Clock Tower was one of the first examples of survival horror, in the format of a point-and-click adventure. Developed in 1995 for the SNES, the game brought, maybe for the first time, horror atmospheres on a Nintendo platform. The game had a gorgeous 2D aesthetic for the time, with an interesting use of colours. It was also partially inspired by the Italian horror movie Suspiria, especially for the model of the main character. Clock Tower was always a game full of original and innovative ideas, merged together in a twisted horror-thriller. Solving puzzles and collecting items was not a simple task, such as in other adventures, because this time a psychotic killer wielding giant scissors was unexpectedly chasing the player. Exploring the mansion while surviving the immortal stalker was one of the key elements of the game.
Many direct or spiritual sequels attempted to recreate that magic, also going into 3D, but the majority to failed. Except for Haunting Grounds and maybe Remothered, other more direct 3D sequels such as Clock Tower 3 or Nightcry failed to reproduce the experience. There are several elements composing the unique atmosphere of Clock Tower, which are very difficult to find in other games. For my personal taste, to consider a game very similar to Clock Tower, several requisites should be satisfied. For example, a nice 2D aesthetic is very important to recreate that old-school magic, so I will avoid adding to the list 3D games. Of course, it would not be a game similar to Clock Tower without an immortal stalker, which will chase relentlessly the player during the game. Clock Tower also got famous for the number of alternative endings: nine in the first game, and even more in the second installment. The majority of the endings was composed by Bad Endings, elaborated and usually brutal Game Over scenes. For this reason, I will also specify if a game has alternative endings. Even if Clock Tower was not really gory or violent, the overall thriller atmosphere and the depressing bad endings could be even more interesting with a bigger amount of blood. The creator of the original game also knew this, and in the spiritual successor Nightcry, he also increased the level of blood, but sadly almost at a parody level. For this reason, I will also consider as a positive thing the amount of blood.
As for other articles “games similar to” (for example here for Hotline Miami: Killers, blood, and intense acid trips: best fast-paced action games like Hotline Miami), I will provide here a list of indie games that I found more similar to Clock Tower. Maybe they could be similar by chance, or maybe they were built having Clock Tower as a main inspiration. All the games included in the article are available on STEAM.
House of Velez
Intro: House of Velez is a gory adventure released in two parts. The game begins with a woman exploring her father’s mansion, a place that changed with time, now hiding nightmarish secrets. The game begins slowly, but soon enough the horror bursts into the main character’s life. The exploration is in a 2D environment, while the characters are modeled in 3D.
Stalkers: The stalkers in this case are really creepy and disturbing enemies, especially a mannequin-doppelgänger looking for her missing head… but of course on the main character’s body. Different mysterious and grotesque beings are ready to rip every limb from the protagonist. There are stitched skin mannequins, towering abominations, and colossal babies. However, the most “stalker-like” creature is a being in a wheelchair stalking the mansion toward the end. It can appear in every room, killing the protagonist in many ways. With a complex combination of buttons, it is possible to keep the breath, control panic, and avoid a stalker, which will just pass by without noticing the player. This is a quite complex mechanic to master, and a small error will lead to a horrible death.
Death scenes: Being caught by a stalker or a trap will bring to a really complex, inventive, and gory death, which could last for many seconds of graphical and well-executed CGI. Definitively, this is not a game for those weak of stomach! Deaths are long, unique, twisted, and very creative, but they can also get very disturbing, especially in Part 2.
Endings: When playing both Part 1 and 2, it is possible to achieve a Good and a Bad ending, based more on lore discovered than choices. However, the death scenes are so many, different, and complex that could be associated with the Bad Endings of Clock Tower.
If you want to check by yourself some of the most interesting and disturbing deaths, check the following video in the Surreal and Creepy official channel:
Horns of Fear
Intro: This is a game difficult to categorize, but it is an interesting call back to Clock Tower, especially in the first half. There is a huge and creepy mansion to explore, full of complex puzzles, rarely obtuse, and often very satisfying to solve. The mansion can be freely explored, in all its beautiful background, enjoying the many works of art scattered around. The atmosphere is dense and interesting, offering some jump scares and rooms where you will never feel safe inside.
