Comparison

Beholder vs Overboard!

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Beholder

In a totalitarian state, you manage an apartment building while secretly spying on tenants. Your choices impact their lives and the unfolding story, leading to multiple endings. Explore a grim future where privacy is a luxury and every decision has consequences.

Highlights
  • Moral choice-driven narrative
  • Tenant surveillance and profiling
  • Multiple story endings
  • Character personality development
  • Apartment management simulation
  • Additional story content available
Features
Read full description

Welcome to a grim dystopian future. A totalitarian State controls every aspect of private and public life. Laws are oppressive. Surveillance is total. Privacy is dead. You are the State-installed manager of an apartment building. Your daily routine involves making the building a sweet spot for tenants, who will come and go. However, that is simply a facade that hides your real mission. The State has appointed you to SPY ON YOUR TENANTS! Your primary task is to covertly watch your tenants and eavesdrop on their conversations. You must BUG their apartments while they're away, SEARCH their belongings for whatever can threaten the authority of the State, and PROFILE them for your superiors. You must also REPORT anyone capable of violating the laws or plotting subversive activities against the State to the authorities. Beholder is all about making choices - choices that matter! What will you do with the information you collect? Will you report the suspicious activities of a father and orphan his children? Or will you withhold the details about his illegal activities and give him a chance to make things right? You may also choose to blackmail him to acquire the money your family desperately needs. Features: - You decide what happens: Every decision you make affects the way the story unfolds. - People aren't just objects: Each character you meet will have a thoroughly developed personality with his or her own past and present. - No decision is easy: If you are given the power to destroy the privacy of another person, should you? Or should you treat those on which you are spying the way they deserve? - You don't know where you'll end up: "Beholder" is a game of multiple endings. "Blissful Sleep" additional story is already available!** The Ministry of Introductions is honored to introduce Hector, the ex-landlord succeeded by Carl Shteyn. The time has come to tell the stories of: - the one who has fallen a victim to a horrifying mistake, and is now desperately seeking for salvation; - the ones who broke the law to find happiness and are now facing the consequences; - the one who risked his life for the State but has been left behind; - the one who had everything but lost it all; - the one who mews! Return to Krushvice 6 and serve the State and Wise Leader well! ** Available through in-app purchase • 3D Touch. Force touch will open the characters interaction menu. • iCloud. Synchronize your game across all your devices. • iMessage Stickers. Owning Beholder gives access to free pack of stickers. Meet other Beholder fans at: https://beholder-game.com https://www.facebook.com/BeholderGame https://twitter.com/Beholder_Game

About

Overboard!

In this interactive narrative game, you play as a murderer aboard a ship with only eight hours to escape justice. Navigate a dynamic story world, make crucial choices, and use your cunning to frame someone else for the crime. Can you get away with murder?

Highlights
  • Interactive narrative choices
  • Dynamic story world simulation
  • Time-sensitive gameplay
  • Character relationships and betrayal
  • High replayability
  • Multiple endings
Features
Read full description

JULY, 1935. A MURDER HAS BEEN COMMITTED aboard the SS Hook, eight hours out from New York. Only one problem: you did it. Can you get away with murder? GAMEPLAY Blackmail a spy. Fall in love. Murder a rival. Cheat at cards. Drug a witness. Lie, befriend, betray, console, sneak, seduce, steal, borrow, pray, eavesdrop, kill... There are clues, evidence, suspects, accusations, secrets and lies. You’ll need all your cunning, coercion and charisma to ensure that someone else takes the fall. DYNAMIC NARRATIVE CLOCKWORK * Next-gen visual novel: go where you want, when you want, and say what you want * Simulated story-world: other characters move and act independently, remember everything they see and hear - and everything you do * Every minute counts: you have eight hours to escape justice. Time is always ticking! * Who can you trust? Some characters are friendly, and some are out to get you. Who will you befriend? Who will you betray? Built using the award-winning ink narrative engine, Overboard!'s narrative twists itself around every choice you make. Play once for a thrill, or multiple times to uncover all the secrets and achieve an ideal ending. HIGHLY REPLAYABLE One play-through lasts about 30 - 45 minutes, but achieving the perfect crime run will take a lot longer... CAN YOU GET AWAY WITH MURDER?

