Summary
InXile Entertainment’s time-bending title,Clockwork Revolution, is still a ways off from release, but FPS fans might want to keep an eye out. With its steampunk setting and sci-fi concept,Clockwork Revolutionhas something going for it that the competition may not be able to match.
The premise ofClockwork Revolutionsees the player embarking on a mission to set the timeline right. After traveling through time, their utopian steampunk city of Avalon has fallen on hard times upon their return. With a mix of RPG and FPS gameplay, the title shows promise, but no FPS game would be complete without a great arsenal at the player’s disposal. While most shooter games are forced to rely on realistic weaponry,Clockwork Revolutionhas given itself an out that may just define the game. The steampunk setting givesClockwork Revolutionthe ability to invent weapons that other games wouldn’t be able to include.
Clockwork Revolution’s Weapons Should Embrace its Steampunk Roots
Steampunk has been rising in popularity over the past few years, andClockwork Revolutionhas a chance to help define the aesthetic when it comes to games. The core concept behind steampunk is, of course, steam-powered technology, including any firearms or weapons the world includes.Clockwork Revolutionrelies on its steampunk settingas a standout feature of the game, so it would only be logical that it would lean into the trappings of the genre as much as possible. This means that the weapons inClockwork Revolutionwill probably look unlike any players have seen before, helping them stand out among the crowd of other FPS mainstays.
Another standout inclusion inClockwork Revolutionis its emphasis on time travel, which will likely extend to combat. The game’s reveal trailer has only shown a few small glimpses of how fights might play out, but it revealed a very telling moment. In the trailer, the player collapses a bridge to take out an enemy, then uses their weapon to rewind the bridge to its in-tact position. This reveal ofClockwork Revolution’s destructible environmentsand time-altering mechanics has massive gameplay implications. The weapon used in the trailer is just one of many that players will discover in the game, so if one weapon does damage by altering time, others might as well. The science-fiction roots of both time travel and steampunk play off of each other incredibly well, so developers ought to remember those roots when thinking about combat and designing guns.
How Weapons Can Add Substance to Clockwork Revolution
In games, a well-designed weapon does more than just damage. All items in RPGs, weapons included, help tell the story of the world that the player is inhabiting.The potential of Clockwork Revolution’s worldbuildingis so great that it will need to be firing on all cylinders to get it right. This means the weapons need to not only look amazing and feel good to fire, but they need to further the worldbuilding as well. Discovering who created these time-based machines and how they play into the larger universe of the game are experiences the player isn’t likely to forget. In this way, good weapon design playing into the story is essential and is one more way thatClockwork Revolutioncan use its weapon variety to one-up its competition.
FPS and RPG mechanics don’t always go hand in hand, but when they do, fans may sing their praises long after release. RPGs rely on player choice, and in an FPS, there’s no more important choice than what weapon to use.Clockwork Revolution’s FPS potential is high, but in order to reach its full RPG potential, player choices are the key. Player choice plus standout guns createa blueprint ofClockwork Revolution’s success. Combining genres skillfully means taking the best parts of each and playing them against one another to create new experiences for the player. With stellar choice-based gameplay and incomparable weaponry,Clockwork Revolutionhas the prospect of a game that players may enjoy quite a bit.
BioShock: The Collection
WHERE TO PLAY
Return to the cities of Rapture and Columbia and experience the award-winning BioShock franchise like never before, beautifully remastered in 1080p. BioShock: The Collection contains all single-player content from BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, all single-player add-on content, the “Columbia’s Finest” pack, and Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock, featuring Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson.BioShock: BioShock is a shooter unlike any you’ve ever played, loaded with weapons and tactics never seen. You’ll have a complete arsenal at your disposal from simple revolvers to grenade launchers and chemical throwers, but you’ll also be forced to genetically modify your DNA to create an even more deadly weapon: you. Museum of Orphaned Concepts. Challenge Rooms.BioShock 2: Set approximately 10 years after the events of the original BioShock, the halls of Rapture once again echo with sins of the past. Along the Atlantic coastline, a monster has been snatching little girls and bringing them back to the undersea city of Rapture. Players step into the boots of the most iconic denizen of Rapture, the Big Daddy, as they travel through the decrepit and beautiful fallen city, chasing an unseen foe in search of answers and their own survival. Minerva’s Den. Protector Trials.
