Clockfall Early Access Review – A time-twisting fascination

It’s odd that more roguelites don’t toy with time as a core concept. Hades 2 did, and that was cool, but in that case Time was a literal being, not just the concept. When time is the enemy, what are you even meant to do? There’s no stopping time, not really, but that’s not going to stop Wilbur from Clockfall from trying. Thankfully, he does have access to a magical clock which can turn back time, but it can only take him back to just before his village gets massacred, and he can’t do anything about it.

That’s a less than ideal fate, but he can go out for three minutes at a time to try and find the pieces to repair the magical clock, along with getting stronger in order to survive the nightmare onslaught that all good runs end with. The longer you last, the more upgrade materials you get. However, taking too long to get trough a level ensures you can’t actually get to the boss, because even if you do sacrifice something to give your run more time, the boss door closes after a set amount of time has passed.

Normally in a roguelite with ever-changing layouts, that would be a borderline impossible proposition, but here, the only thing that changes is you. You become stronger between runs by powering up, you become strong in each run by grabbing different buffs, and you gain new knowledge about which chests you want to go for, which fights are worth actually fighting, and how to fight different enemies.

The rooms themselves don’t change, the enemies don’t change, the paths don’t change. You change, and you need to make the most of all of that to try and get the perfect run. It’s almost like the game wants you to speedrun it, and that gets easier the more of the meta upgrades you unlock, because you keep getting more and more powerful, while the rest of the world stays the same.

It’s just a really fascinating take on a roguelite, because it’s not how it’s normally done, but it does fit perfectly into the idea of a roguelite. I do think there’s a high chance that some people will find the lack of changing levels to be annoying, since you are even more literally doing the same thing again and again. Sure, you are doing that, but you’re trying to perfect your craft every single time, and get a little bit closer to grabbing an extra chest or buff before the boss room closes.

Clockfall is doing something I think I’ve only seen once before in a roguelite, and to a far higher level. Heretical was another game which has the same room layouts and boss placements, but a lot more randomisation outside of that. Here, you’re really just trying to learn everything and have a perfect run, all while being constantly tormented by your own horrifying failures.

I just realised I haven’t even talked about how it feels to play. It’s slick, incredibly slick, and the simplicity of the combat fits perfectly when it comes to what the game is doing. Clockfall is very cool already, and it’s only just getting started.

Tags: Clockfall