Clock Tower sounds like it’s about to make a comeback (pic: Sunsoft)



The return of Sunsoft could also mean a remake for survival horror classic Clock Tower, but the new rumours aren’t entirely clear…



The next few years are going to be a tsunami of video game TV and movie adaptions, but that makes sense because The Last Of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were massive hits. Whatever convinced publishers to revive so many survival game franchises though, is harder to understand.



It was, presumably, Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes, but it’s not as if they were that successful, or at least not enough to encourage remakes of Dead Space, Silent Hill 2, and Alone In The Dark, plus a sequel to Alan Wake and dozens of new projects.



Don’t get us wrong, we’re not complaining – far from it, but we do worry what’s going to happen when none of these games sell all that well. For now though we’re just going to celebrate the fact that it sounds like a new entry in the obscure Clock Tower franchise is on its way.



The original Clock Tower was released in 1995 on the SNES, before the term survival horror had been coined with the first Resident Evil. Although it was three years after the original Alone In The Dark set the groundwork for the genre.



Unlike most survival horror games (or indeed most console games) it was a point ‘n’ click adventure, where you’re given no weapons and can only hide from recurring villain Scissorman. If you’ve not played any of the series, then Capcom’s more recent Haunting Ground is considered a spiritual successor.



Original developer Human Entertainment went bust in 2000 but, together with Capcom, Sunsoft co-developed Clock Tower 3 in 2002, although it was a critical and commerical failure.




Hope your holiday season is fun and festive. BTW, we’re thinking about re-making our retro-titles in the near future. Could you tell us which ones you’d prefer? If you have any, shout us out on Twitter using @sunsoftgames We’ll refer to them! Thanks all! — SUNSOFT (@sunsoftgames) December 24, 2021




That, you would’ve thought, was that but with Sunsoft recently asking fans which of their older titles they should remake, specific rumours have emerged suggesting that Clock Tower is top of their list.



Survival horror rumourmonger Dusk Golem hinted last year that a 10+ year old horror franchise would be getting a surprise remake and now they’ve tweeted again, advising horror fans to watch an upcoming showcase from Sunsoft, with the cryptic clue ‘there’s something this Way to look Forward to.’



Although Dusk Golem as the source suggests Clock Tower (Sunsoft bought the rights when Human went bust) the clue seems to imply that WayForward is the developer.









WayForward is normally associated with cartoonish platformers such as Shantae (and the upcoming remake of Advance Wars 1+2 ) but they have dabbled with survival horror before, including 2012’s Silent Hill: Book Of Memories .



As the rumour was being discussed on the forum ResetEra, a poster purporting to work for developer and podcast studio Allfather Productions stated that: ’This thread ain’t wrong. Well, part of it ain’t wrong. Which part is up to you to decide.’



That suggests that either WayForward isn’t involved or the game isn’t Clock Tower. It could possibly be Haunting Ground instead but if it’s not a horror title then it would seem outside of Dusk Golem’s area of expertise. Not to mention Clock Tower is the most popular property Sunsoft owns.







The other candidates for remakes are likely to be Blaster Master , which has been receiving a steady stream of retro-styled sequels for the last few years; platformer Aero The Acro-Bat, which may be more suitable for WayForward; and Metroidvania title Ufouria: The Saga.



Exactly what’s going on isn’t clear, but it does seem very likely that Sunsoft has some sort of survival horror announcement to make at their showcase on Thursday, April 20.









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