Comparison

Beholder vs Strange Horticulture

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

Strange Horticulture

Manage an occult plant store in a mysterious town. Discover and identify strange plants, using their unique properties to influence an unfolding narrative. Explore the surrounding lands to find new flora and unravel ancient secrets.

Highlights
  • Manage an occult plant store
  • Discover and identify strange plants
  • Use plant effects to influence story
  • Explore surrounding lands
  • Unravel dark mysteries
  • Pet your cat
Features
Read full description

Strange Horticulture is an occult puzzle game in which you play as the proprietor of a local plant store. Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult. Use your collection of powerful plants to influence the story and unravel Undermere’s dark mysteries. WELCOME TO UNDERMERE Welcome to Undermere, a quaint town surrounded by hag-infested forests and rugged mountains. You are the Horticulturist, owner of local plant store Strange Horticulture. As a cast of colorful customers come by your shop, you are quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundreds of years. EXPLORE THE LANDS BEYOND Explore the lands beyond your store to find new plants, but be careful! The dark woods and lakes are not always friendly to a simple herbalist. You might discover powers beyond your wildest dreams - or lose your mind completely. Use context clues to determine which places to visit, and which to avoid! AN EVER-GROWING COLLECTION Using your trusty encyclopedia and clues found on your explorations, you learn more about the strange plants you come across. By identifying each plant, you will be able to use their effects to influence the story -- from hypnotic hallucinogens to powerful poisons.

Screenshots

Beholder4 screens
Strange Horticulture4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Strange Horticulture at none against Beholder's 1. Strange Horticulture also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). Beholder's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $5.99) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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 Strange Horticulture $5.99 up front. Beholder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Strange Horticulture asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Beholder against 4.9 for Strange Horticulture. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.7K and 1.5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Beholder's written reviews are positive against 75% of Strange Horticulture's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beholder ships an update every 2 months, Strange Horticulture weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Beholder versus Strange Horticulture: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeholderStrange Horticulture
Price$4.99 — better$5.99
Rating4.8 (1.7K ratings)4.9 (1.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.2% of reviews75.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K — better1.5K
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#75#39 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size770 MB522 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperCM Games OUPlug In Digital

Customer experience

Beholder

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

Strange Horticulture

All ratings1,338 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews166 reviews
Positive75.3%
Neutral7.8%
Negative16.9%

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

Strange Horticulture

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Cozy and relaxing gameplay
  • 🧠 Clever and engaging puzzles
  • 🎨 Lovely art style and graphics
  • 📚 Interesting and well-written story
  • 🕹️ Unique and novel gameplay mechanics

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches (viewing device issues, plant movement problems)
  • 🔋 Battery drain and overheating issues
  • 📱 Suboptimal mobile experience (small text, lack of Apple Pencil support)
  • 🕰️ Short playtime, not much replayability

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

Strange Horticulture

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Viewing device bug preventing progress
  • Plants getting stuck and unable to be moved
  • Crashes and freezes on certain devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • More content and expanded gameplay
  • Shelf/storage option for plants
  • Improved mobile optimization (larger text, better controls)

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Beholder

One-time1
  • Blissful Sleep DLC$2.99
None

Strange Horticulture

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Beholder free?
Beholder costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Strange Horticulture free?
Strange Horticulture costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Beholder or Strange Horticulture?
Strange Horticulture is rated higher. Beholder averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Strange Horticulture averages 4.9 from 1.5K ratings.
Do Beholder or Strange Horticulture have ads?
Neither Beholder nor Strange Horticulture shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beholder or Strange Horticulture?
Beholder ships an update every 2 months, and Strange Horticulture weekly. Most recently, Beholder was updated on November 11, 2026 and Strange Horticulture on November 12, 2026.
Which is more popular, Beholder or Strange Horticulture?
Beholder currently peaks at #75 in the App Store charts, and Strange Horticulture at #39. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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