Stalkers: A creepy and grotesque family is also living in the house, and meeting the owners will be always a shocking event. While the family is more there to advance the plot, learn more lore, or for puzzles, there is another aggressive element inside the house. Soon or later, the stalker will make his appearance. A masked horned man wielding weapons, the Caretaker is the only stalker in Horns of Fear. While facing him, more than running and hiding, will be important to quickly execute a combination of buttons. The price of failing will be a really brutal and grotesque death. There will be also a final and satisfying 2D battle against the stalker, a moment of closure that also marks a huge shift in the plot.
Death scenes: As I said before, deaths here a quite brutal. There are only a few of them, but their appearance is always traumatic. This is because death scenes are realized in claymation, with an extra focus on gory details. Having the main character’s head split in half in a close-up scene made in claymation is surely something that will stick in the mind.
Endings: Sadly there are no multiple endings, and the game loses its “Clock Tower-ish” vibes toward the second half. Horns of Fear is not the closer example to Clock Tower, but the presence of the stalker, and the good balance between exploration, puzzle solving, and scary events, make of it a really enjoyable horror experience.
Also in this case, you can check a video on the Surreal and Creepy channel to have an idea about the game. After many puzzles and running around, you can finally face the stalker in a peculiar brawling battle. Or, you can die trying, with a peculiar and brutal death made in claymation.
You can check both the fight, the surreal afterward, and the brutal death in the following video:
Clea
Intro: Clea has a really beautiful art style, especially for characters and enemies. The game is heavily focused on stealth mechanics since the very beginning. The player can hide in the closets, sneak, and peek through keyholes, all to avoid the creepy Chaos Servants wandering around the house. The game can be really difficult and challenging, based on trial and error, and it is divided into levels. Each new level will feature something novel, such as puzzles or enemies, and also challenges to be completed.
Stalkers: The Chaos Servants are the main stalkers inside the game, creepy figures wearing a robe and with creepy smiles on their faces. However, they are not the only enemies inside Clea, since each level can bring new threats. For example, the second level features creepy spiders, which can be avoided only by staring at them in time, before they strike. The sound component is also very important, not only to understand if a Chaos Servant is close but also to attract his attention. In fact, by running but also by interacting with specific objects, the noise produced will surely call the attention of a Chaos Servant.
Death scenes: Clea is more creepy than gory, and being trapped by a stalker leads to a quite standard game over screen.
Endings: The game features multiple endings, at least 3, with different requirements to be achieved. Moreover, Clea is a love letter to classic survival horrors, with good replayability and secrets, including unlockables such as new outfits and extra modes. It is also a really difficult game, where challenging Chaos Servants is driving the gameplay more than exploration and puzzle-solving.
Unknown
Intro: A one-man project which is a clear love letter to Clock Tower. Even the main character is very similar to the one of Clock Tower. Unknown has all the key elements to be a spiritual sequel of Clock Tower. The 2D art style is really beautiful, both in movement and during the static cutscenes. There is a family with a secret and a mansion full of puzzles and mysteries that the player can freely explore and solve.
Stalkers: The stalkers are creepy experiments, which will hunt the player mainly following the sounds. They are a dangerous treat, which can be avoided by hiding, or by outrunning them, hopefully without depleting the stamina bar. The sound system is also very well realized, especially the metallic noise produced by the stalkers.
Death scenes: The game is not gory or violent, and the death scenes are more like simple jump scares.
Endings: According to STEAM achievements, there are also many different endings, in theory at least 6, which for sure help the replayability. The game could be a great spiritual successor of Clock Tower, but sadly at the moment, it is quite buggy and with obtuse puzzles. With a bit more polish and time, maybe it could become a hidden gem.
Coma 2
Intro: Coma 2 is a total improvement of the previous game, and one of the best games developed by a Korean studio. Coma 2 shares similarities with the Clock Tower saga, using a 2D aesthetic to create a relentless hide-and-seek against an immortal stalker. The graphic is really gorgeous, between a manga and a cartoon, well cared in every detail, from the characters to the complex background. The level of detail and polish is incredible, also focusing on rewarding the player. For example, several achievements after being unlocked will reveal a gorgeous concept art or an artwork.
