Time Travel and Time-Manipulation are always popular premises for games. From games like Braid to more widely branching things like Life is Strange Time Travel remains a popular and interesting sort of mechanic in both gaming and entertainment media. Gamesoft is an indie developer that aims to take this a step further with Clockwork, a game that blends both Time Manipulation and steampunk elements into a puzzle platforming adventure.
After a deadly plague began to destroy human civilization, humans made metal bodies for themselves that would never age and die. Soon after, the plague took hold of the world, leaving nothing but the mechanical city of Watchtower in its wake. You are put in the shoes of Atto, a mechanical boy that fixes the machines and people of Watchtower. One day, Atto’s pocket watch wakes up, introducing herself as Milli and telling Atto that she knows how to fix the city and people for good; this sends Atto on a journey through the districts of Watchtower while avoiding a mechanical monster known only as The Hour.
The main portions of the puzzles in Clockwork involve gates, switches and utilizing Milli’s powers to enable Atto to create duplicates of himself. By flipping switches and interacting with the environment, Atto can set up a sequence of events that duplicates will follow. Once the duplicates have their routine, Atto is then free to exploit the changes the duplicates have made, progressing through the level.
Clockwork is split into acts, with over 60 levels in total. Some levels are short, or room puzzles, while others are longer and more complex. Milli can project herself through the level, allowing you to get a lay of the land beforehand. This can help you plan out how you aim to solve the puzzles and progress to the next level. At the end of each act, there is a boss fight. Boss fights are intended to be a test of what the player has learned through playing the levels. However, the boss fights in Clockwork are less challenging in terms of utilizing mechanics, and more frustrating tests of how quickly you can complete them.
I found myself greatly disappointed by the boss fights in Clockwork compared to the puzzles in the game. The boss fights seemed to be more focused on precision platforming than the puzzle elements in the game. For a game that had such meticulous world building and such gorgeous detail to it, tossing in boss fights that were more trial than error than actual puzzling just seems sloppy.
Clockwork is a gorgeous game, and the puzzles are interesting. The music is also somewhat peaceful and calm, but the voice acting (done in gibberish to give it a unique feel) gets old very quickly. I found myself annoyed with the strange gibberish, and only endured it so that I could hear the soundtrack. Truthfully, Clockwork seems like a great premise, but it doesn’t feel fun. It feels as though the developers were missing a crucial part of the game development formula in order to really sell the experience.
In playing through the levels, I found myself losing the curiosity about the world and its inhabitants because the gameplay seemed bland and uninspired. The premise was solid, the controls and mechanics were smooth, the puzzles evolved and changed, but it just lacked the spirit of an engrossing puzzle experience. Combining that with the frustrating boss fights that didn’t really relate to the game mechanics makes Clockwork a disappointing experience.
If you like puzzle platformers and want to give Clockwork a try, go for it. It isn’t the greatest, but it isn’t the worst puzzle platformer I’ve played either. The visuals are stunning, the game plays well, but without substance to back it up, Clockwork just feels hollow.