Consequences of Major Choices
Your decisions as a conductor in Beholder have far-reaching consequences, impacting your family, tenants, and your own fate. Major choices often present moral dilemmas, forcing you to weigh personal gain against ethical considerations, or the safety of your family against the well-being of others. Understanding these ripple effects is key to navigating the game's narrative.
Every significant action, from reporting a tenant to helping them escape, contributes to your reputation with the Ministry and the tenants, influencing future interactions and available options. The game tracks your choices, leading to one of several distinct endings.
- Reporting a tenant for a minor infraction vs. a severe crime:
- Minor: Builds trust with the Ministry, minimal impact on tenant relations, but can still lead to the tenant's arrest or fine.
- Severe: Significantly boosts Ministry standing, often leading to the tenant's imprisonment or execution. Can severely damage your reputation with other tenants, making them less cooperative or even hostile.
- Helping a tenant escape vs. complying with an eviction order:
- Helping escape: Can save a life and earn gratitude from the tenant and potentially others. However, if discovered, it leads to severe penalties for you, including imprisonment or execution. It also costs money for fake documents or bribes.
- Complying: Fulfills the Ministry's directive, maintaining your standing. The tenant is removed, potentially leading to their death or imprisonment. Other tenants may view you as heartless, impacting their willingness to cooperate.
- Sacrificing a family member for treatment vs. letting them suffer:
- Sacrificing: This often involves selling a family member's organs or framing them for a crime to secure funds for another's treatment. It ensures the survival of one family member but comes at a devastating moral cost and the loss of another.
- Letting them suffer: Your family member's health deteriorates, potentially leading to their death. This preserves your moral standing but can lead to significant emotional distress for your character and other family members.
- Joining the Resistance vs. remaining loyal to the Ministry:
- Joining the Resistance: Opens up new questlines focused on undermining the State. You gain allies but become a target of the Ministry. This path often leads to a more rebellious ending, but also carries the highest risk of execution if caught.
- Remaining loyal: You continue to serve the Ministry, potentially rising through the ranks. This path is safer in the short term but often leads to a more oppressive ending for the State and its citizens.
- Blackmailing a tenant vs. finding alternative solutions:
- Blackmailing: Quick way to get information or money. Damages your relationship with the blackmailed tenant and potentially others if discovered.
- Alternative solutions: May involve completing quests for tenants, trading, or finding evidence through surveillance. Slower but maintains better relations and can lead to more positive outcomes.