Clock Tower: Rewind – Assessment

Avoid playing this game in the dark.

I wasn’t sure what to anticipate when I gave this game a try. I discovered that I was responsible for a young girl without any company in a massive estate, leading me to believe I should start exploring. I strolled through the hallway close by, going past a few doors when suddenly eerie music began playing! Similar to a horror film, but now the character’s mind can actually perceive it!

Naturally, acting foolishly, I decided to investigate the door in front of me when it suddenly opened. I was in a foggy bathroom and observed the different fittings. The closed shower curtains were the only thing the cursor reacted to. Once more, I foolishly decided to check again. The bathtub was filled with water, yet the individual inside was suspended by her wrists from the shower curtain rod. It seemed to be a friend of the girl, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it. All of a sudden, this person leaped out of the bathtub, wielding a large pair of scissors! A small blue-skinned creature, looking like a dwarf, was wearing a schoolboy’s outfit and carrying a pair of scissors that were four feet long. As an idiot, I forgot to close the door after the girl entered. Just like in horror movies, my character was unable to escape the killer and was killed, the screen showing Dead End.

I sat there in shock, pondering what kind of game I had ended up in. Thus, I began anew, but this time I checked out the rooms preceding the one with the eerie music. I made the girl see her reflection in the mirror and suddenly a hand emerged and began choking her!! What should I do?? I reset the game. This marked the start of my time with Clock Tower.

It appears that the girl is named Jennifer Simpson. Her and three friends were taken in by a rich man named Simon Barrows, and when they reached his mansion, they questioned the absence of people. After Jennifer volunteers to search, she returns to find her friends missing, the phone dead, and dangerous lunatics roaming the mansion.

The game is a graphic adventure game where you must explore, gather different items to solve puzzles, and ultimately uncover the sinister secret of the mansion. Almost always, Scissorman (as he is called in the sequels) can suddenly appear anywhere, forcing you to figure out how to escape from him.

By the by, this game is quite frightening. Meeting Scissorman for the first time will be so terrifying that it will haunt kids in their dreams and make you jump out of your seat. I was scared to switch the lights off for a few days following my game. However, as it was intended to be, Clock Tower serves as a fairly good representation of its genre.

The element of adventure in the game is not very prominent due to the limited amount of items and challenges that necessitate their use for progression. The majority of the issues pertain to locating a hiding spot from Scissorman or obtaining a key to unlock a door leading to a different area of the mansion.

The visuals are satisfactory for a SNES game, showing some quite gruesome scenes, while the sound stands out as the best aspect, with eerie music playing during creepy moments or when Scissorman appears for another round of chase.

I am happy to consider Clock Tower as one of the limited number of excellent Super Nintendo games I have had the opportunity to evaluate. Clocky, I give you an eight because you look good, play well, and have a creepy vibe.