Beholder: Conductor puts you in charge of order aboard the Determination Bringer, a celebrated train travelling through a vast country. As senior conductor, you oversee an assigned carriage and assist its passengers, but the job is also one of scrutiny: you must decide who deserves help, who raises suspicion and how far to go in enforcing the rules.
The tools of the trade include reporting, intimidation, searches and ejection. Watch for fare-evaders, monitor passenger activity and inspect baggage; prohibited items can prompt a call to the police. The work also reaches beyond your carriage as you gain access to dining and VIP areas, while keeping tabs on colleagues who might accept bribes or transport banned goods. Secret assignments from higher-ups bring another test of loyalty, and carrying smugglers’ packages offers a risky, profitable alternative.
This adventure and simulation frames routine train duties as a series of moral and political compromises. Decisions can affect passengers and coworkers, while promotions and secret missions make the conductor’s relationship with the Ministry part of the journey. Rather than presenting authority as a simple matter of keeping the peace, the game asks what kind of person you become when surveillance, coercion and personal gain are all part of the job. The choice, as the journey unfolds, is yours.
