Welcome. Clock Tower was one of those games in the pioneering days of survival horror that can still be appreciated to this day. There’s sure to be spoilers to be found, so just keep in mind the golden rule about these kind of guides; only use them if you’re totally stuck and have no idea where to turn next (or if you just like reading these things for the hell of it).
Controls
The controls might take some getting used to, but they’re easy once you do.
Directional Button: Moves the curser around the screen.
Y Button: This is your main action button. Pressing it will cause Jen to walk left or right, depending on what direction the curser is relative to her position. Double-tap the Y button to run. If you can interact with a person or object, the curser will become a bracket. You can then interact by pressing the Y button. Finally, the Y button will also use items you select from your inventory.
B Button: The ‘panic button’ when Jenny is in a perilous situation, you’ll see her portrait on the bottom of the screen flash. When this happens, start hitting the B button repeatedly to see Jen safely through that situation. The higher her stamina, the more successful she’ll be. More on that later.
A Button: Hold this button to access your inventory. You can then select an item, and use it with the Y button (you must first choose who/what you want to use it on).
X Button: This causes Jen to stop moving. If you wait a while, Jen will sit down and slowly recover stamina.
L Button: Run left.
R Button: Run right.
Start Button: Pause.
Select Button: No function.
About Stamina
You can tell how much stamina Jennifer has by looking at the background color of her portrait. Blue means she’s at full stamina, then it goes to yellow/green, orange, and finally red, where she has very little stamina. Stamina can be decreased by running, or by encountering a very perilous or disturbing situation. The lower your stamina, the easier it is to be killed by the various hazards in the mansion. You can recover stamina by pressing X to stop running, then waiting a while as Jen sits down and slowly recovers.
Basic Walkthrough
One of the great things about this game is its ability to play out one of several different ways. Here’s a basic guide that’ll help to get you where you want to go. I’ll cover the details of getting specific endings later. Note that when I give directions, I refer to them from the player’s prospective. Thus, when I say ‘go north’, what I mean is ‘go up’, etc.
When you gain control of Jennifer, you’ll find yourself in the foyer, with the other three girls, waiting for Mary to return with your host. Speak with all three girls, and they’ll realize that Mary has been gone for a long time. Jen volunteers to go find her. Start by going west into the hallway. You’ll barely start down the hall when you hear a terrifying scream from the foyer. Return and you’ll find the others have vanished. (If you selected “Quick Start” from the title screen, this is where you’ll begin.)
Now you’ve not only got Mary to look for, you have to track your friends down too. This just keeps getting better and better. The east door of the foyer is the front door, and it’s locked, so there’s no going out that way. Don’t waste your time going upstairs either, as part of the landing will crumble, inhibiting your progress. Just go back to the hallway to the west, like you were about to go before. There, you’ll see a doorway to the north. Ignore it for now and continue west, and enter the next door you encounter. This is the living room, and the only real item of interest is the white box sitting on top of the borough. The key to the west wing might be inside. If it isn’t, you’ll find it a little later. The door to the north takes you into the master bedroom. There are several items of interest here. First, take a look at the smashed picture of the twin boys sitting on the drawer next to the mirror. Interesting. Search the same drawer to find a bottle of perfume that smells just like Mary’s… You’ll take it. Don’t examine the mirror. If you do, a hand will come out and strangle you. If you want, examine the birdcage on the east side of the room. When the parrot flies out, and you regain control, use the red sheet on one of the beds to trap the parrot before the damn bird pecks you to death. You might be glad you did this later on. Okay, head out the east door to find yourself back in the hall. Now’s the first part where our story will branch off.
A) Return east, to the door I had you skip earlier. Inside the door is a collapsed corridor with a large crack in the wall leading out to the courtyard. Climb the pile of rubble and take a rock from there. Use it on the cracked wall to break it open so you can fit through. Once in the courtyard you’ll see a big swimming pool. Walk west to find Ann, who chose a really bad time to start learning how to swim. She’s flailing in the water as Jen just stands there and watches her drown (boy, some friend you are…). Suddenly, a deranged-looking figure crawls out of the pool, wielding a huge pair of scissors (henceforth called ‘the scissor man’). Hurry back east, through the crack in the wall. The scissor man won’t follow you. Note that the scissor man is only chasing you when the music is playing. When it stops, you’re safe for now. So, head back into the courtyard and look around. Check out the shed if you want, but there’s nothing of importance - yet. Go west in the courtyard, and push the box blocking the door out of the way. Head through the door to find yourself in another hallway. The door to the east is locked (unless you found the west wing key earlier), so just go down the hall to the west, into another foyer.
