History VideoGame / ClockTower1995

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:In the S Ending, Jennifer can escape with either Laura or Anne, depending on her actions, but not both. Lotte can't be saved, no matter what you do. Finally, the canon ending is that [[DoomedByCanon only Jennifer survives]] out of everyone the player encounters.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The crows may seem a bit too convenient, saving Jennifer at the last moment. Turns out [[http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/bird-brains-crows-remember-your-face-and-know-youre-hiding-in-there/ crows can recognize faces]] and [[http://www.omg-facts.com/Celebs/Crows-Recognize-Individual-Human-Faces-A/23900 hold grudges]].[[note]] Their presence is a nod to ''Film/{{Opera|1987}}'', though there they were ravens rather than crows.[[/note]]
* AnachronismStew: Despite being in Romsdal, Norway, very few names actually sound Norwegian at all. Lotte is the most Norwegian, Jennifer is [[AluminumChristmasTrees uncommon, but used]] (though her last name definitely doesn't pass).

* SanityMeter: We have a panic meter, in the form of Jennifer's portrait. It didn't do much except make her more likely to be killed by traps, cause her to trip more often, and flash when you should be mashing the panic button.

** Many of the potential deaths of Anne and Laura. Some of them involves stumbling onto the scene just as they are killed, or their body after the ordeal. Then Scissorman reveals himself and they are forgotten about. By comparison, Lotte gets more dignified deaths (HeroicSacrifice or DiedInYourArmsTonight) at the expense of [[PlotlineDeath being doomed no matter what]]. Given the [[SlasherFilm genre]], this is understandable as their characters [[SacrificialLamb exist only to be killed]].

''Clock Tower'' is the first entry in the ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' series of SurvivalHorror video games, released in September 1995. The plot features [[HeartwarmingOrphan Jennifer Simpson]], a teenager living in the fictional Granite Orphanage in Romsdalen, Norway. She and her friends (also orphans), Laura, Ann, and Lotte, are adopted by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the ''Clock Tower'', named after its most predominant feature. The game was made available via SNES, Wonderswan, Playstation, PC and the Nintendo Wii via Virtual Console in Japanese. Versions with new/updated graphics are known as ''Clock Tower: The First Fear''.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: While Anne or Laura can survive, the sequel establishes Jennifer as the SoleSurvivor of their ordeal and that Ending C is canon [[spoiler: a scene has Jennifer shrink back at the mention of Dan's name, something she only learned in Ending C]].

* CuttingOffTheBranches: While Anne or Laura can survive, the sequel establishes Jennifer as the SoleSurvivor of their ordeal. In said ending though, one of your friends not dying is considered your reward for doing everything in the game properly and is not considered canonical.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The crows may seem a bit too convenient, saving Jennifer at the last moment. Turns out [[http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/bird-brains-crows-remember-your-face-and-know-youre-hiding-in-there/ crows can recognize faces]] and [[http://www.omg-facts.com/Celebs/Crows-Recognize-Individual-Human-Faces-A/23900 hold grudges]].[[note]] Their presence is a nod to ''Film/{{Opera}}'', though there they were ravens rather than crows.[[/note]]

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: While it's possible to get killed from the Scissormen, it's also possible to be attacked by a giant baby, stabbed to death in an elevator, or

''Clock Tower'' is the first entry in the ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' series of SurvivalHorror video games. The plot features [[HeartwarmingOrphan Jennifer Simpson]], a teenager living in the fictional Granite Orphanage in Romsdalen, Norway. She and her friends (also orphans), Laura, Ann, and Lotte, are adopted by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the ''Clock Tower'', named after its most predominant feature. The game was made available via SNES, Wonderswan, Playstation, PC and the Nintendo Wii via Virtual Console in Japanese. Versions with new/updated graphics are known as ''Clock Tower: The First Fear''.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: You get the single worst ending in the game by [[spoiler:fleeing the mansion in the car without knowing that your friends are dead]]. Hey, you're the one who [[spoiler:ditched the people you care about in order to save your own skin]], you deserve to suffer. (The ending for [[spoiler:escaping in the car after learning that your friends were murdered]] is still bad, but not quite as much, since [[spoiler:you know you can't save them now]].)

