Time is a very fickle concept when it comes to its application to people. It works against everyone as it slowly pushes them to their eventual end while on the other hand. without time there cannot be any memories and it can allow people to be more organized. It works against us and with us at the same time and it is an unstoppable force, which is why messing with Time can be very dangerous and very problematic for the people that watch over it.
In Micropsia Game’s most recent title, The Watchmaker, you play as Alexander. His job for years included him taking care of a clock tower. He would go about and oil the gears, adjust the mechanisms, and polish every last bit to make sure that it runs smoothly. One day, Alexander is awoken by a disembodied voice telling him that someone has sabotaged his clock tower. Now that the clock is not working, time has gone out of control and Alexander is aging very rapidly. This aging process is your health bar. You have a very limited amount of time to go through the tower and fix what has been broken by the saboteur, apprehend him, and learn more about the tower and its mysterious past.
The game play consists of platforming, puzzle solving, and a boss fight thrown here and there. You will find many tools to assist you along the way, like a magnetic glove or a bunch of time bombs. You have to make your way through the puzzles as quickly as possible before you expire. The aging process is very unique in how it can affect the world. For a start, an easy way to tell how much time you have left is to look at Alexander himself. As you grows older and older, his hair will lose its color and gray out and he will start to get thinner and get more wrinkles. The world around you will slowly start losing its luster and color. Things will look very grey and objects at a further distances will become blurred. Another indicator is the music. As you start, the music will be very energetic and lively and as you get older it will start to slow down and become more grim. It succeeds as a health indicator while also adding atmosphere in this steam punk world.
The enemies that you will fight consist of the guardians that have been built to defend the clock tower. Mechanized creatures will attack anyone that they think shouldn’t be there and with no clue as to the identity of the person that sabotaged the tower, you are just as suspicious as anyone else. You are not left defenseless though. You have several abilities that will allow you to defeat them and get to your next destination. You can either send a blast of magnetic energy at them to deal damage and push them away or you can create a magnetic force field that will protect you from projectiles and will blast any enemies away from you. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and you need to be able to answer them so you can fix what has been broken and get your time back to normal.
Download the beta demo on Steam.
Played it? We’d love to know what you thought about it. Also, check the game out on Kickstarter.
