When most people hear the name Clock Tower, they think of the Super Famicom game that only officially got a global release in 2024. However, I have a soft spot for the 1997 PS1 game of the same name, known as Clock Tower 2 in Japan. It was the first game in the series released in North America, and fascinated me as a young horror fan. Clock Tower plays a lot like an interactive slasher movie. A serial killer is on the loose, armed with a huge pair of scissors. As you explore a given area, he may suddenly pop out and try to kill you. When that happens, you can run, hide or attempt to fend him off depending on where you are. Maybe you can run into a nearby bedroom and hide under the bed. In a kitchen, you can grab a frying pan and smack him with it. This isn’t entirely random and is based on a combination of a hidden timer and fixed trigger points, but the game does a great job of making it feel like Scissorman could ambush you at any time. The game also features branching paths and several endings to encourage replays. You can play as multiple protagonists depending on the routes you take, and other characters will live or die based on your actions. All of this blew my mind back in the day, since Resident Evil was still new at the time and I wasn’t used to the idea of playable horror movies. You don’t even spend much time in what could be called combat in this game. Intermissions between the main scenarios function as point-and-click segments, where you select a location from the map and interview locals for information on the killer. Even when Scissorman is in pursuit, you’re usually better off running and hiding instead of hoping to find a nearby weapon. Clock Tower is very campy and silly at times. The graphics have that low-poly look that isn’t terribly scary, the voice acting is what you’d expect for the time, and the story isn’t anything amazing, but it does a fantastic job of capturing that cheesy B-movie vibe. My favorite moment in the game is an optional scene where you can walk into a living room and see Scissorman just chilling in a rocking chair, watching cartoons before noticing you. There’s a charm to Clock Tower that any horror fan will recognize.