| Clock Tower | |
|---|---|
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| Genre(s) | Survival horror, point-and-click adventure |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Creator(s) | Hifumi Kono |
| Platform(s) | |
| First release | Clock Tower 14 September 1995 |
| Latest release | Clock Tower 3 12 December 2002 |
Clock Tower[a] is a point-and-click survival horror video game series created by Hifumi Kono. The series includes four games in total. The first entry, Clock Tower (1995), was developed by Human Entertainment and released on the Super Famicom in Japan. Human Entertainment developed two more entries, Clock Tower (1996) and Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (1998), which were released on the PlayStation and localized outside Japan. The fourth and final title, Clock Tower 3 (2002), was co-produced by Capcom and Sunsoft for the PlayStation 2. Gameplay in the series generally involves the player hiding and escaping from enemy pursuers without any weapons to defeat them. Scissorman is a reoccurring antagonist and sometimes the sole enemy in the game.
Kono's inspiration for the first Clock Tower title came from watching Italian film director Dario Argento's horror films, especially his film Phenomena (1985). The game began as an experimental project with a low budget and small staff. It sold well enough to prompt a direct sequel which competed with Capcom's Resident Evil (1996). Developer Human Entertainment went out of business in 2000, after which Sunsoft purchased the Clock Tower intellectual property. Together with Capcom, they developed Clock Tower 3 without creator Kono's input which was a critical and commercial failure.
The Clock Tower games have received mixed reviews. They are often praised for their high levels of presentation and horror elements, but criticized for their cumbersome and archaic gameplay. The first game solidified Human Entertainment as a developer and heavily influenced the survival horror genre. Although no Clock Tower titles have been released since 2002, the series did see two spiritual successors. The first was Haunting Ground (2005) for the PlayStation 2, which was similar to Clock Tower 3. The second was NightCry (2016) for Windows, which was directed by Kono and crowdfunded through Kickstarter. A film based on the series was rumored from 2006 to 2011, but never materialized.
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