Clock Tower Remake Coming in 2024?
After 29 years, I never thought I would see the day. There will be a Clock Tower remake that will be coming to the West, for the very first time.
WayForward, the studio responsible for bringing us Shantae and Ducktales Remastered, will be working to bring this cult classic to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC.
For those of you not familiar with this game, Clock Tower was a point-and-click adventure horror game that came out in 1995. The game follows the story of Jennifer Simpson, a teenage orphan who was adopted by a wealthy family along with several others. Not too long after they arrive at the large mansion, people start disappearing one by one. Stalked by a small deformed child wielding a giant pair of scissors, it is up to Jennifer to explore the mansion, find out the truth behind the “Scissorman”, and escape with her life… hopefully.
While a lot of people would argue that Resident Evil was the first game to establish the survival horror genre in the mainstream, the truth is that Clock Tower was likely the one that sown the seeds first. Unlike most horror games that have you fighting off scary monsters with limited ammo pistols, this one has you trying to hide with no means to defend yourself.
Clock Tower was developed by Human Entertainment, and has never been officially released outside of Japan. If you ever seen anything on this game in English, that would have been all thanks to fan translations.
I originally discovered this game in 2008, back when I was just starting university. While looking at the game now, it certainly looks quite dated, it was truly impressive that the developers managed to make a chilling 16-bit game that actually had me feeling stressed and anxious.. Probably because of Bobby’s giant scissors? You’ll never forget the first time you hear those snipping shears slowly coming your way!
Remake or Remaster?
According to the official blurb on their website, “this new edition of Clock Tower retains the authentic gameplay, graphics, and sound of the original version while also adding modern features and enhancements.“
In my opinion, this might sound a lot more like a “remaster” than an actual remake. A remake is technically a new game built from the ground up with new assets and inspiration from the original game. Remasters, on the other hand, are different; the underlying game design, story, and gameplay all remain the same as it was on the original game, and usually the only changes are with the graphics and assets.
So, what does this mean? It could mean that we might be seeing either a localised version of what people played back in 1995, or possibly the same game with upscaled graphics, or maybe fresh new assets altogether? From what I saw in their behind the scenes video, they did make some new artwork of Jennifer, so there is always a chance that we could see some new life infused into this older game.
You can watch a behind the scenes video from WayForward below:
Unless things have changed since the 2000’s, the rights to Clock Tower are still owned by Capcom and Sunsoft, so it’s good to see that they gave the go-ahead to localise the game.
I hope this news was informative. If you are interested in this game, I might write up more Clock Tower content as we get more news about the game’s development. Also feel free to check out WayForward’s site for any updates.
Until next time, stay informed and as always, have fun!