Clock Tower: You're Not Alone

 A couple days ago, Clock Tower was announced to be getting a remaster at the Limited Run Games Showcase that would be led by WayForward, Capcom, Sunsoft, and Limited Run Games themselves. An announcement that came out of nowhere like much of the showcase. Go check it out if you haven't, a lot of nostalgia packed into one event. But Clock Tower stood out to me because I love horror films and games. And Clock Tower was a game I only really remember for speedruns. 

So, I decided to educate myself by watching a breakdown of the series from Tangomushi on YouTube. That video made me even more excited to dive into the series. The problem with that though was the accessibility of the games. All of the entries aside from the original are well over a hundred dollars for physical copies. But since the original never got an English release, there are plenty of ways to download or simply play the game through emulation. That's what I did. I booted up the game and I played it in full and managed to get the B ending. 

My experience with Clock Tower came with prior knowledge. Yet when I stepped in to the game-world myself, I knew nothing. I wandered around the Barrows Mansion for about an hour trying to piece the story together and do some puzzles before using a guide to help me out. Shout out to the GameFaqs guide for this game by Mr_Mason_W2DS. This is not an exclusive problem to Clock Tower though. I have had to use guides for countless point and click games like Grim Fandango and Syberia because things are either not clear on where to use them or the direction is reliant on the player being able to discern things from breadcrumbs. Nowadays, point and click has learned to help players a little bit more, but not baby them as evidenced in Syberia: The World Before.

Going back to Clock Tower. The controls and gameplay mechanics for this game that generates rooms to be in different positions in order to increase replay value is remarkable. As following a guide means that you have a chance to not get the same events as someone else because you discovered a room differently or you went to an area where you learned information that would cause an interaction to take place differently. That unpredictability is what made me have to think on my toes and remember placements of the room layouts so that I had a place to be safe. Seeing as I have rambled without explain how one of the core elements works.

Clock Tower is a point and click game that is combined with the survival horror genre. The main character Jennifer Simpson is taken to Barrows Mansion from an orphanage along with her friends Laura, Anne, and Lotte by their teacher, Ms. Mary. Mary leaves the girls in the foyer in order to fetch Simon Barrows, their new Dad. When Mary takes too long to return, Jennifer goes to investigate. Only to hear a scream coming from the foyer. And upon return the lights are out and the game officially begins. 

You have buttons that allow Jennifer to interact, walk, rest, use items, fight back, and run. In the bottom corner of the screen is Jennifer's portrait that goes from blue to yellow to orange to red. This is your health bar and your panic gauge. It lets you know if you can take a smack from a bird or doll and you can take a rest if you want to calm yourself or restore health in this case. With how this game works, you will be in the red for the majority of the game because the more you run, the more you panic. Given that there are twenty plus rooms and two floors, Jennifer will have to live on the edge. But that's fine as long as you can mash and avoid your stalker, the Scissorman. 

The Scissorman can be met by seeing either Laura or Anne die. After that he can pop up randomly in rooms and sometimes it even feels deliberate. I had many times where I was just playing around with an item in a room and this bastard would show up. He comes out of the tub, ceiling, window, you name it. And the only way to get him to leave is to hide and wait him out, block his path, or hurt him in one case as far as I know. Despite how annoying he can be when you want progress the game, I found it exhilarating and stressful. Like I am so close to discovering this mystery. Just let me live dammit. This aspect really spoke to me as a fan of Slasher films. 

Clock Tower may not be very long or have the most interesting gameplay mechanics, but it makes up for that by delivering on what makes a good survival horror game. The atmosphere is unnerving. There are disturbing scares and gruesome cutscenes. And you can still fight back in certain situations in order to escape. The music pairs well with the audio design that player stressed when they hear it playing because they know the Scissorman is there or an event is upon them. The lonely footsteps in the barren hallways and darkened rooms just give the game the layers it needs to stand out. 

I implore people try this game out before the release of the remaster and understand how good this game is. How this game influenced survival horror is remarkable. I truly wish more games understood how to make the most with what they have. Because sometimes you catch that lightning in a bottle and people years down the line will sing it's praises.