The Original Clock Tower Is Getting Its First Western Release

Clock Tower, a series of horror video games that is popular among gamers in Japan has yet to be released elsewhere. The 1995 classic will be rereleased in a new, modern version for international audiences.

For any Americans thinking, “But we got the first Clock Tower on PlayStation,” actually, we didn’t. The 1997 game known as “Clock Tower,” which did release in the West, was actually Clock Tower 2 and was titled as such in Japan (watch us play it in this classic episode of Replay).

First released on Super Famicom, the game stars Jennifer Simpson. Jennifer is adopted by Barrows and finds out that they are being terrorized by a stalker known as the Scissorman. As a point-and-click adventure, you use a mouse cursor to guide Jennifer and interact with your surroundings to solve puzzles and find clues while evading the Scissorman. There are also multiple endings in the game. Clock Tower is considered one of the forefathers of survival horror and has been ported to different platforms, such as PC and the Wii/Wii U eShops, several times in Japan. 

Wayforward is handling this port, which is being made using Limited Run Games’ Carbon Engine. The developer’s diary video shows that the improvements are the first official English translation (alongside multiple language options), an animated intro, animation-comic cutsscenes and a vocalized theme by Silent Hill and anime singer Mary McGlynn.

Clock Tower, a new game for the Switch, PC and Xbox consoles will arrive early next year. Limited Run Games will also release premium versions of this game in physical form.