Clock Tower : The First Fear

Clock Tower: The First Fear for PlayStation is Human Entertainment’s 1997 enhanced edition of the 1995 Super Famicom survival-horror adventure, and the opening chapter of the Clock Tower series. Released in Japan on July 17, 1997 and developed and published by Human Entertainment, it returns players to the isolated Barrows mansion as Jennifer Simpson, a young orphan newly taken in with several other girls. What begins as an adoption trip turns into a desperate escape after the household’s secrets emerge and the scissors-wielding Scissorman begins stalking the estate.

The PlayStation game is a two-dimensional, point-and-click-style adventure adapted for a console controller. Rather than directing Jennifer through a conventional action-game interface, the player moves a cursor across each room to choose destinations, inspect objects, open doors, and use discoveries. Jennifer can walk or run, but exertion affects her condition; her on-screen portrait reflects her state, and a tired Jennifer becomes less able to flee danger. Objects found during exploration can be retained for later situations, while the placement of some items changes between playthroughs.

Survival depends on observation, route finding, and reacting quickly when Scissorman appears. Jennifer has no dependable way to overpower her pursuer, so the mansion itself becomes her resource: hiding places, doors, escape paths, and environmental hazards can create an opportunity to get away. Encounters trigger a panic state in which her ability to keep moving is especially important, and a close call can demand rapid button presses for one last attempt to break free. The result is a suspense structure built around temporary safety rather than combat, as players search an unfamiliar house while waiting for its threat to return.

Jennifer’s investigation takes her through the Barrows residence and its concealed areas while she searches for the missing girls and a way out. The story’s branching structure lets choices, discoveries, and survivors shape the conclusion, with multiple endings encouraging another visit to the mansion. The game’s horror presentation draws on the language of suspense cinema: quiet corridors, abrupt shocks, eccentric rooms, and the recurring sight of its child-sized antagonist turn ordinary actions such as opening a door or examining a cabinet into sources of uncertainty.

The First Fear is specifically the PlayStation revision of the first Clock Tower, not the 1996 PlayStation game that later reached other regions under the shorter Clock Tower title. Human Entertainment added material to this edition, including new scares, extra story content, additional enemy encounters, and a previously inaccessible bedroom that offers another hiding place. New scenes help broaden the original adventure’s events, making the PlayStation release a distinct version for players interested in the first game’s expanded content while preserving its mansion-escape premise and cursor-driven design.

Its position in the series is also central to its identity. The original 1995 game established Jennifer, the Barrows mystery, and Scissorman before later Clock Tower entries developed the franchise in different directions. For years, The First Fear remained a Japan-only PlayStation release; its relationship to the original was later recognized in Clock Tower: Rewind, whose enhanced mode incorporated content from this 1997 edition. On PlayStation, Clock Tower: The First Fear remains a compact, choice-driven horror adventure in which its most important challenge is not defeating the danger in the house, but reading the house well enough to escape it.