Clockfall, the preview of the action roguelite that challenges time

Clockfall is a curious experiment, a video game that doesn't bring anything particularly innovative to the world of gaming but, at the same time, is capable of keeping you glued to the screen as you try to "slice" an ever-increasing number of opponents. Okay, maybe that sounds too simplistic, but trust us when we say that Rever Games GmbH's work has significant potential, already noticeable from the first few hours we spent with it.

Clockfall is launched with a formula that has been very popular recently: early access. In short, the developers deliver a work-in-progress to players, making them participants in the development with the ability to provide dynamic feedback. It's like a form of Crowdfunding, where we trust the team and, in the meantime, can start trying out a production that has particularly impressed us.

And in this case, the entry ticket isn't even that prohibitive (€9.99 on Steam) to delve into a video game that, all in all, has its merits. Or at least it seemed that way from what we were able to test, given that, in this very first version, some areas not yet unlocked in the early access version were precluded to us.

On one hand, we were disappointed, especially once we had gotten the hang of it; on the other hand, it gives us hope for long-term support from the developers. As we will see, there are a few kinks to work out in this first version, but it's undeniable that passion is hidden behind this adventure that challenges time (in the true sense of the word).

In Clockfall, breaking the cycle is just the beginning!

Clockfall immediately places us in a challenging narrative scenario: our village has been razed to the ground by the "hordes of fate," ruthless beings ready to reduce everything they touch to rubble. At first glance, it seems all over for our hero who, despite himself, will witness a horrifying spectacle. However, it's not too late, and there's a chance to change the course of events: among the ruins lies a mystical clock that will allow us to relive the nefarious invasion in an relentless cycle. In other words, we'll have to tackle various levels within a limited time, defeat the villains, and change the destiny of our homeland.

Clockfall's basic concept perfectly justifies its roguelite nature, with short sessions through various areas within a limited time, which this strange artifact has simply granted us. Also, as "the strange clock" will tell us, the time loop can only be broken when we have repaired its circuit, also finding the nine gears needed to make it work again.

Our protagonist will have no choice but to relive these loops, projecting themselves into two levels we had access to in this version (The Swamps and The Lost Lands). And the beginning won't be the most enlightening, as the blue-haired warrior will only have 3 minutes to explore the dungeon, clash with the various bloodthirsty warriors, and find the accessories to repair the clock.

As you can imagine, the first few games are destined to make us fail miserably, take increasingly powerful blows, and see ourselves catapulted out of time, dragged away by two large purplish hands. Let's try to organize our thoughts and start from the beginning: once in the dungeon, we can move freely with a convincing isometric view and attack the various villains with a two-handed greatsword. The combat system features automatic combos and timely dodges, limited by an indicator to prevent us from performing them indefinitely (otherwise, what would be the fun?). The combat system seemed quite solid, although movements sometimes appear heavy, but nothing that compromises its overall fluidity.

The aspect we will always have to pay close attention to is the time counter, which will inexorably decrease during our journey. And it's a fact that at the beginning, we will always find ourselves projected back to the main hub, badly beaten by invaders who will delight in our poor skill, making (without even realizing it) a colossal mistake. In fact, each game will forge us, make us stronger, and also allow us to power up in the skill tree: in this way, we can increase our remaining energy, maximum available time, and close-combat ability. Each dungeon, like any self-respecting roguelite, also provides temporary upgrades obtainable through well-placed chests and additional time to spend on our endeavor.

In each loop, we will also need to find a counter-fate, a rare and fundamental resource to face our recurring nightmare: in practice, it's a token that grants access to an area where we face waves of villains, defend the tribe's survivors, and resist as long as possible. The longer we stay on our feet, the more time anomalies we accumulate, useful for upgrading the inventory and stats of the brave warrior.

Similar but not identical to other productions

Let's say that Clockfall still has many cards to reveal and is currently quite raw. However, it's undeniable that the production has its own identity that entertained us and pushed us further into the time loops in search of chests and relics for the clock's reconstruction. Also because the game world and the villains will always appear from the same positions, thus giving us the opportunity to memorize every single portion of the level and implement various strategies between melee attacks or special ones (it was fun to shoot flames from our hands).

Apparently, some areas also contain additional hidden dungeons, unfortunately not explorable in this early access version, which precluded our knowledge of many aspects of the game. It's inevitable to define Clockfall as a "maturing" product, but one that aims for greater and increasingly satisfying depth: at the moment, the difficulty is not that high, and the progression seemed very simple to us. We believe, in fact, that there will be many small improvements to make the experience increasingly in line with the needs of gamers.

After all, in the upcoming 1.0 version, the developers promise many new maps, weapons, additional abilities, a greater variety of enemies, and boss battles, also because we didn't find any particularly memorable ones in the trial version. It comforts us to know that the game will receive necessary upgrades, also because at the moment the product is incomplete and it's like being in front of a long demo. If you are a fan of the genre, our advice is to check it out (the access price is very affordable, by the way), keeping in mind that the game is not yet finished and that you might encounter repetitiveness (but this seems almost obvious).

All things considered, Clockfall presents itself well and left us with a good impression, so much so that we were sorry not to have been able to continue. We played one game after another, non-stop, until the game told us: "Thank you for playing the Early Access version of Clockfall". And so, at this point, we can't wait to find out more about this production where the time factor seems to be one of the most interesting elements.