Clockwork: A Time-Faffing Puzzle Platformer
About time
Do we have a tag for "puzzle platformers that faff about with time"? We probably should. Let's take care of that while writing a post about time-faffing puzzle platformer, Clockwork [official site].
Australian developers Gamesoft have released the first trailer for their game which is described as "a time-bending, puzzle-platforming adventure story, in which unlikely friends come together to try to fix an imperfect world."
"Unlikely friends" and "fixing things" doesn't really offer much in the way of specificity or originality so I have discussed it with Alice. She suggested the unlikely friends would be Jonathan Blow and Jenny-From-The Block: "J-Blo and J-Lo. And they're solving crimes." I like this idea. Someone should make that game.
A-ha! The site has a bit more detail. The story is set in a mechanical city called Watchtower after a great plague. Presumably a big plague not a fabulous one. The boy is called Atto and he's accompanied by companion Milli who somehow gives him the power to duplicate himself. As per the trailer you can then use the duplicates to help solve puzzles and progress through areas.
So far it sounds like a similar idea to P.B. Winterbottom and, from the trailer I've not seen anything that particularly stamps this game with its own identity. But these types of games depend so heavily on the strength of their puzzles and the use of their own mechanical systems that it can be hard to judge them from a trailer. That's why I'm going to keep an eye on it.
Also someone needs to make J-Blo and J-Lo. Thanks.