Stalkers: The main stalker is the dark version of a teacher, hunting her students with a knife, helped by another more brutal and deranged version of herself. At some point, other minor stalkers will chase the player, including a deranged butcher inside a market. A stamina bar helps to outrun the devilish teacher, but also other strategies are possible. The main character can hide in bathrooms or closets, but only by completing a quick time event, the player will stay hidden without making any noise. There are several traps and minor monsters along the way, which will generally cause negative effects. Different attacks can bring status alterations, such as poison or bleeding, creating an additional level of threat. Avoiding spoilers, there are also specific events that could lead to the permanent loss of a chunk of the health bar.
Death scenes: The game has very gory deaths that usually involve secondary characters, suddenly stabbed to death by the appearance of a stalker. The main character can also die in different ways against the stalkers, showing brutal Game Over scenes that are different based on the played chapter.
Endings: Coma 2 has a Good and a Bad Ending, based on how many times you lost chunks of the health bar in important events during the game.
Immure
Intro: Another game divided into two parts, Immure is a very nice mix of the style and the system of Clock Tower, together with the creatures and the mysterious environment of Lovecraft. The 2D art-style is really gorgeous and full of details, picturing horrible creatures and huge slasher ghosts with great attention. From the gameplay side, Immure features all the classic Clock Tower mechanics, plus some interesting surprises.
Stalkers: Different immortal creatures are chasing the main character, from a colossal ghost fireman wielding a deadly axe to a grotesque abomination of teeth and tentacles. The main character can run (depleting a stamina bar) and hide in closets, but can also use a gun and a crystal to temporally stun the enemies. The crystal is especially interesting and it can be used both to light the environment, moving as the mouse cursor, and to stun the stalkers if properly charged.
Death scenes: The game is really brutal, with gory comic-style death scenes. Every death is accompanied by its death-ending screen, for example having the head devoured by an eldritch being.
Endings: There is free exploration, with puzzles and moral choices, all this while avoiding the stalkers. Judging from the moral choices already present and the words of the developers, the final version should probably include “at least” two endings.
Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story
Intro: The core of the experience is a combination of cyberpunk and Chinese folkloric elements, where ghosts and exorcism meet with human augments and VR. The beautiful 2D aesthetic is a clear check for this article, from the detailed and haunting environments to the characters and the disturbing spirits. The protagonist will repentantly pass from a lightful world rich of characters to the loneliness of an abandoned building, from a sci-fi environment to a forgotten world of traditions. The game is a love letter to classic survival-horror games, with many secrets and unlockable outfits, achievable in consecutive NG+, where new contents and elements will be unlocked.
Stalkers: Talking about the stalkers, Sense makes a great effort in creating a variegated set of disturbing ghosts, haunting the different rooms and floors of the building. There are ghosts for every taste: a spider-woman setting traps with her long hair, a spirit possessing a horde of seductive dolls, a feral old woman attacking on the four legs, and many more. Each ghost can be avoided or defeated with multiple strategies. For example, some ghosts can follow the player around on all the floor. For this reason, hiding in special rooms protected with a talisman will help to survive. A mini-game will play in these challenging moments, where the player needs to place a moving bar the closest possible to the center. Running away is also the best option, but a stamina bar will quickly empty, making it difficult to run for a long time. Minor entities can be quickly defeated with a holy sword, while other more dangerous being needs to be lured in an empty room and then imprisoned with a talisman. However, almost every spirit needs to be exorcised to being finally able to rest in peace. This is done by following Chinese traditions: finding an altar, a picture of the spirit, rice, and a joss stick to burn. Sometimes, the offering for the deceased is only part of a more complex task, which changes from ghost to ghost.
Death Scenes: The game is brutal, and every ghost features its personal death screen, a violent Game Over where each ghost shows its violent malevolence. Plus, bad choices during the game lead to even more bad endings, usually brutal and lethal.
Endings: Even if the main ending is only one, Sense features many Bad Endings/Game Over screens, portrayed using gorgeous comic-like static scenes. Maybe the player could think to escape from the building by jumping out of the window, or that a group of evil cats can be bypassed without using any item. Those decisions will lead to graphic and violent Game Overs, where the main character will die in horrible ways, for example having her eyes ripped out by the evil cats.
Surreal and Creepy 
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