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SNES “Clock Tower” Is The Best Survival Horror Forefather
I’m sure most of you are aware of the “Clock Tower” game that made its way stateside for the Playstation in 1996. Considered by many to be the forefather of the now dying genre. (We need you Silent Hills!) The “Clock Tower” that we know and love here in America was actually the second game in the series. The original game was released for the Super Nintendo in 1995.
Finding a translation for the game is nigh-impossible. But the original game follows the same 2D point and click adventure style that the series is known for. And, originated the idea of a character on the run.You play as Jennifer Simpson, and give commands such as investigating objects or opening doors. The interface is akin to computer adventure games of the 1990s, but simplified to work better with a gamepad. Primarily, the player can only move Jennifer left and right through the environment, although there are some rooms in which an action requires Jennifer to step into the background.
The god-damn scissor man delays puzzle solving and requires the player to run in order to find objects or hiding places to fend off or avoid the attacker. The scissorman is a 9-year-old slasher named Bobby Barrows, and wields a large pair of scissors. If directly confronted by Bobby, the player engages in a “panic” phase and must repeatedly pound the “panic button” to attack the enemy. If Jennifer is low on health, or the player does not tap the panic button fast enough, Bobby will attack Jennifer and the player will be presented with a “Dead End” screen.
The game was also a first of it’s kind because it had NINE different endings. The game is absolutely crazy, and came along at the perfect time in survival horror – paving the way for modern classics like Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. If you’ve ever been intrigued about the game and unable to play it, today Twitch user Bawkbasoup will be live-steaming all nine endings. This all goes down at 10:30am PST, so if you want to see a little piece of survival horror history – translated and fully realized, I recommend tuning in.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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