For my 250th review, I'm writing about... C... Clockwork Knight? Oh I really should have planned this better...
Much like NiGHTS into Dreams, Clockwork Knight is a game with Christmas vibes, and one that's become a bit of a yearly tradition. The whole "living toys" trope kinda suits the season, and there's a sort of nutcracker-esque aesthetic to Pepperouchau that I'm into. In general, I really like the look of this game, a lot of these toys are straight up grotesque and the pre-rendered sprites give them a very uncanny quality amid the low-poly 3D backdrops.
The gameplay is competent, but unremarkable. It's a really standard 2D platformer. Pepperouchau controls well, jumping around and exploring feels satisfying enough, and enemies provide good variety, but there's no gameplay hooks or gimmicks to really sink your teeth into. Stab things with your key blade(?), unlock hidden areas, and generally just run to the right until you hit the goal. Between levels you can wager coins to gain extra lives, and even go double or nothing if you're feeling especially lucky, which is a nice way to give them some added utility.
Clockwork Knight is fine. In fact, I'd say it's just a little bit better than fine. I have never played this game while sober.
Much like NiGHTS into Dreams, Clockwork Knight is a game with Christmas vibes, and one that's become a bit of a yearly tradition. The whole "living toys" trope kinda suits the season, and there's a sort of nutcracker-esque aesthetic to Pepperouchau that I'm into. In general, I really like the look of this game, a lot of these toys are straight up grotesque and the pre-rendered sprites give them a very uncanny quality amid the low-poly 3D backdrops.
The gameplay is competent, but unremarkable. It's a really standard 2D platformer. Pepperouchau controls well, jumping around and exploring feels satisfying enough, and enemies provide good variety, but there's no gameplay hooks or gimmicks to really sink your teeth into. Stab things with your key blade(?), unlock hidden areas, and generally just run to the right until you hit the goal. Between levels you can wager coins to gain extra lives, and even go double or nothing if you're feeling especially lucky, which is a nice way to give them some added utility.
Clockwork Knight is fine. In fact, I'd say it's just a little bit better than fine. I have never played this game while sober.
3 Comments
I played the demo of the second game constantly, it's how these games manage to still stay in my conscious despite never playing them to completion.
I don't have any real nostalgia for this one outside of trying to get a Saturn emulator up and running and downloading a Clockwork Knight ISO knowing it was a fairly well known game for the system, and the emulator just refusing to run it. It kinda morphed into this weird white whale for me.
BlazingWaters
1 year ago