* AnyoneCanDie: Duh. [[spoiler:In the S Ending, Jennifer can escape with either Laura or Anne, depending on her actions; Lotte, unfortunately, can't be saved. However, the canon ending is that [[DoomedByCanon only Jennifer survives.]]]]
* AxCrazy: A whole family of 'em!

* ChekhovsGun: See AndroclesLion above.

* CreepyChild: Bobby the Scissorman, and Dan, his brother. Not that their mother was any better.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: While Anne or Laura can survive, the sequel establishes Jennifer as the SoleSurvivor of their ordeal. In said ending, though, one of your friends not dying is considered your reward for doing everything in the game properly and is not considered canonical.

* FeatheredFiend: The parrot in the cage you come across. Stay away from it if know what's good for you.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Oh, too many to list.

* MultipleEndings: Depending on whether or not you make Jennifer figure out the malicious intent of Mary, discover Laura or Anne dead, among others, you'll get one of 8 endings.

* RoomFullOfCrazy: Too many to count.

** C'mon, [[spoiler:get in the car]]! Look, the keys are right there!

* IllKillYou: Said by a parrot that Jennifer encounters in one of the bedrooms.

* KnightsArmorHideout: One of the jump scares you can find is if you [[spoiler: investigate a suit of armor. It falls over and the body of Laura, your friend, is in there. Either she was shoved in there by Scissorsman or she tried to hide in it. It was most likely a decorative suit of armor and not fitted for a human being. She dies as her chest is compressed and she couldn't breathe. It most likely wasn't quick either.]]

* SchmuckBait: There are a lot of interactive objects that either do nothing, or bring danger upon you. Like looking in a mirror with a reflection that might attack you, or playing a piano that will likely draw the Scissorman's attention.

* CleverCrows: The intelligence of crows is demonstrated when they come to Jennefer's rescue after she previously saved one of them, and attack Mary, who was ritualistically killing them. This is TruthInTelevision; crows can recognize human faces and have been known to befriend and hold grudges against people depending on how they treated the birds.

* SchrodingersGun: Your friends are only considered to be dead by the game if you actually see proof of their death. [[spoiler:This has actual gameplay implications; it means that the only way to get the S-rank ending, where one of your friends survives, is to never ever investigate any strange sounds you hear and never look in any place where a body could be found, because if you do, the game will take the opportunity to declare one of them dead. However, near the beginning of the game, ''not'' investigating a strange noise will trigger the death of one of your friends.]]

* SchmuckBait:
** Playing the piano will most likely attract unwanted attention from you-know-who.

* SchmuckBait: There are a lot of interactive objects that either do nothing, or bring danger upon you. Like looking in a mirror with a reflection that might attack you, or playing a piano that will likely draw the Scissorman's attention.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The player can have Jennifer escape the Barrows Mansion almost immediately by using the car in the garage. Jennifer will at first hesitate to drive away, being worried about her friends who are still in the house, but the player can prompt to her to just leave there and then. Needless to say, the endings that result from this aren't the happiest ones: [[spoiler:In the first, [[DangerTakesABackseatcBobby is in the backseat]]. In the second (which happens after a friend is found horribly dead)... Bobby kills Jennifer a few days later]]. There is a third outcome to this scenario: [[spoiler:Should Jennifer head for the car through the courtyard before Anne's death triggers and then leave the mansion with it, the credits will roll and no epilogue appears like in the previous two car endings, implying that without ever coming face-to-face with Bobby, she managed to escape and left her friends behind to die]]. The game marks this as Ending D, though it far differs from the actual Ending D.

* AnachronismStew: Despite being in Romsdal, Norway, very few names actually sound Norwegian at all.

''Clock Tower'' is the first entry in the ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' series of SurvivalHorror video games. The plot features [[HeartWarmingOrphan Jennifer Simpson]], a teenager living in the fictional Granite Orphanage in Romsdalen, Norway. She and her friends (also orphans), Laura, Ann, and Lotte, are adopted by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the ''Clock Tower'', named after its most predominant feature. The game was made available via SNES, Wonderswan, Playstation, PC and the Nintendo Wii via Virtual Console in Japanese. Versions with new/updated graphics are known as ''Clock Tower: The First Fear''.

