Clock Tower: Rewind Review - Screenshot 1 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

Video game preservation still has a long way to go, but it’s difficult to imagine a re-release of Human Entertainment’s Clock Tower ten, or even five years ago. Yet thanks to rapidly growing interest in retro gaming and the resulting explosion of compilations and re-releases over the last few years, this curious SNES survival horror is now available worldwide in all its glory.

Originally exclusive to Japan, Clock Tower: Rewind presents the original 1995 game along with an enhanced version of the 1997 ‘First Fear’ PS1 port, adding in new scenarios and minor improvements such as the ability to run upstairs (both versions also include a rewind feature). On top of that, you’ve got a bunch of extras to peruse, including interviews with creator Hifumi Kono, motion comics, scans of the Japanese manual and strategy guide, and more. It’s a generous package that goes a long way to compensating for the game’s relatively short two-to-three-hour runtime (multiple endings included).

Clock Tower: Rewind Review - Screenshot 2 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

As for the game itself, you play as Jennifer Simpson who arrives at the titular mansion alongside three other orphaned children. When her companions mysteriously disappear, Jennifer finds herself at the mercy of the Clock Tower and must find a way to escape or die trying. On her tail is a relentless and deadly (though mercifully slow) entity known as ‘The Scissorman’ who begins to stalk her after brutally murdering one of her friends.

In what would have no doubt been a remarkably novel idea in the mid-'90s, Clock Tower offers you no way to directly attack the Scissorman. Instead, Jennifer is forced to run away and, in dire circumstances, essentially ‘panic’ her way out of the Scissorman’s grasp. This is all contingent on her stamina: communicated via a small portrait image in the lower-left corner of the screen, stamina is lowered by running over extended periods.

Though lowered stamina won’t cause you to outright perish on its own, it will drastically reduce your ability to escape. Running away will cause you to trip over, and while you can resist the Scissorman’s giant shears by mashing ‘B’ (a.k.a, the ‘panic button’), doing this while suffering from low stamina is a fast track to Clock Tower’s Game Over screen. Periodically crouching down is essential to recovery, and thanks to the Scissorman’s relatively slow pace, you can do this frequently without much risk of danger.

Clock Tower: Rewind Review - Screenshot 3 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Clock Tower plays very much like an old-school adventure game in that the majority of mechanics are tied to an on-screen cursor. Direct control of Jennifer’s movements are limited to holding down the shoulder buttons to run, pressing ‘X’ to stop, and the aforementioned ‘panic’ functionality. Otherwise, you simply use the on-screen cursor to point to specific areas of the environment. Pressing ‘Y’ prompts Jennifer to move to wherever your cursor is pointing, while clicking on certain objects enables her to investigate or interact with them.

Admittedly, Clock Tower does feel pretty archaic, even when compared to the survival horror boom that would follow just a few years after its original release. It’s a slow experience that focuses more on exploration and investigative elements over outright horror. That said, when you do run into the Scissorman, the accompanying sound of his shears and the spooky theme tune inject a sense of urgency and tension as you try to escape, even if the Scissorman itself isn’t even remotely scary by modern standards.

So if you’re expecting a nerve-wracking thrill ride from start to finish, then we’d advise you to temper your expectations. Clock Tower isn’t a good entry point to the survival horror genre, and nor is it even a particularly strong game on its own merits. It works best as a rare glimpse into the pre-Resident Evil era of horror; a game that, for enthusiasts, is well worth owning for its historical context, and this is elevated wonderfully by the extra content included in this new release.

Clock Tower: Rewind Review - Screenshot 4 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

The motion comics serve as both a prologue to the game and an accompaniment to the ‘First Fear’ version of Clock Tower. You unlock segments of the comic as you progress, and we have to say that the presentation and voice acting on display here are seriously impressive. It’s a nice way to experience some original artwork from an entirely new perspective.

In addition, the 10 interview videos with creator Hifumi Kono are well worth watching. He dives into the development, how the team worked to create a sense of fear with limited hardware specs, and his thoughts on the new Rewind release. It even ends with an intriguing tease from Kono regarding a potential spiritual successor. However, while he lavishes praise on the new animated introductory sequence for Rewind, it really didn’t do all that much for us. The cartoony aesthetic is completely at odds with the otherwise more realistic portrayal of Clock Tower’s setting and characters.

Clock Tower: Rewind Review - Screenshot 5 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

Speaking of presentation, however, Clock Tower: Rewind is mostly a huge success, intro animation aside. The main menu contains a beautiful high-resolution version of the original key art, with a new vocal performance of the main theme playing in the background; it’s incredible stuff. You’ve also an extensive music player that not only covers theme tunes from the game, but also various diegetic sound assets (the parrot shouting “I kill you!” will never not be funny).

Finally, borders containing key art can be applied to the main game if you wish, while a CRT filter gives a pleasant ‘retro’ feel to the visuals without distorting important in-game assets.

Conclusion

Clock Tower: Rewind is an odd game that we feel comfortable recommending to survival horror enthusiasts who wish to experience absolutely everything the genre has to offer. Its visuals and gameplay are undeniably archaic, but there's nevertheless something quaint about its combat-free, point-and-click mechanics. The short experience is elevated greatly by the added extras included for this new release, and we'd fully recommend perusing all of it to help give context and aid appreciation of this pre-RE horror game. Not a must-play re-release, then, but one we would urge horror fans to experience at least once.