Rewind’s New, Scary Game Mode – PlayStation.Blog

Hello! I’m Mariel Kinuko Cartwright, creative director of Clock Tower: Rewind, and today I’m excited to share some new details about the game with you. Coming soon to PS5 and PS4, Clock Tower: Rewind is an updated release of the classic 16-bit survival horror game Clock Tower, originally released in Japan in 1995. WayForward and Limited Run have partnered with Sunsoft and Capcom to finally bring the game to a global audience, where it has a loyal fan base but has never had an official release outside of Japan.

The Birth of a 16-bit Horror Classic

Before we dive into the new details of Rewind Mode, let’s take a look at the game’s creepy history.

My own journey with Clock Tower began as a teenager, when I stumbled upon the game. I was immediately drawn to the graphics and setting; the game follows Jennifer Simpson, a newly adopted teenage orphan, and her three friends. Little does she know that her new home, a mysterious mansion owned by the Barrows family, holds many terrifying secrets. It wasn’t long before I met our main antagonist: the terrifying Scissorman, who relentlessly pursued Jennifer!

Personally, I’ve always loved the horror genre, even as a kid, but I found Clock Tower so terrifying that I could barely play it for a few minutes. It remains one of the scariest games I’ve ever played to this day, and the story, characters, and setting have had a huge impact on the way I think about games and storytelling. Wrapped up in a point-and-click package, with only one enemy chasing you throughout the entire game, it’s a truly profound tale of exploration and tragedy, with so many different ways the story could have played out. It’s been one of my favorite games since I first played it, and I know it holds a special place in the hearts of fans around the world.

It’s an honor to be part of Clock Tower: Rewind, where we finally get to share this special game with the world for the first time! With this new release, we’ve included the original 16-bit game, just like it was in 1995, but also added a ton of exciting extras to make Clock Tower: Rewind a fresh package for both new and existing fans.

Original mode and rewind mode

Clock Tower: Rewind will have two main modes — Original and Rewind. Original mode is exactly what it sounds like: it’s Clock Tower, ported straight from the 1995 version, with new translations in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. And then we have Rewind mode, which is an enhanced version of the original game.

Today, we want to reveal more details about Rewind mode.

The original Clock Tower actually had two releases—the 16-bit version in 1995 and an updated version called Clock Tower: The First Fear, released on the original PlayStation in 1997. Clock Tower: The First Fear added new content, like new scares, more story, and even more enemies. Did you know there was a room you couldn’t enter in the 16-bit game? Now you’ll find another bedroom that offers another place to hide from Scissorman. A new cutscene at a key point in the game also sets up events in later Clock Tower games. And make sure you keep an eye out, because a corpse or a haunted doll might come back to life.

For Rewind mode, we took new content from The First Fear and added it to the original version, allowing players to experience everything Clock Tower has to offer.

We didn’t stop there, though. With Rewind, we’ve also introduced some brand new features, like an updated chase system that sees Scissorman follow you into more rooms and hide in more places, adding even more fear than before. Complementing that is better control for Jennifer, allowing her to run up stairs, find new hiding places, and even use a few weapons. Add in a few bug fixes and quality of life tweaks, and we’ve created what we believe is the ultimate version of Clock Tower for players to enjoy.

None of this would be possible without the Clock Tower fan community, who we worked with to bring Rewind to life. Much of what we achieved with Rewind was based on their work, and it was a pleasure to work with fans who know the game so well.

Clock Tower: Rewind also includes a ton of new content outside of the game, such as a new original soundtrack by Dale North (with two different songs with lyrics, one featuring Mary Elizabeth McGlynn of Silent Hill fame and the other featuring Emi Evans of Nier fame), a beautiful motion comic with all-new voice acting, an animated introduction directed by myself, and much more.

Clock Tower: Rewind is coming worldwide this fall on PS5 and PS4. Make sure you grab your copy to experience the genre-defining survival horror classic.