Many gamers know that the Clock Tower series single-handedly inspired many of the greatest horror games ever. In the interest of game preservation, Clock Tower: Rewind is here to offer a modern way to play the original 16-bit classic that was never released outside of Japan, so this is a win on multiple fronts. After almost 30 years, players can experience the Original Mode or the Rewind Mode and all manner of extras like motion comics, interviews, a music player, and more. Should fans of the original series and newcomers alike check out this revitalization of a horror classic? Let’s find out! An Impressive Package That Shows its Age As a massive horror gaming fan, I was excited for the chance to check out Clock Tower: Rewind. I had seen some gameplay of the series over the years and even played a few hours of the Clock Tower 3 PS2 entry, but I’ve never sat down to try the original. This is partly because it was never released outside of Japan but also because I was far too young to know how to import a copy when it was originally released. However, neither of these things is an issue now because Clock Tower: Rewind is widely available on both digital storefronts and in physical form from Limited Run Games. The story stars Jennifer Simpson and a group of orphan girls who the Barrows family has adopted. You arrive at an impressive mansion at the beginning of the game, but things quickly devolve from there. A stalker named Scissorman begins hunting the girls, and it’s up to Jennifer to find a way to escape, leading to one of several endings. The gameplay here is classic point-and-click adventure for better and worse. Clock Tower: Rewind features several new quality-of-life features like a rewind mechanic, the ability to run up and down stairs, and the capacity for Scissorman to actually chase you from room to room (though that’s really more of a benefit for him, I’d argue). These additions help the game flow a little faster, but Jennifer’s movement speed is still fairly slow regardless of whether you’re sprinting or not. Her health is also tied to her stamina, so you’ll need to take breaks if you don’t want to get caught off-guard and instantly killed by Scissorman. The controls translate fairly well to console, though the cursor movement can be a little finicky when you’re trying to select something specific in the environment. Given that the game plays in a 4:3 aspect ratio with either black bars or customizable borders, the somewhat unreliable cursor is even more frustrating since everything is smaller as a result. You can use both the analog stick or the d-pad to move the cursor, but instead of the d-pad warping you to clickable elements like other similar games on console, it just moves the cursor a set distance in every direction. This is all well and good for solving puzzles or trying to use items in the … Read More