Publisher 1C has announced that they will be bringing Micropsia Games’ The Watchmaker to current-gen consoles and Windows PC in 2017. While the release may be some time away, the studio will have a playable demo on hand at Gamescom 2016 later this month.
Taking place entirely in a giant clock tower, The Watchmaker follows Alexander, the keeper of the clock. For years, he has been maintaining the mechanics of the tower in order to make sure it runs continuously. One day during his routine, though, Alexander is warned by a mysterious voice that something has gone wrong inside the tower. And since the tower is not running properly, time itself has now gone mad. Alexander will need to make his way through the tower to not only fix time, but to also find out the secrets behind it.
As you’d expect, time plays a big role in the gameplay of The Watchmaker. Alexander wields specialized time bombs that can be used to manipulate the environment around him, and there also appears to be some Sands of Time style rewinding of time if you mess up navigating the tower.
The changing of time also has a unique effect on Alexander. Our protagonist appears to be suffering from some type of disease that rapidly increases his age. Getting hurt by enemies only helps to further the aging process on him. So, instead of collecting health packs to heal, he’ll need to collect time to rewind his age. You’ll be able to tell how close to death Alexander is just by looking at him, as his character model will change in real-time.
I’m not familiar with Micropsia Games, but The Watchmaker has me interested. I’m a sucker for games that utilize time in unique ways, and this title certainly fits that bill. It’s still early days, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one as we edge closer to 2017.