The game immediately begins with Ms. Mary, an employee of Mr. Barrows, leading the four girls up towards the Barrows Mansion. She leaves them in the main foyer to go and tell her employer that his new adoptive daughters have arrived and takes an oddly long time of it. After the girls begin to worry, Jennifer offers to go see what's taking them. However, no sooner does she leave the main foyer does one of the girls scream. Jennifer returns to find the room dark and abandoned. She begins explore the mansion in search of her friends, but soon finds herself hunted by a deformed, murderous little boy who wields a huge pair of scissors. The boy is Bobby Barrows, aka The Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.

* BittersweetEnding: Every ending where [[spoiler: Jennifer lives through the ordeal.]]

** Endings E and F. [[spoiler: You get them by advancing the plot far enough without seeing Lotte die, or [[TrialAndErrorGameplay choosing the wrong floor in the elevator]]. While ending D has a logical explanation for why Jennifer dies in that ending (Jennifer doesn't uncover information that reveals Mary's true colors and therefore still trusts her), E and F just abruptly kill the player off as punishment for having missed too many plot-critical scenes. In ending F, Jennifer is even KilledOffscreen.]]
* DownerEnding: The two endings where [[spoiler: Jennifer reaches the top and dies,]] and the two where [[spoiler: she takes the car back to the orphanage.]]

* PointOfNoReturn: Once you enter the cave, you need to use perfume and a robe to pass a guard dog. The perfume wears off after you're past him, and there's only one bottle -- your ending is set and you can only advance.

* RecurringBoss: After a certain point Bobby has a chance of randomly appearing in every room, and he can be quite hard to get away from again.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The player can have Jennifer escape the Barrows Mansion almost immediately by using the car in the garage. Jennifer will at first hesitate to drive away, being worried about her friends who are still in the house, but the player can prompt to her to just leave there and then. Needless to say, the endings that result from this aren't the happiest ones: [[spoiler: In the first, Bobby is in the backseat. In the second (which happens after a friend is found horribly dead)... Bobby kills Jennifer a few days later.]] There is a third outcome to this scenario: [[spoiler: Should Jennifer head for the car through the courtyard before Anne's death triggers and then leave the mansion with it, the credits will roll and no epilogue appears like in the previous two car endings implying that without ever coming face-to-face with Bobby, she managed to escape and left her friends behind to die]]. The game marks this as Ending D, though it far differs from the actual Ending D.

* CastFromSanity: Early releases of the game had Jennifer's panic meter drain if she ran for an extended period of tume

** Many of the potential deaths of Anne and Laura. Some of them involves stumbling onto the scene just as they are killed, or their body after the ordeal. Then Scissorman reveals himself and they are forgotten about. By comparison, Lotte gets more dignified deaths (HeroicSacrifice or DiedInYourArmsTonight) at the expence of [[PlotlineDeath being doomed no matter what]]. Given the [[SlasherFilm genre]], this is understandable as their characters [[SacrificialLamb exist only to be killed]].

The game immediately begins with Ms. Mary, an employee of Mr. Barrows, leading the four girls up towards the Barrows Mansion. She leaves them in the main foyer to go her employer that his new adoptive daughters have arrived and takes an oddly long time of it. After the girls begin to worry, Jennifer offers to go see what's taking them. However, no sooner does she leave the main foyer does one of the girls scream. Jennifer returns to find the room dark and abandoned. She begins explore the mansion in search of her friends, but soon finds herself hunted by a deformed, murderous little boy who wields a huge pair of scissors. The boy is Bobby Barrows, aka The Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: In order to save one of the other girls and get the best ending, you have to ''ignore'' someone in danger. [[spoiler:Specifically, when you hear a scream from outside in a hallway early in the game, looking out the window will show the girl falling from the second floor to her death. Do not look out the window, and she will inexplicably be unhurt.]]