B) Continue west down the hall. Jen will suddenly stop, as her spider-sense starts tingling. Enter the next door to find a bathroom. Go open up the shower curtain to see Laura’s limp body hanging from the showerhead. Suddenly, the scissor man jumps out of the bathtub. Hurry out of the bathroom and head for one of two places to hide from the scissor man. You could go back to the master bedroom and hide under the bed (only do this if you subdued the parrot, otherwise it’ll give away your hiding spot). If you don’t want to go that route (or if you didn’t take care of the bird), go west from the bathroom into another foyer. Hurry up the stairs and to the west. The first door in the corridor is locked; enter the second one, and go into the next door you see to enter the attic. Click the box on the west side of the room and mash the panic button when prompted to hoist yourself over the boxes. Wait there until the scissor man enters and leaves. Note that the scissor man is only chasing you when the music is playing. When it stops, you’re safe for now.
C) Ignore the bathroom and continue west into a second foyer. Upon entering, the scissor man will crash through the skylight with Ann’s dead body. Run east back into the hall. Now hide from the scissor man in the same manner as if you encountered him in the bathroom.
Now that that’s taken care of, go to the attic (if you didn’t go there already to escape the scissor man) and search around for several useful items. Take the can of insecticide from the floor, along with a rope. Check the box on the west side to discover that you can’t climb back over to reach it. Examine the box in the middle of the room to push it over, then climb over it to the other box, which contains a black robe. Leave the attic and go west again. There’s a dead-end here, with a bird’s nest in the hole in the hall. Check it then use the box nearby to push it over to the nest. Check the nest again to climb up to it with the box. If you didn’t find the west wing key in the living room, you’ll find it here. You can also use the stick to knock the nest over, but that’ll piss momma birdie off and you’ll have reduced stamina to show for it.
Exit this hallway and go back downstairs to the foyer. From there, go west into another hallway. Enter the first door you see to find yourself in a kitchen. Check the fridge for a ham. Now, access your inventory and take out the insecticide you got from the attic. Use it on the meat locker in the northwest corner of the room to kill all of the big nasty bugs inside (they won’t kill you if you open it without insecticide, but they will greatly drop your stamina as well as keep you from getting a good look inside). With the bugs gone, you’ll find a gold key inside. Exit the kitchen. Go west from there to find the garage. There’s a car there, and the keys for it are sitting on the crate right next to it. Check the endings section below for more about taking off in the car. Now, head back to the foyer and use the west wing key to open the north-center doors on both the first and second floors. You can now check out the other half of the mansion.
There’s a long hallway connecting the two wings of the mansion, both on the first and second floors. While traveling down the hall, you might hear a scream outside. If you look out the window, you’ll be just in time to see Ann or Laura’s (whoever didn’t die before) corpse flying out another window. If you’re going for one of the better endings, it’s imperative that you do NOT look out the window if this happens. The rooms in the west wing are in no set order; they’re in different places every time you play this game, so I’ll simply describe each room one by one.
“Trophy” Room: The “trophies” consist of numerous pulsating organs in glass jars. Plus, you might find a corpse (no one you know) inside the locker on the west side of the room. Fun for the whole family. There’s nothing of importance to the plot here, though.
Mannequin Room: Mostly a storage room for mannequins. There are no important items or anything here, although the scissor man might be behind one of the center mannequins waiting for another game of hide & seek if you examine it.
Bathroom: Another unimportant room. Again, our scissor-wielding friend might be hiding inside the box on the west side. Or, it might be just a harmless kitty-cat.
Cage Room: Someone sure liked killing crows in his free time, huh? Examine the counter for a cage key. Use it to unlock the nearby cage to free the only crow still alive. You don’t have to do this, but it could have an impact on what ending you’ll see.
