Clockwork Revolutionhas one of the most interesting ideas I’ve seen in a triple-A game in years. And yet, if you just watched the first four minutes of itslengthy five-and-a-half minute trailerat theXbox Games Showcase, you’d have no idea.
And let’s be real, viewers typically decide if a game is for them within the first few seconds of a trailer, often for fairly arbitrary reasons. Maybe they don’t like Clockwork Revolution’s first-person perspective, or it looks too much like something they’re already planning to play (likeThe Outer Worlds 2), or they’re not into steampunk, or they still haven’t forgiven developer inXile Entertainment for allowing players to solicit the services of a goat sex worker inWasteland 3.
Yes, that’sa real thing you can do in Wasteland 3.
The point is: you get one chance to make a first impression, and inXile spent four minutes selling its game as a cool, but standard, first-person RPG. It introduced the setting and villains, showed off the character creator, showcased the dialogue system, and gave us a glimpse of its arsenal of guns. That’s all fine, but in those last 90 seconds, it shows off something incredibly cool that sets Clockwork Revolution from other first-person RPGs likeAvowedandFallout.
Are you frustrated with how long it’s taken me to get to the point here? Good, now you know how I felt watching Clockwork Revolution’s trailer.
Clockwork Revolution Is About Making The Clock Work For You
At that four minute mark, the player character gets his hands on a gauntlet with glowing gears built into the palm and back of their hand.
“Don’t get cocky. They’ve got a weapon far worse: time,” the mustachioed lead says in voice over. “And if they can rewrite history, they can rewrite us.”
As the title indicates, Clockwork Revolution is a game about rewinding time. Every once in a while, a developer decides to play with the fourth dimension, and the results tend to be special. Some of the coolest levels I’ve ever experienced in games involve manipulating time — likeTitanfall 2’s Effect and CauseandDishonored 2’s A Crack in the Slab— and other games have explored time-related mechanics across their entire runtimes.BraidandPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timeare two standouts, and time-loop games likeMajora’s MaskandOuter Wildsare considered classics.
In Clockwork Revolution, there seems to be a wide variety of time manipulation mechanics. The most basic application is a diegetic version of that rewind feature that’s built into a lot of recent video game re-releases, allowing you to zoom back to right before a death. But others are more interesting. In one case, the player kills an enemy then rewinds time to get their bullets back, and in another, slows bullets down to make them easier to dodge. In one puzzling portion, they need to get across a gap, so they zap a rotating gear into place to summon a trolley-like platform into being, which you can then ride across the gap. In combat, the player summons a brick pillar into the world and uses it as cover.
In one instance, the player character chucks a grenade that turns into a turret, but I don’t know if that’s a time-based power or something else entirely.
Choice And Consequences — Or Lack Thereof
But the most interesting aspect is the implications for the game as a choice-driven RPG. The trailer shows the aesthetics of certain areas shifting, newspaper headlines being rewritten, and new leaders taking power or being removed. RPGs have long explored the ramifications of player choice. Do you nuke Megaton or defuse the bomb? Do you save Bae or the Bay? Yennefer or Triss? Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur (and sometimes Pikachu)? And before you even get to that choice, Red, Blue, or Yellow?
Interesting choices are the lifeblood of RPGs, and Clockwork Revolution is adding a fascinating dimension. Does the ability to manipulate time make choices more interesting or obliterate their importance entirely? When you can rewind your way through a quest, does anything matter? Can’t you just do it again and again and again?
InXile is good at making this kind of game, and I’m sure it has answers to that question. I can’t wait to see how it incorporates time into this clockwork world. I just wish everybody had finished the Xbox Games Showcase with full knowledge of how interesting this game is, and I’m not convinced that’s the case.
