 40/60 by reviewer accounts. Choices carry weight, but the mechanical context—resource management, base construction—is a significant departure.

Not for you if you want the social manipulation of multiple distinct NPCs rather than survival management layered under the narrative choices.

The Squirrel's verdictYes, Your Grace suits players who want to manage competing demands through dialogue—a king hearing petitioners and allocating scarce resources across a kingdom, week by week. The pixel art and soundtrack draw consistent praise. Median playtime is around 7.6 hours. A recurring reviewer complaint is that choices rarely alter major story outcomes, so the sense of agency is limited.

Not for you if you expect dialogue choices to meaningfully steer major story outcomes rather than produce small variations around a fixed ending.

The Squirrel's verdictThe 4X, city-builder, and RPG framing in Heart of the Machine is thin by reviewer consensus: building placement has little strategic effect, combat is light, and the core loop is closer to a choice-driven visual novel than a strategy game. Players drawn to Beholder 2's narrative decision-making will find the choice structure familiar; those expecting the genre systems advertised will not.

Not for you if you want the 4X/strategy/city-builder systems to have real depth rather than function as dressing around a choice-driven narrative.

The Squirrel's verdictAs a news editor deciding what to publish, you sit at the center of state-adjacent power rather than as a low-level clerk filing reports. NoviNews is built for multiple short playthroughs—a single run takes around 90 minutes—with branching endings that reward replaying more than investing in one long campaign. Social interactions outside work add a personal layer alongside the editorial choices.

Not for you if you want deep office-task variety and freeform choices rather than a short, ending-focused branching story.

The Squirrel's verdictA Papers Please-style loop set inside a surveillance-state bureaucracy: you process applications under a system built on control, with choices that carry consequences. The paperwork mechanics are tighter and faster-paced than Beholder 2's slow-walk office politics, but reviewers describe the story as thin and the dialogue as clunky. Median playtime is around 6 hours.

Not for you if you came to Beholder 2 for its character-driven story and moral dilemmas rather than the paperwork mechanics.

The Squirrel's verdictUploading citizen data to an authoritarian system is the core mechanic: you select which information the state sees, and that selection decides who gets hurt. The info-gathering loop is tighter and more linear than Beholder 2's office scheming, with fewer characters and a shorter runtime—median playtime is 5.5 hours. Reviewers note it's a step down from the first Orwell game in story depth.

Not for you if you want branching character relationships and a long campaign rather than a short, linear evidence-selection loop.

The Squirrel's verdictCheckpoint ID inspection is the single job throughout: you verify documents under dystopian political satire set in the United States. The path through is entirely linear with no branching job locations or routes, and Beholder 2's manipulation schemes and character relationships are absent. Median playtime is around 9 hours. Reviewers flag poor controls and limited replayability as the main drawbacks.

Not for you if scheming against specific characters and making branching choices was what you valued, since this is a fixed linear path with one inspection job from start to finish.

The Squirrel's verdictYes, Your Grace 2 suits players who want feudal kingdom management with inherited consequences from the first game, since it accepts save data to carry prior choices forward. Reviewers consistently flag that major story outcomes feel fixed regardless of decisions, pacing turns repetitive in later chapters, and game-breaking bugs have blocked some players from finishing. Median playtime is around 15 hours.

Not for you if you need choices to visibly steer major story outcomes, or bugs blocking chapter progression would stop you from finishing.