Clocker Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Clocker
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam & Xbox One)
Developers | Publishers: Wild Kid Games | Gamera Game
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US E
Price: US $3.99 | EU €3,99 | UK £3.59
Release Date: February 25th, 2021

Review code used, with many thanks to GameraGame.com

Clocker is an adventure, puzzle game by developer Wild Kid Games and published by Gamera Game.

Clocker LadiesGamers — Father and Daughter

Father and Daughter

The game’s story is narrated by using dual protagonists, a father and daughter and you control both. The father is a clockmaker and one day, working in his workshop, a stranger arrives. He hands the father a strange-looking pocket watch. Upon further investigation of the pocket watch, the father, who has been separated from his daughter after an accident, realises that he can use the watch to alter time!

Thus begins a quest for the father and daughter to be reunited, it’s also where you come in to help. You can advance the story from the perspectives of both the father and the daughter and the mystery will be unfolded step by step.

Time Bending Puzzles

You’ll encounter puzzles, mostly of the time-bending kind. You are able to interact with any of the NPC’s you come across. Moving them forward or back in time a few seconds, to set the scene for the father to solve a puzzle.

You can also interact with certain objects placed around the world, like boxes or vehicles, such as moving a van back or forward in time to enable the father to reach a high ledge. None of the puzzles are too difficult to solve. However, the way the time manipulation is implemented in the game controls proves to be a fiddly experience. When there are many NPC’s in a scene, you have to move through them clicking on them individually to move them into various positions to be able to proceed with the game.

Black and White to Colour

When you’re in control of the father, your main goal is to collect all of the pieces of a large broken clock tower to attempt to restore the time continuum back to normal. The game is mainly in black and white when you control the father, with the odd splash of colour. Once the pieces of the clock tower are found the game switches to the daughter’s perspective, and the game changes to colour.

See the Effects of Time Manipulation

Controlling the daughter, you are able to see the effects of the time manipulation previously done by Father, and how events unfold after it, based on the choices made. Time manipulation isn’t something new as we have seen it before in games. Unfortunately for Clocker, the time manipulation is better implemented in those other games too!

As you are able to advance or reverse each individual’s timeline, I found that the hardest part of the game wasn’t the puzzles but figuring out exactly how people will interact with each other when being on separate timelines. Advancing each individual one at a time, and figuring out what action will trigger a reaction in another timeline. It’s a process of logic, but also trial and error! In some puzzles, the logic is very obscure, which results in making the puzzle quite infuriating.

Visuals and Controls

Clocker has a lovely hand-drawn style of graphics, which combines 2D and 3D to give some depth to the environments. The art direction in the game really shines, delivering some very attractive landscapes and scenes. The soundtrack is also just as lovely, it’s relaxing at times, yet dramatic when it needs to be.

The game controls fine, up until you have numerous NPC’s in a scene and you have to manipulate time as I’ve mentioned. The controls take on a life of their own, bouncing around between options on the screen. The story, while interesting, is not without its translation faults, with a few words out of place in the game.