Study: Nothing of importance here.
Doll Room: Looks like a child’s bedroom, but with numerous dolls sadistically hung from the ceiling. Check the box on the east side for the key to the ceremony room. When you take it, one doll will come to life and attack you. Mash the panic button, or just run to the west side of the room to watch it shatter.
Ceremony Room: A pentagram drawn on the floor with candles burning all over the room. This is your entrance to the catacombs, but you’ll need to return with either the scepter or the devil idol to open it (it’s random what item you’ll have access to).
Library: If it’s the devil idol you’re required to find for the ceremony room, you’ll find a hint about it on one of the bookshelves. Other than that, there’s nothing here.
Music Room: The scissor man is waiting here to ambush you in one of two different ways; depending on which item you need for the ceremony room. If it’s the scepter you need, you’ll see him in a hole in the ceiling. Luckily, he won’t drop down to attack you unless you play the piano. Look behind the curtain for the scepter. If you’re required to look for the devil idol instead, you won’t find the scepter here. Pull back the curtain, and instead, heeeeeere’s Johnny!
That just leaves the two rooms on the east side of the second floor. Notice there’s a hole in the floor barring your path. Examine the hole, then the nearby plank to use it to make a bridge across the hole. This is another good place to ditch the scissor man if he’s chasing you. Lead him to this area, and Jen will pull the board up after she crosses, and ol’ scissors will fall down the hole. You can also do this without the plank in place, but you must have the rope from the attic to get back across, otherwise you’re stuck. You’ll notice a row of statues here. If you didn’t find the scepter, check behind the statues to find the devil idol. Anyway, now that we have this section of the mansion explored (except for the two rooms coming up), we can split our path once again.
A) Walk past the poorly painted section of wall and into the storage room. There’s another box on the east side, which is another scissor man hiding place. If not, we’ll just see the kitty again. Examine the cart on the northeast side to move it aside, revealing a cracked section of the wall. Take the nearby steel rod and use it to break open the wall. Enter to find a secret cell with a corpse in the corner and some notes scattered about. By reading the notes on the floor and the one on the corpse, you’ll piece together some disturbing facts. First and foremost being that Mary is not the kindly woman she pretended to be, and that the twin boys in that picture earlier are a couple of real unholy terrors. Perhaps one of them is that scissor man that’s been stalking you all this time. Leave the cell and head all the way back to the foyer on the east wing. Use the gold key you found earlier to unlock the door on the northwest corner of the foyer on either the first or second floor (it also changes each time you play). Inside is the phone room, and Mary is inside. She’ll walk towards you, telling you everything will be all right. Just turn and run out of the room. She’ll kill you if you stay.
B) Ignore the secret cell completely and go straight to the phone room to find Mary. She’ll tell you everything will be all right and will give you a drink to calm you down. It’s drugged, however, and Jen will fall to the floor unconscious. You’ll wake up in a cage in the shed with another guy sitting in the corner. Someone forgot to feed your cellmate, though, and if you don’t give him the ham you found in the kitchen, he’ll feast on you instead. After satisfying his appetite with the ham, talk to him to learn that he’s Simon. He’ll ramble on about some “cradle under the star” before staring off into space. Lotte will then arrive and open the cage for you. No sooner does she leave again, however, and you hear a scream and a gunshot. Mary apparently killed Lotte, and you’re next if you don’t act fast. Grab the two-by-four next to the door and Jen will whack Mary with it as she enters the shed. With Mary out of commission for the time being, you can leave the shed. If you aren’t familiar with the courtyard yet, just push the crate to the west out of the way and you’ll reenter the mansion.
Return to the phone room, and Mary will be gone. Examine the small table in the center of the room to discover a silver key. If you examine the suit of armor, you’ll find Laura’s body stuffed inside if you didn’t see her die already. As with the screaming window, don’t examine the armor if you’re going for the better endings. Now, go either upstairs or downstairs, depending on where you are, and use the silver key to open the other northwest door in the foyer. You’ll find yourself in a room with a large mural on the wall. Examine it, and if you got the scepter, examine the nearby bookshelf to push it out of the way. Look at the mural again to discover it represents the ceremony room from earlier. Also, be sure to read the book on the desk. Even if you got the devil idol instead of the scepter, you should still read the book if you want a good ending, especially if Lotte already croaked saving you in the shed.
