There is a reason why fans of horror video games are drawn to the survival horror subgenre. These games are uniquely designed, and the surge of adrenaline is unlike anything you have ever felt. Because your adversaries are frequently far too strong and unbeatable, the emphasis is not on annihilating them.
You experience thrills that are unsurpassed because your only concern is saving yourself. Over the years, there have been a number of timeless titles in the survival horror genre. Many of these games have established lucrative franchises and are constantly being updated. There are certain people that do not receive much attention, though.
Despite giving players some incredible experiences, these underrated games are rarely noticed. We present to you one such franchise that has been lost to the sands of time today. Although it was one of the lesser-known titles, the Clock Tower series got off to a promising start and gained some devoted admirers.
The franchise gradually died out as a result of the games losing their original appeal over time. But we still can not get over the eerie atmosphere that the game produced, and the Scissorman’s grotesque appearance is just as unsettling today as it was then.
Even though things didn’t work out, some of the games in the series are still enjoyable to play today, therefore we choose to give you a glimpse of this great franchise in this video.
Clock Tower (1995) – The beginning of the journey
This was the first game in the franchise, and it was developed and published by Human Entertainment for the Super Famicom. Officially, the game was never released outside Japan, but word soon got out and there are various fan translations.
The story traces the journey of an orphan named Jennifer Simpson, who lived in an orphanage in Norway. She gets adopted by a wealthy fellow named Simon Barrows who is somewhat of a social outcast. He lives in a mansion known as the Clock Tower because of its features, and Jennifer is adopted along with three other orphans named Laura, Anna, and Lotte. They are taken to the mansion by a woman named Mary, and she soon leaves to find Mr. Barrows.
When she takes an unusually long time, Jennifer starts looking around, and suddenly she hears a scream from a distance. She finds that one of the adopted girls has been killed, and to her horror, she realizes that a murderous-looking boy with deformed features is stalking her. This boy is called Bobby Barrows, and he is none other than Scissorman – a deformed young man wielding a massive pair of scissors.
The game allows you to make certain choices and things pan out accordingly. Jennifer starts looking around for Mary and her real intentions of bringing them to the mansion. One of the choices leads the player to Simon Barrows, who is trapped in a jail cell in the courtyard. Another choice will lead the player to the corpse of Jennifer’s father who has a letter beside him. This letter reveals his encounter with Mary Barrows, and her twins Bobby and Dan.
He was trapped in this place until his death, and now, Jennifer has to get away safely. She visits an old church, and when she comes across the necessary clues and other items, she has access to the catacombs of the mansion. After some haunting journeys across the mansion, more secrets are revealed about the deranged family. It turns out that Dan Barrows is a gigantic purple creature, and Jennifer has to deal with one final showdown with the Scissorman! The narrative of the game is open-ended, and you can explore multiple endings depending on your choices and actions.
Marvelous Verdict
Those who have played this game swear by the art style and narrative style, and there is a reason behind that. The director of the game, Hifumi Kono, was inspired by the works of the famous Italian horror film director Dario Argento. In fact, this game was made as a tribute to his film titled Phenomena, and even the plot shares similarities with some of Argento’s other movies. Thus, Old Tower has the feel of an old horror film and the purists do not seem to mind that at all. The game was made on a strict budget, and despite the constraints things worked out fine.
Much of the gameplay is spent trying to find clues, and the player is always tensed about the sudden reappearance of the Scissorman. He pops out of nowhere, and when he is after you there is not much that you can do apart from hide. The game is eerily quiet, but his arrival is always marked by loud music. The point-and-click interface might seem outdated today, but it used to be a thrilling experience back then.
The puzzles are cryptic, and it is not always clear which direction you should be taking. The unpredictability of the gameplay gets on your nerves at times, and the ability to play as multiple characters adds to the excitement. The controls are a bit clunky at times, but you simply wouldn’t mind with all the excitement. Overall, it has to be said that the Clock Tower franchise started with a bang! This was one of the first survival horror flicks that came in the market, and playing the whole game does require a heart of steel. Are you up for the challenge?
Clock Tower (1996) – Jennifer’s trauma continues
This game was known as Clock Tower 2 in Japan, but for the rest of the world, this was the first official release of the franchise. It was developed by Human Entertainment and released for the PlayStation. It was an instant success, and it sold over half a million copies in quick time. By now, the popularity of horror games had started to increase courtesy of the Resident Evil franchise, and Clock Tower enjoyed the benefits.
The narrative takes you to the events after the first game, and now, Jennifer has been adopted by Helen Maxwell, who happens to be an assistant professor of criminal psychology in Norway. Jennifer is still recovering from the horrors of the past events, and she is undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, Helen learns that a series of brutal murders are taking place and it seems like the notorious Scissorman is back once again. She hears all about this vicious killer from Jennifer, and she tries to look for valuable information that could potentially help in stopping the crazy killer.
