Clock of Atonement

When I saw daigo's Clock of Atonement on the featured page, I immediately downloaded it to play at a more convenient time. Needless to say, it turned out I could've played this game any time.

The game itself is made in RPG Maker 2000 but through some method I have no idea of, it was packaged as a locked program. The screen resolution is also different to normal RPG Maker games with an approximate resolution of 480 x 480 which works in the game's favour as it takes the shape of a book rather than a Windows application. The graphics are simple, nice and look polished and the animations are great.

The story goes that you're madly in love with some woman and you end up killing her but you want to atone for your sin and this strange guy gives you a clock of atonement to fix the past. This forms the foundation of the game as you'll be using the clock to rewind, stop and play time. This is like the past, present and future in that respect and the system works without a flaw. In addition, the on-screen graphics are simple enough to figure out what to do.



In-between those actions you get to interact with objects to change the future. This is done by hitting the space bar on green glowing objects. At times, it works in your favour to leave objects as they are and at other times it's best to do something to them. This adds a basic level of experimentation with the limited objects at your disposal.

Through the short stint you'll have with this game, your ears will only hear the constant "tick-tock" of the clock and the dreaded "bad ending" sound effect if your actions result in your love being killed which supplements a sprinkle of tension to the game.

diago decided to add an ending guide which was helpful. There are more than one and I'm assuming the last one is the "true" ending although I think the first one was the best as it lived up to the title of the game although the protagonist suggests otherwise. I say protagonist but even that is questionable.

The game could have been extended to add more outcomes by adding in more interactive objects and perhaps going back further in time to add more background to the story but I thought it was well-thought out and definitely worth your time (title borrowed from the brains of Darken).