Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within (1998)

The amount of lies I told myself to keep going... It took a large amount of liquor before I was able to convince myself that the six hours or so I spent was enough. Just horrific game design. The first two games have their quirks, but they're not obtuse. Solutions are logical and backtracking makes sense. Not the case here. I spent two hours in the first chapter just redoing everything over and over, only for a locked door to all of a sudden 'unlock', with the trigger just reading a carving on a sink that said "HELP". And that's the big flaw in this game: you're constantly, tediously changing characters, only to do the exact same things over again, hoping for a change. And to change characters you need to find a place to put down your amulet, then find an enemy to change you into your alter-ego.

It's just tedious encounter after encounter. There's no logic or sense to anything. The first chapter is very telling what the rest of the game is going to be like. Most of the time the player receives no feedback, just zero options or interaction with an object, and in most cases, a frickin' door. Change characters and all of a sudden you can interact with a door. No comments that the door is 'locked' or 'stuck' -- just nothing, no options whatsoever. Absurd game design, and a blight on the series.

This was genuinely frightening back when I was a kid-a chiid with a knife roaming around trying to kill the MC. Today, it's kinda like a cruel joke, Batman's Joker would laugh at. We sometimes get some laughs whenever she appears. Was fun around Chapter One but only up to that point.

Never finished the next chapters because what was once a promising theme of Japanese occult turned into a resident evil clone.

Good graphics when played through Duckstation (emulator) and set to high resolution.

The Struggle Within will always remain a personal favorite of mine and one of the scariest PS1 games of all time!

This game gave me nightmares in my youth, being around eight years old at the time, it truly terrified me and I love it for that, sparking my fascination with horror video games for the rest of my life.

With upgraded graphics and smoother gameplay, Clock Tower II brings a level of dread that has yet to be replicated in the fashion it's presented here. The thick tension ridden atmosphere is even more terrifying with even creepier stalkers than its predecessor.

This is Clock Tower at its finest and scariest. A must to be explored if you enjoy survival horror with unexpected twists and turns with a variety of endings.