It's a shame to see this game getting so many negative reviews. I've been having a lot of fun with NightCry, in great part because it's exactly what's advertised. If you've ever played any of the original Clock Tower games (on SNES and PS1, before Clock Tower 3 took things in another direction), you can expect a modern-looking game in the classical style. A lot of the conventions and genre trappings haven't been updated at all, and I think that's where some of the dissonance comes from.

With NightCry, you can expect obtuse, illogical puzzles, fixed camera angles that often impede your control, point and click navigation instead of direct movement, an (occasionally) extreme level of difficulty, and a lot of bad endings that you won't immediately understand why you're getting. If you're able to look past these things, you'll find a charming game with a very morbid, distinct sense of humor and a whole lot of heart. The writing is just the right level of tongue-in-cheek, and the voice acting is hammy enough to be in on the joke without feeling stilted, cartoonish or absurd. Early screenshots and trailers had led me to wonder, but the game has a surprising amount of visual polish and I find myself really admiring the aesthetic. The real-time shadows are particularly impressive and add a lot to the atmosphere. This isn't a AAA title, but if you've taken even a cursory look at the store page and read this far, you shouldn't be expecting one.

Sound design in a horror game is incredibly important, and NightCry's use of audio deserves a special mention. It's clear that a lot of care went into all of the sounds in this game, and everything fits together beautifully. From the distinctive menu sounds, to the sharp, jarring *clink* and *slice* of scissors you hear almost immediately after beginning the game, from the terrifying quality of the "chase" music to the unexpected stingers that accompany jump scares, in my opinion NightCry's strong use of sound is one of its greatest assets. Outside of a few particular moments the original Clock Towers never managed to scare me much, but in part thanks to the fantastic sound design, NightCry has been inspiring a refreshing sense of dread in me as I've been playing. If you can allow yourself to let your guard down, NightCry finds some real and surprising ways to get under your skin. The ability to be meaningfully tense and frightening outside of the cheap "Gotcha!" moments is something that few horror games nowadays can lay claim to.

There's flaws here for sure. Though it's improved over the last few updates, the game is still buggy in a lot of places and prone to occasional crashes. Some of the puzzles can be very frustrating, and could probably benefit from an in-game hint system. Though I see it as a strength, the game design is definitely 10 or 15 years behind the times, and the clear product of another era. If you're a Clock Tower fan, though, none of this should really matter. NightCry is a faithful new installment in the franchise. As much as I love and appreciate Haunting Ground, I'd call this the real "Clock Tower 4" that we never got back in the day. This is a really cool game with a lot to offer, and if you're capable of checking your expectations at the door, any fan of oldschool horror and adventure games can find a lot of fun with this title.