Alawar announced Beholder IV, a dystopian narrative game for PC, on November 9, 2026. The reveal is part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for the series, which includes Beholder 2.
The new entry comes from the creators of Beholder: Conductor and puts players in the role of a young Ministry official secretly working for the underground. Maintaining that cover means stealing classified documents, sabotaging operations, and keeping another secret even from comrades.
Alawar accompanied the announcement with a teaser trailer, the release of the digital comic Beholder: The Landlord’s Handbook, and a 90% discount on the original Beholder.
Inside the Ministry in Beholder IV
A promotion can make you complicit
The office simulation starts with processing citizens’ files, signing orders, and climbing the Ministry’s career ladder. Your superiors see a promising employee loyal to the State. Away from the desk, that position gives you opportunities to investigate the institution from within.
The Ministry includes halls and restricted offices to explore. Its employees have individual routines, weaknesses, and secrets, and assignments will not automatically lead you to every discovery. Finding useful information can depend on being nearby at the right moment.
Your tools for gathering intelligence include:
- Listening to conversations and watching colleagues through keyholes.
- Stealing keys and opening safes.
- Forging documents and planting listening devices.
- Collecting compromising information to blackmail officials or assist the underground.
The two sides can ask for incompatible outcomes. A Ministry order might require you to identify a traitor while the resistance wants that same person helped to safety. A promotion can unlock classified archives, but the new job also requires you to sign arrest orders yourself.
Beholder IV leaves room to pursue personal interests alongside either faction’s demands. Helping the resistance is not an automatic guarantee of a good outcome, and serving the State does not make every individual decision wrong. Players can carry out underground operations or secretly pass their plans to the authorities.
Relationships cross political lines
Four women can become romantic partners. Players can learn about their personalities, help with personal problems, flirt, and go on dates. Some work for the State, while others belong to the resistance, bringing competing loyalties into relationships.
Each woman has her own beliefs, desires, and secrets. A relationship can put you at odds with an order or leave someone you care about working for the opposing side. The personal requests you receive can conflict with your assignments.
Decisions affect characters’ fates, relationships, operations, and the direction of the story. Interventions include changing a patrol schedule, warning someone about danger, or preventing an arrest. Refusing to intervene is also a choice, and a later playthrough can unfold differently as a result.
The evidence follows you home
Police searches bring the threat of exposure into your apartment. After returning from work with stolen documents, you may have only seconds to conceal the evidence before officers begin looking. Hiding places include vents, the space under your mattress, and other spots around the home.
Police search for stolen evidence
If officers discover something incriminating, you can try to explain it away, lie, or use your official rank to escape suspicion. Searches become more persistent over time, and the police may eventually arrive knowing exactly what they want to find. An official position does not put your private life beyond scrutiny.
Destroying documents is another way to prevent discovery, but it carries a permanent cost: the information cannot be recovered. The intelligence worth risking your career to steal can become the evidence you need to destroy to protect it.
