In addition to PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, the fantastic Lair of the Clockwork God will soon be available on PS4. Just Stadia, Ouya, and an improbable Pico-8 port to go now.
Lair of the Clockwork God is excellent. Originally launching for PC in February 2020 – approximately 16 years ago by the current reckoning – it rapidly booked its place on our “best games of 2020” list, even back then.
If not for a couple of other standouts – no, I’m not telling; you’ll have to wait for the list to see which ones – we might be calling it the single best game of the year. It’s really that good.
Clockwork God is an ingenious blend of classic point-and-click adventure and indie platformer, from the developers behind the Ben and Dan adventures (Ben There, Dan That and Time, Gentlemen Please!), steampunk heist-em-up The Swindle, and absurdist football simulator Behold the Kickmen.
In our review, I said:
“Think about that bit in The Witness, where you turn around and realise the starting area was a puzzle the whole time. Or when you piece the case together in Return of the Obra Dinn. Or when you finally get what’s going on in Portal. Or, you know, all of the Stanley Parable. Lair of the Clockwork God is made up of so many of these moments, deftly woven, strung together, and concealed through sleight of hand and ingenious narrative. The fourth wall is smashed, the meta-narrative is bold, and the resulting ride is a wild one.”
You don’t invoke the likes of Portal and The Stanley Parable lightly. Lair of the Clockwork God is just splendid.
And following a jaunt on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One – with porting duties handled by Tony Gowland’s Ant Workshop – Clockwork God is now making the trip to PlayStation 4. Very soon, in fact: it releases on PS4 on November 6, 2020.
Follow Thumbsticks on Twitter and Facebook for more indie game news.