Screenshots

Beholder4 screens
Overboard!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Overboard! at none against Beholder's 1. Overboard! also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). Beholder's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 209). On review sentiment, ads, chart position and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Beholder costs $4.99 and Overboard! $5.99 up front. Beholder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Overboard! asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beholder holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Beholder has 1.7K ratings behind it against 209, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Beholder's written reviews are positive against 62% of Overboard!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beholder ships an update every 2 months, Overboard! every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Beholder versus Overboard!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeholderOverboard!
Price$4.99 — better$5.99
Rating4.8 (1.7K ratings) — better4.5 (209 ratings)
Positive reviews69.2% of reviews — better61.8% of reviews
Number of ratings1.7K — better209
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#102 — better#124
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size770 MB165 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperCM Games OUinkle

Customer experience

Beholder

All ratings1,654 ratings
Positive96.8%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews455 reviews
Positive69.2%
Neutral11.2%
Negative19.6%

Overboard!

All ratings209 ratings
Positive86.6%
Neutral1.9%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews68 reviews
Positive61.8%
Neutral7.4%
Negative30.9%

User reviews

Beholder

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great game mechanics
  • 🚀 Engaging and addictive gameplay
  • 💡 Interesting moral dilemmas
  • 🎨 Excellent visuals and atmosphere
  • 🕹️ Unique and challenging gameplay

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🔁 Repetitive gameplay
  • 💰 High price for the content
  • 🕹️ Difficult and unforgiving at times
  • 🔍 Limited replayability

Overboard!

From 209 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Excellent art style and visual design
  • ✍️ Well-written dialogue and compelling narrative
  • 🔄 High replayability with multiple endings and branching paths
  • 🧩 Clever puzzle design requiring strategic thinking
  • 😄 Entertaining and humorous gameplay

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Very short gameplay duration (10-30 minutes per playthrough)
  • 🔋 High battery consumption and device overheating
  • 💰 Expensive for the amount of content ($5.99)
  • 🔁 Repetitive dialogue and scenes across playthroughs
  • 📖 Excessive dialogue and text

Bugs and requests

Beholder

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezing during tutorial or conversations
  • Inability to progress past certain points
  • Inconsistent language settings
  • Tenants not appearing as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • More randomized events and content
  • Additional locations and apartments to manage
  • Ability to delete save files
  • Improved cloud save functionality
  • Optimization for newer devices

Overboard!

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Game crashes during gameplay
  • Sound/audio not working despite volume settings
  • Text cutoff and display issues
  • Excessive battery drain and device overheating
  • iOS 12 compatibility issues on older devices
Show 1 more
  • Achievement tracking not visible on iOS version

Requested features

11 requests
  • Chinese language support
  • Additional maps or story expansions
  • Sequel or spin-off content
  • Save game functionality for multiple players
  • Undo button for easier optimization
Show 6 more
  • Full voice acting for all dialogue
  • Interactive backgrounds and rooms
  • Larger font size option
  • Complete sound mute option
  • Achievement tracking visibility on iOS
  • More varied endings and story paths

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Beholder

One-time1
  • Blissful Sleep DLC$2.99
None

Overboard!

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Beholder free?
Beholder costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Overboard! free?
Overboard! costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Beholder or Overboard!?
Beholder is rated higher. Beholder averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Overboard! averages 4.5 from 209 ratings.
Do Beholder or Overboard! have ads?
Neither Beholder nor Overboard! shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beholder or Overboard!?
Beholder ships an update every 2 months, and Overboard! every 10 days. Most recently, Beholder was updated on October 14, 2026 and Overboard! on October 15, 2026.
Which is more popular, Beholder or Overboard!?
Beholder currently peaks at #102 in the App Store charts, and Overboard! at #124. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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