Like the first Clock Tower game, this one is also based upon the choices that you make. You can choose various characters, settings, and even your actions, and these will naturally impact the outcome. In Chapter 1, the player has to control either Jennifer or Helen. Scissorman is on the prowl in the university research facility and you must find a way to escape. The second chapter makes the player look for a valuable clue, the Demon Idol, and this is going to help the murder investigations big time.
However, there are multiple ways of searching and getting to the idol. In the final chapter, you are back to the Barrows Castle once again, and here, you have to play as the character you selected in the first chapter, Jennifer or Helen. The goal is to destroy Scissorman, once and for all, but the open-ended narrative has ten different endings based on your actions.
Marvelous Verdict: A Monstrous Serial killer to remember!
This was PlayStation’s first-ever game to feature a deadly serial killer. Just like the first game of the franchise, this one retained the theme of uneasy tension, and it was praised for the perfect horror movie-like ambiance. There were some who complained about the slow pacing of the game, but for us it was the slow-burning nature that impacted the most. It is a perfect sequel to the Japan-only SNES game, and the style of gameplay is not much different. The fear of Scissorman was magnified further, and this time he seemed deadlier than before.
The panic button came in handy when faced with the killer all of a sudden. It could put some distance between you two, but the ploy wouldn’t work twice in a short time. You can also try and find things in the surroundings to fight the Scissorman, but we liked hiding best because this wasn’t an easy enemy to fight. The sudden appearance of the monstrous killer was enough to disrupt your strategy and thinking.
Basically, the plot of the game pans out like a murder mystery, but the presence of the killer around makes things exciting as well. The gameplay is all about finding clues and objects that allow you access to new areas, and the investigation continues. It is relatively easy to play, and if you stay with the narrative patiently, you will be rewarded with a hidden gem. The only issue we faced was with some of the puzzles that were a bit too easy.
There are some bits that defy logic, but you can always go and study some Physics for your dose of rationality! If you are someone with a fond memory of point-and-click adventures, this might be quite an enriching experience for you. It certainly doesn’t match up to some of the horror game classics that you enjoy today, but for its time, Clock Tower was sensational.
Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (1998)
After the grand success of Clock Tower around the world, Clock Tower II followed in quick time. However, this is also the beginning of the end because the game failed to set the cash boxes jingling. Human Entertainment developed the game and it was released for the PlayStation in 1998. This time the story moves away from the narrative that we witnessed in the first two games.
Alyssa Hale is a young girl in high school, and she is off to visit her father’s friend Phillip Tate. She has a history of mental instability, and it was found that she had a personality called Mr. Bates, which often took over. When she lost control of this alternate personality completely, she had to undertake extensive therapy, and now, she seems to have healed; or has she!
During her journey, she is fascinated with her amulet because she believes that it has some kind of power over her. She starts to believe that the amulet is somehow related to this personality of Mr. Bates, and it is almost some kind of a possession.
Meanwhile, someone is at the door in Philip Tate’s house. His wife believes that it is their daughter Ashley, but she screams in fear after opening the door. Philip rushes out, but we are not shown what becomes of the couple. Instead, we see Alyssa walking into the house at night. There appears to be nobody around, but soon, she spots her cousin Ashley beheaded. Her other cousin Stephanie seems to have lost her mind, and she attacks her in a deranged state. Finally, she finds Phillip, who advises her to burn a statue related to the Maxwell curse.
Suddenly Stephanie arrives and tries to stop her. The personality of Mr. Bates takes over and Alyssa stabs her to death. She also throws the statue into a fireplace before collapsing unconscious. Later, she wakes up in a hospital that seems to be infested with zombies. The bizarre turn in the story leads her to find out about the Maxwell Curse, and how she was an adopted child. There is a shocking twist in the end, but honestly, the player loses most of his interest by then!
Marvelous Verdict – A Struggle Within or a struggle for the player?
We believe in the policy, if something aint broke, don’t fix it! The developers missed the trick with Clock Tower, and shifted completely from the tried and tested formula. Somehow, they wanted to integrate a bit of everything into the story, and it turned out to be so weird that it almost tests the patience of the player. The mystery surrounding Alyssa and her psychological disorder, which ultimately turns out to be something far more complicated, is one that you would like to forget. One of the greatest assets of a survival horror game is a gripping narrative, and Clock Tower II misses out on that big time.
