Clock Simulator Review

Click once a second, every second, sixty times a minute, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll never reach an hour anyway. Clock Simulator is one of those bizarre time-sink games that you can lose entire minutes of your life to if you aren’t careful, yet the euphoric sense of calm that washes over you after a quick session makes it all worth your time.

The game is actually a lot more interesting than the name might suggest; the player begins having access to a tutorial level and the first stage, neither being particularly easy if you’ve only just started. My first suggestion for succeeding at this game is to sit on the title screen, close your eyes and be the clock, because seconds never seem to be the same length as I remember. Once you’ve spent some time on those stages, you will progressively earn more, all having their own unique gameplay mechanics and design. One level has you clicking once a second every second, yet another level has you clicking once a second every second to stop the screen from getting darker. A couple of stages even feature what looks to me like a Minecraft pig, just to shake things up, swapping out the glorious sound of tick-tocking for oinking. It’s this kind of diversity that will really keep you coming back for more.

As I mentioned, the game is really hard, possibly because I have no sense of rhythm. As you make mistakes, the game will indicate to you how much longer you’ll be playing for, often by using the hand of the clock as a life bar. There is nothing quite as heart breaking as trying your best to get back in tempo, only to see that hand shrinking away into nothingness regardless. Try as hard as you like, time waits for no man, and when you start making those first few mistakes, it’s fairly certain that your run won’t last you much longer.

In spite of the games small price tag, I can see Clock Simulator being very beneficial to those people who can make the time for it. There are no eldritch horrors that need combatting, and nothing is going to hurt you if you don’t succeed; most certainly, the game is not simply an exercise in player hypnosis that will have you bend the knee to our Cthulhuian Overlords. As you slip into the harmonious sounds that this game puts out, it becomes easier and easier to forget where you are, what you should be doing or even who you are. Become the clock, and all of your problems will disappear.

Clock Simulator may not be particularly fun, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t enjoyable. When you get in the right mood, the game can be really peaceful and it desperately urges you to succeed; I can only imagine the benefits that playing will have on a person, but the increased calm and borderline meditative sense of mindfulness that the game is able to put over you feel pretty damn good.