Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink Review

It wasn’t too long ago that developers Artifex Mundi delivered us a point and click, hidden object game – ‘Nightmares from the Deep’ – which sounded more like a fright-fest than the joyous and relaxing experience it turned out to be. Now, they’re back with another game of the same genre but in a steampunk world. Will Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink be able to follow a similar formula for success or just end up being samey but with a new skin?

We join this steampunk styled land at a time when a series of strange earthquake tremors are causing damage and destruction aplenty. This prompts Dr. Ambrose Ink into doing a spot of investigating to try and uncover the real causes of these tremors, leading him to the village of Hochwald. He needs a hand to conclude his studies before a major catastrophe occurs and so, calls an old friend and the character you’ll control throughout this tale – Agent Evangeline Glass. Upon her arrival, the true villain of the piece takes Dr. Ink captive, thus placing the fate of him and many others into your hands.

Everything important that you’ll do in the Clockwork Tales story mode involves the use of a cursor that can be moved with the left analog stick seeing all interaction coming at the press of the A button. It’s all very simple and accessible, which puts me at ease, especially when you factor in the lack of any kind of timer to pressure you into hurrying. Instead, this is a game that can be played at your own pace. What exactly do you do though?

Well, across its entirety, there are areas to search for clues within and that’ll lead to mini games or hidden object sections, with important pieces of another puzzle as a reward for completion. Actually searching the environments for any kind of interactivity is a little too easy and tedious. However, once the various objectives begin to be filled and mini games start, the mental challenge is where Clockwork Tales flourishes.

Similarities between the concepts of some mini games in this and Nightmares from the Deep are noticeable but the way they are all executed is different. Artifex Mundi has absolutely nailed the naturally increasing difficulty through the three to four hour story. Early on it offers a straightforward mini game which tasks you with re-organising a dollhouse to ensure certain items are in the correct rooms. Whereas, further into the tale it will test your metal by getting you to turn lights on as a part of a grid, but only a specific amount of lights can be switched on dependant of the row or column allocation; it’s akin to a Sudoku puzzle but involving lights. The variety within the mini games is necessary to keep everything feeling fresh and enjoyable in a world where you’ll see the same locations many times.

Although technically a mini game too, the hidden object parts are a regular occurrence from start to finish. Here a list of items is given and you have to find them all amongst a plethora of useless items, sometimes having to interact with these to form something else needed on the list. As much as I usually adore these finding exercises, one drawback is the occasional inaccuracy of the cursor; if the item isn’t perfectly hovered over, it sometimes won’t acknowledge the find and so, you end up doubting whether the ‘Emerald Gem’ is indeed that specific item… which it clearly is!

Did I mention that Agent Glass had a sidekick? No? That’s probably because it’s part of what I’d call a novelty gimmick, in the form of a mechanical bird named Matthew. Basically, anything out of reach from Evangeline’s grasp can be gathered by Matthew at the press of the D-Pad and then selecting the area he needs to be. Again though I found an inaccuracy at times, where I couldn’t work out what to do next but the map indicates I’m in the right part of the location and I’d be trying to send Matthew to no avail.

After about three to four hours, you’ll probably have reached the climax of the main story and then you’ve got two options. The first option is to play it through again to grab any collectable bugs you’ve missed or on a harder, expert difficulty. All the added difficulty brings though are less frequent hints, no indicator for where there are things still to do and other small modifiers. Other than doing it for any unattained achievements, I don’t really see the point because everything will play out the same.

The second option is to get stuck into the prequel story mode, which puts you in the shoes of Dr. Ink in the time period just before Agent Glass arrives in the village. It offers an extra slice of the tale about him, discovering more bits and pieces about the goings on in Hochwald whilst completing a variety of mini games once again.

Although it has a story to tell, it comes in such dribs and drabs that it pales into significance amongst the mini games and searching tasks. That’s probably a good thing though as I can’t help but be distracted during a conversation when the characters’ mouths are wobbling all over like jelly on a plate. Animation isn’t one of the strong points of Clockwork Tales and neither is the uninspiring voicework that lacks consistently decent delivery.

I’m torn with deciding on how enjoyable my experience of Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink actually was. Deciphering the puzzling mini games is always fun because it keeps the mind ticking over in-between the mind numbing clicking outside of them and the variety of ideas within these puzzles are great. When it comes down to the story though, I can take it or leave it and the majority of the environments aren’t too exciting on the eyes either, even if the odd backdrop does look decent, they’re in short supply. Adding the slight cursor issues to the mix cements this steampunk adventure firmly into a slot ranked below Nightmares from the Deep.

Artifex Mundi have provided a decent hidden object game that is ideal for times when a relaxing session is in order. I’d still recommend picking it up as overall it does offer a good test for your mental prowess.