Beholder: Conductor

TLDR: As an expansion this is decent, but I don’t think you should go into it if you haven’t played and enjoyed the games before it.
General Thoughts/Overview:
Beholder: Conductor (BC) is the latest in the Beholder series, and follows the same general themes. Dystopian surveillance state where we are the authoritarian spy. Gather information and report it up the chain for money and authority (a form of influence currency). Use these to buy resources for quests, or gather information if you have enough at specific dialogues, or spend it to avoid your fate if you get caught being naughty.
And that’s the crux of the game. Fulfil quests, spy, report, and don’t get caught.
Pros:
The ambience remains a real staple for the Beholder series, and BC is no different. The music, art, and general attitudes and personalities of the characters remains well entrenched and provide solid verisimilitude.
The core gameplay loop is satisfying, although this iteration feels somewhat half-baked compared to the others. It kinda just goes to show that the base idea is decent when even something stripped back still feels compelling.
The story is short and quite tight. The whole game is about 4 hours long, with a couple of runs necessary to 100% it – which is I don’t usually particularly like, but in this instance the branching narratives and meaningful choices actually make it feel quite different, and the short time makes it assessable.
Cons:
There are a few choices which simply lock you out of various things, including a single choice which defines your survival at the end of the game, where it feels like it should complicate matters, but shouldn’t define the final ending.
As previously mentioned, BC feels quite undercooked. It seems to me that there was the basis for a lot more interactions, which just don’t take place. It also seems odd that you can spy and people just don’t care. The whole game feels like it has potential which just wasn’t met, but that the half formed parts thereof remain, leaving a sort of bloated but also empty feeling. It’s as if they stripped out a bunch of quests and mechanics but left in the assets for them, giving you a lot of useless stuff.
The manual inputs for each passenger EVERYTIME is frustrating. I could get behind having to compose each file once, and then just adding to it after. Every time though, is frustrating.
Suggested improvements:
I feel like decoration and service mechanics were stripped out. The potential was there. Possibly giving each carriage a service and quality rating, with different passengers with different needs. Hard to say, but I feel like that would have given the game a little more mechanical depth, as well as ways to generate more information.
I feel like there should be a greater need for secrecy, I know everyone knows everyone is watching… but it just doesn’t feel like there are any consequences for getting caught, except for rummaging in peoples luggage.
There needs to be more ways to complete that final objective. I dislike being pulled into the two paths. It feels like you should be able to learn more, do more, use more authority, have things done in different ways… It feels like this was planned and just never came through.
Overall Recommendation:
This is actually a tough one to recommend. On the one hand I do think it’s a decent addition to the Beholder series, and it’s a good offering of that dystopian voyeuristic surveillance 1984 charm… but as a standalone game? On its own merit? I don’t think this stands up.
I recommend BC to people who enjoyed the first couple of games. I recommend it to people who enjoy games with meaningful choices, and I recommend this to people who enjoy dystopian settings.
I do not recommend this to people looking for a power trip, bangbangwizzpop, or a happy story in a colourful world.
Ultimately I do give this the thumbs up, tentatively. I love the world, the style, the ambiance, and the story. However I strongly recommend you only pick this up as an expansion if you enjoyed the first games, while it might just about stand on its own two feet, it isn’t anywhere near as strong as the other games in the series, and I don’t think it makes a good introductory point.
My curator page with reviews by genre. In case you want to find more games, or even reviews, like this one.

The biggest fear with games like this is that your choices are just an illusion, but Conductor actually commits to consequences. You're the conductor on a moving train for the State, and every decision you make ripples. It’s stressful, dark, and your choices actually dictate who survives the trip. Easily worth a run or two.

Came for the one cutscene, stayed for the great OST, engaging gameplay, detailed pixel art, and the intriguing story.

Great game, really fun, love the train setting, and I wanted more of it. I hope there will be a Beholder Conductor 2 which is longer and more involved than this one with more choices, because it would be a shame if the devs abandonded this style of game (artstyle, point and clikc etc.).
PS. Michelle the goat, rip Emma Hazer from beholder 2 you've lost your status (I didn't get AIDS from Michelle).

The game is worth for Michelle,
Other than that the game is enjoyable, fun, and interesting, been having fun playing it and showing my friend the game, 10/10, would play again for Michelle, AND the waitress's in the VIP car, holy moly.

Recommendation: 90%
Strong atmosphere, story and gameplay.
Easy to recommend

Amazing game, love the story and the atmosphere of the game. Should add an option to move around using WASD though!