Clock Tower: Rewind Interview – Localization, Quality-of-Life Enhancements, and More

When it launched nearly three decades ago, Clock Tower helped create the survival horror genre, and though it didn’t see the sort of mainstream success that later games in the genre would go on to enjoy, it did amass a sizeable fan following over the years. Now, WayForward is bringing the point-and-click horror game back with an enhanced re-release, which, incidentally, is also going to be the first time ever that the game releases outside of Japan. To learn more about how this opportunity arose and how Clock Tower: Rewind enhances and revives a cult classic, we recently reached out to WayForward with some of our questions about the game. Below, you can read our interview with Adam Tierney, director of business development and publishing at WayForward.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"In the case of Clock Tower: Rewind, we offer both a standard “Original” version of the game (with only the language adjusted) as well as the “Rewind” version, which adds missing content back into the title and makes minor quality-of-life changes. This way, players can enjoy the game as it was originally, or a slightly updated version of the game, without having only one of the two options."

What prompted the decision to bring Clock Tower back so long after its release? 

After the success we had porting Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka to modern consoles (as River City Girls Zero) we discussed what other titles could be brought over in the same fashion. We look for games that are well-known in the USA and EUR, but have not had an official release. The original Super Famicom version of Clock Tower was never released here, in spite of being such an influential series of horror games, so that seemed like a perfect candidate.

With this being Clock Tower’s first official release outside of Japan, can you talk us through the writing and localization process? What kind of work went into ensuring the remaster retains the original’s spirit?

WayForward extracted the original game text and translated it into English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Our Japanese-to-English translation was tackled by a WayForward staffer who was raised in Japan, and speaks Japanese natively. Once that was done, we made minor adjustments to phrasing to be as natural-sounding as possible for English-speaking gamers, then re-implemented the translated text back into the game.

Given the survival horror genre’s resurgence, was there ever a discussion to enhance Clock Tower in more comprehensive ways, or was it always the goal to remaster the original and modernize it without changing things too significantly?

With these “port plus” releases, it’s the first time USA and EUR gamers are ever officially playing these titles. So with both the games mentioned, as well as potential future titles we are planning, we want to be careful not to change too much. In the case of Clock Tower: Rewind, we offer both a standard “Original” version of the game (with only the language adjusted) as well as the “Rewind” version, which adds missing content back into the title and makes minor quality-of-life changes. This way, players can enjoy the game as it was originally, or a slightly updated version of the game, without having only one of the two options.

"The team really loved diving into this world, especially with the new elements like the animated intro and songs, which were all produced brand new."

Clock Tower: Rewind will feature some new cutscenes, a new theme song, and a new opening. What was it like working on new creative content for a game that originally released so long ago?

The team really loved diving into this world, especially with the new elements like the animated intro and songs, which were all produced brand new. For the motion comics, we scanned old mangas produced around the classic game’s release — one for a strategy guide, one for a PlayStation special edition of the game — and translated, voiced, and animated those. We also added a jukebox player for all the music tracks (new and old), an art gallery viewer, a new interview with Kono-san (the game’s original director), and a Japanese store kiosk demo version of the game as well. It’s a pretty robust package.

Can you talk us through some of the key gameplay and quality-of-life enhancements that players can expect in Clock Tower: Rewind?

Some of the encounters, rooms, and moments planned for the original game either didn’t make it in, or were added to the later PlayStation port. We were able to fold all that content back in for the Rewind version of the game. We also fixed various bugs, made improvements to Jennifer’s stamina, and made Scissorman even more relentless and threatening.

Somewhere down the line, would you like to develop a ground up remake of Clock Tower?

We would love to work with this brand and with Sunsoft again! Whether that might be a remake or a brand-new game is to be determined. But if this version of the game sells well, I think it’s likely we would collaborate further in some way with this brand.

"Some of the encounters, rooms, and moments planned for the original game either didn’t make it in, or were added to the later PlayStation port. We were able to fold all that content back in for the Rewind version of the game."

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

As a developer, we are always trying to push the amount of content and visual polish in our games, which is always a battle against system resources. We’re very excited at how the PS5 Pro might make WayForward’s upcoming titles even more impressive than what’s come before.

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

We’re very curious how this might positively impact our games on the system. I don’t imagine there will be any difference in a low-resolution pixel game such as Clock Tower, but the positive implications for our other 3D titles look promising.