10 Important Video Games That Defined Survival Horror
7. Clock Tower
Developed and published by Human Entertainment back in 1995, Clock Tower is a point-and-click survival horror game in which players take on the role of Jennifer Simpson, an orphan adopted alongside several of her friends by the mysterious Barrows family. After arriving, she is quickly separated from her friends, and left to fend for herself against the disfigured, murderous psychopath known only as the Scissorman.
The game revolves around solving puzzles and exploring the Clock Tower itself in order to uncover its darkest mysteries. In each room, the player is able to collect items and interact with various objects in the environment, many of which will actually conceal the Scissorman himself, hiding behind drapes, inside closets, or behind shower curtains. At this point Jennifer will enter a panic phase, requiring her to sprint away from her pursuer, or lash out momentarily against him.
Depending on Jennifer's health, encountering Scissorman becomes more or less likely; blue health means that Jennifer is calm, and is therefore unlikely to be attacked, and red means that she is panicked and in mortal danger. Not only was Clock Tower a groundbreaking entry in the survival horror genre, it was also the first point-and-click game to feature an antagonist that would actively stalk the player, even during puzzles sequences. In that respect, Clock Tower was a forerunner for two gaming genres, making it a pretty historically significant little game.