The Watchmaker Demo

It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to innovate in the world of video games, given the fact that modern tools allow almost anyone with a computer to put their ideas into practice. However, it’s all about creativity, because there are obviously many unexplored ideas out there. The actual hard part is to present gamers with a polished product that’s worth the time and effort.

The Watchmaker is a very intriguing third-person adventure game that puts you in the shoes of a watchmaker who spent his entire life working in some kind of complex clock tower, up until the day when everything went wrong. The gameplay revolves around exploring a fascinating steampunk environment and dealing with various enemies that try to stop your progress, while making use of various gadgets.

Your character is an expert watchmaker, as the game’s title clearly implies, but time itself starts to play tricks on him when someone sabotages his tower. Hence, you age years in the span of a few minutes now, so it’s important to keep an eye on that throughout the adventure. Other than that, you can also use a magnetic glove that allows you to attack enemies or interact with various items.

One of the most interesting things about the game is the HUD, because everything you need to know is actually integrated into the main character’s outfit. Thus, the device he’s carrying around displays his current age, stamina level and a few other things, all while looking like it belongs in the game world. As far as the puzzles, most of them require you to move objects around using your magnetic glove, but there are a few surprises as well.

The level design is worth a shout too, because the game looks incredible when it comes to the environments you get to explore. There are all sorts of weird mechanisms to admire, not to mention the interesting enemies that try to stop your progress. Unfortunately, the demo has a few optimization issues, because even decent computers have a hard time rendering everything smoothly sometimes.

The time-related mechanics work like a charm, which means that The Watchmaker could be quite the success once the full version rolls out. However, until then the developers need your help working on the game, and you can lend a hand by participating in their Kickstarter campaign.