Go back to the ceremony room and, if you have the devil idol, place it on the small gold altar on the west side of the room. If you have the scepter, place it inside the green vase. Either way, a hatch will open on the floor. Climb down and into the catacombs. You’ll get a glimpse of a black-cloaked figure (Mary) walking by ahead of you. Continue east until a guard dog stops you. Use the black cloak and the perfume on yourself to fool the dog, allowing you to continue on your way. Ignore the first door you see for now and keep going east until you discover a dying Lotte (if she’s not already dead). She’ll tell you something similar to what the book in the mural room said, then dies. Go back to the west and through the door.
Keep going east until you find a large red curtain. Open it, even though you aren’t gonna like what you see. A grotesque monster comes out and chases you back to the west. You’ll have to mash the panic button to escape it, which results in it getting barbecued when you knock over a kerosene tank into a candle near the creature. Go back to the west, though the next door that you see, and you’ll find an elevator. Hit the call button and enter…
Congrats! You’ve reached the end of the game. You will now view one of seven endings depending on your actions throughout the game (there are actually nine endings, but you don’t have to make your way through the entire game to access the other two).
Endings
A total of nine endings are available in the game, reflecting how you did throughout your trek through the mansion. Some are good, and some are bad, but this certainly equals a lot of replay value for this game. Here’s how to get each one. (Proceed with caution: Spoilers abound)
Good Endings
Ending S: Follow the main walkthrough by finding Dr. Simpson’s corpse in the secret cell. Save one of your friends (Ann or Laura. Lotte seems to die no matter what.) You can do this by not looking out the window in the hallway when you hear a scream outside, and by not examining the suit of armor in the phone room or the pool in the courtyard. After you destroy the monster in the catacombs, you must select the third floor inside the elevator. Also, be sure to save the crow in the cage room.
*spoiler* Jen will run into the inner chamber of the clock tower, chased by the scissor man. She throws a switch on a nearby control panel, causing the grinding of the gears to hurt the scissor man’s ears. Clutching his head, he staggers about until he falls off the walkway and plunges to his death. Suddenly, Mary comes out from behind a corner and tries strangling Jennifer. Mash the panic button, and the crow you rescued will return the favor by attacking Mary and sending her off the ledge to join the scissor man.
Ending A: Follow the main walkthrough, same as above, only difference being that you should NOT discover Dr. Simpson’s remains. Let Mary drug you and get hauled to the shack, feed Simon, etc.
*spoiler* Jen will run into the inner chamber of the clock tower, chased by the scissor man. She throws a switch on a nearby control panel, causing the grinding of the gears to hurt the scissor man’s ears. Clutching his head, he staggers about until he falls off the walkway and plunges to his death. Whichever friend didn’t die, Ann or Laura, will then appear and embrace Jennifer. The celebration is cut short however, by Mary, who runs out and flings your friend to her death. Then, she’ll turn on Jen. Suddenly, the crow you rescued will return the favor by attacking Mary and sending her off the ledge to join the scissor man.
Ending B: Follow the same basic walkthrough as with Ending S or A, only difference being either a) let both Ann and Laura die, and/or B) don’t save the crow.
*spoiler* Jen will run into the inner chamber of the clock tower, chased by the scissor man. She throws a switch on a nearby control panel, causing the grinding of the gears to hurt the scissor man’s ears. Clutching his head, he staggers about until he falls off the walkway and plunges to his death. Suddenly, Mary comes out from behind a corner and tries strangling Jennifer. Mash the panic button, and Jen will shove Mary into the live wires in the control panel, frying her.
Ending C: Follow the same basic walkthrough as with Ending S, A, or B, only select the second floor when inside the elevator.