The series creator, Hifumi Kono did not direct this game, and it shows in the end result. The gameplay was flawed, and the dual personality mechanic in the game was quite confusing. The player has to guide Alyssa, and she occasionally gets possessed by her alter ego. With a weak story, the gimmick is not convincing, and it all seems pretty pointless. They tried to create something new, but the effort failed miserably. The only redeeming quality about this game was the eerie atmosphere, which was the saving grace in a faltering plotline.
Even the point and click interface was faulty and it looked like Alyssa was some runway model every time she ran. The graphics are not impressive either, and despite having clarity the visuals were below par. All these issues meant curtains for Human Entertainment for this project, and the next game had a different developer. The fans love survival horror games for the chills, and the frightening moments in this game were quite rare. We believe that this game had genuine potential, and with a better story and execution things could have been very different.
Clock Tower 3: A Desperate Effort to redeem the franchise
The Clock Tower franchise was on the verge of collapsing after the failed outing with Clock Tower 2, and the fourth installment in the series aimed to set things right. The game was co-produced by Capcom and Sunsoft, and it was released for the PlayStation 2. In charge of direction was Japanese film director Kinji Fukasaku, and this was the only game that he directed. The story shares no similarities with the other games in the series, and the only similarity is the recurring character Alyssa even though things around her are different. She is a 14-year-old girl hailing from a family lineage of female warriors, and they all travel through time to defeat evil spirits.
The story is premised in London, and Alyssa goes to a boarding school there. Her grandfather, Dick, had mysteriously disappeared, and this prompted her mother to send her away to a boarding school. She gets a letter from her mother that orders her to go into hiding until she turns fifteen. She seems baffled and instead of obeying her instructions, she heads back home. Her mother is nowhere to be seen, and she is greeted by a man called The Dark Gentleman.
As she desperately looks for her mother, she is transported back in time to the days of the Second World War. After her encounter with the evil spirit of a killer called the Sledgehammer, she learns about her true origin. She hails from the clan of warriors who fight entities that take over innocent humans. Their powers are the maximum when they are fifteen years old, and Alyssa also travels to the 1960s to deal with another such threat.
She finally comes back to her own time, and the Dark Gentleman congratulates her on her accomplishments. However, she realizes that she is being preyed upon because it is a part of a ritual. If a human wishes to become one of these evil entities, he has to remove her heart and drink her blood. The Dark Gentleman has some sinister plans, and she takes down his subordinate. She also encounters Scissorman, the recurring villain of the franchise, and finally, she fights and defeats the Dark Gentleman. She reunites with her mother’s spirit, and it all ends on a positive note.
Marvelous Verdict – An Unfair Failure
Clock Tower 2 was a disaster in terms of the story, and the next addition to the franchise ensured that they left no stone unturned regarding the plot. It was a satisfying narrative, almost like a movie, and the cut scenes in the game are worth checking out! There are some games, where the cinematic moments are more interesting than the actual gameplay, and Clock Tower 3 is one of them. This is not necessarily appealing for the player even though it might look great visually. However, we were quite impressed with the overall efforts, and this is certainly a great comeback after a disaster. Was it enough? Evidently not because this was the last game in the franchise. It sold too few copies, and it was a commercial failure despite its positives.
You play as Alyssa and she is soon thrust into a sinister world that forces her to fight some tough enemies. It is also some kind of an awakening for her because she realizes her true origins. The gameplay is divided into four chapters, and for much of the narrative you have to deal with some intense enemies. You do have a jar of holy water to be used against the ghosts, but that doesn’t always work out. This powerless feeling in crisis makes things exciting, and you have to use your wits to hide and strategize.
It is a welcome change to the usual horror game formula, and we loved the excellent production values. This game perfected the sounds, but the AI seems to be a tad flaky. We could have enjoyed better boss fights, and the consistency drops sharply as you move ahead. If you set the minor flaws aside, this was not a poor experience at all, and the theme is suitably dark and moody. The final nail in the coffin for the series deserved more attention, but maybe, it was just not at the right place at the right time!
Fall of the Franchise and the Way Ahead
Survival horror games thrive on detailed lore or a set theme that keeps the gamers interested. One of the biggest issues with the Clock Tower franchise is that it deviated from a successful format unnecessarily. Clock Tower II could have focused on developing the graphics and gameplay, instead of tampering with the story entirely. It created so much disgust among the gamers that even a deserving comeback could not win them back.
Finally, when Clock Tower III turned out to be a commercial failure, the creators called it quits for the franchise. Within a few years,] the likes of Silent Hill took over the survival horror genre, and Clock Tower could not bring a narrative that could challenge the competition in the market.
There is not much in terms of future projects, and this series seems to have ended for good. However, we cannot help but remember some memorable moments, especially in the first two Clock Tower games. It was a franchise brimming with potential, and it is a shame that it died an untimely death!