*spoiler* Run down the corridor, and eventually, Jen will run into Mary, who is very pissed off. She’ll pull a knife and lunge at her. Mash the panic button to break free and run to the left. Enter one of the archways and run to the end of the corridor. You’ll see a ladder; find the spot to select on the ladder and climb it. Mary will follow Jen up and will grab her. Mash the panic button again to kick her off, sending her plummeting to her doom. Jennifer will then climb into the inner chamber of the clock tower, where the scissor man is waiting. She throws a switch on a nearby control panel, causing the grinding of the gears to hurt the scissor man’s ears. Clutching his head, he staggers about until he falls off the walkway and plunges to his death.
Bad Endings
Ending D: Follow most of the walkthrough, but don’t allow Jen to learn about Mary’s evil intentions. That means you mustn’t find the doc’s corpse in the secret cell, and don’t confront Mary in the phone room (you may get lucky and enter the room with no one inside, or you must find the devil idol instead of the scepter to enter the catacombs with; since you need the silver key if you’re using the scepter). After you destroy the monster in the catacombs, you must select the second floor inside the elevator.
*spoiler* Run down the corridor to encounter Mary. Relived to see her, Jen will run towards her, when Mary suddenly pulls a knife and stabs her.
Ending E: Same as ending D, only select the third floor in the elevator.
*spoiler* The elevator grinds to a halt as the power suddenly goes out. The scissor man drops down from a hatch on top of the elevator as the screen goes black…
Ending F: Follow most of the walkthrough, only don’t allow Jen to learn the secret of the clock tower. This means DON’T read the book on the desk in the mural room, and DON’T talk to the dying Lotte in the catacombs.
*spoiler* The scissor man is apparently waiting for Jen as soon as she gets on the elevator. All we see are the doors closing, then a scream that’s abruptly silenced, followed by a pool of blood trickling out of the elevator doors…
Ending G: Let both Ann and Laura die, then go to the garage and use the car keys three times on the car to escape the mansion.
*spoiler* Just some text dialogue informing us that Jennifer is found dead at the orphanage three days later.
Ending H: Go straight to the garage (with only one friend dead) and use the car keys three times on the car to escape the mansion.
*spoiler* As Jen speeds off in the car, we get a look at the rearview mirror as a very familiar pair of scissors pop up from the back seat…
Mini-FAQ
Not really questions people have asked me, this is just myself answering various plot elements of the story, among other things.
Q: Who IS the scissor man?
A: That would be Bobby, one of the twin boys you may have happened to see in the photograph in the master bedroom. The twins apparently weren’t quite right in the head, and Bobby appears to have developed quite a passion for killing people. Mother is apparently very proud.
Q: And that fat ugly monster in the catacombs?
A: Bobby’s twin brother Dan. I guess he was more content to sit around in a cave and punch down Twinkies while his bro was making the streets flow with the blood of hapless victims. Still, he obviously isn’t too keen on being disturbed…
Q: How does Mary fit into all of this?
A: She is the twins’ mother. Apparently she’s a piece of work herself and brings her sons people to, uh, “play” with.
Q: What about the big picture?
A: Okay, here goes. The mess started with Mary and her husband Simon, who had a pair of twin boys named Dan and Bobby. The man who delivered the children, Dr. Simpson (Jennifer’s father) must have known something was wrong with them right off the bat, when the kids weaned themselves on his hand. Rather than let him go with that information, the doc was imprisoned in the mansion, the entrance to the cell being walled off (poorly, I might add), and was left to die. Simon must not have been too willing to let these kids out into the world either, and tried to kill them. He was caught by Mary, however, and was locked in the cage in the shed. Apparently, he was starved, and driven mad by hunger. Up until the point our story begins, Mary has gone about with the task of bringing people to her mansion so her sons can satisfy their homicidal urges.
Q: Why haven’t I seen this game available?
A: Because they didn’t release it in the United States. The Clock Tower game for Playstation is actually the second one. I dunno why they didn’t release it in the US. Maybe it was for the same reason few RPGs came out before FF7 jump started the RPG craze in America, because American gamers preferred more action in their games (Americans have proven to me in their other endeavors that they prefer to do as little thinking as possible). Or maybe they felt the content was too disturbing, although if that’s the case, why did Mortal Kombat, which has much more blood than Clock Tower, get released here? Oh well, I’ve rambled on this subject enough.
