Clockwork Revolution

Though we still don’t know when Clockwork Revolution will launch, it remains one of my most anticipated games. Its reveal trailer promises a fun, steampunk city to shoot my way through, but the subsequent details we’ve learned about the game have continued to pique my interest. Developer inXile Entertainment’s best-known series, Wasteland, isn’t my particular cup of tea, but it’s a kettle I admire from a distance because of its mechanics, the way its systems interact, the worldbuilding, and more. Now that inXile is brewing something that aligns with my preferences in Clockwork Revolution, this studio has my attention.

Morgan Vanette is the customizable protagonist and a member of the Rotten Row Hooligans gang. This group is just one of many in the bronze-tinted city of Avalon. Vanette reminds players in a trailer, “You either got a gang at your back, or a knife in it,” and inXile has made clear that it wants you to feel like all of Avalon has its eyes on you, from those in the slums to the nobles and businesspeople in the golden mansions, presumably like Lady Ironwood. After some time travel manipulation at the hands of this mysterious villain, Vanette and their allies set out to turn back time (and the tables) and stop her from taking over the city.

Clockwork Revolution game director Chad Moore tells me, “Right now, we’re very focused on making sure the game responds to player choices in a natural way. We want every choice to lead to moments that feel personal, surprising, and true to the story they’re shaping.” He adds that inXile’s priority is to make Avalon feel alive and responsive so players can sense the city shift around their decisions “in ways that feel intuitive, immersive, and uniquely theirs.”

He describes the narrative of Clockwork Revolution as dark, humorous, and brutal, with player attributes, skills, dialogue choices, and weapon crafting all rounding it out in player-specific ways. Plus, there’s Vanette’s ability to time travel like Lady Ironwood, thanks to a special glove.

Perhaps it’s a faux pas to mention BioShock Infinite, but I swear I’m getting at something here that’s beyond the visual similarities between it and Clockwork Revolution, though those are delightfully apparent. The former’s initial premise involved a lot more universe-tearing (and subsequently, time manipulation shenanigans) than the final release, and I can’t help but see some glimmers of Bioshock Infinite’s revealed-then-cut (or at least toned down) time mechanics. Trailers for Clockwork Revolution show Vanette using their time travel glove to reshape the environment, platforms, and tools around them in-real time to help them overcome foes or progress forward through Avalon; that, to me, when combined with what looks to be some great gunplay, is the most exciting aspect of this game, and I can’t wait to see how deep it goes.

“The biggest thing for us is the depth of the visual reactivity,” Moore says. “When you go back in time in Clockwork Revolution and change something, you’re not just opening a new branch; you’re coming back to a present that’s been physically reshaped around those choices. Avalon has been handcrafted to reflect those changes in ways that feel surprising and earned. It reacts to what you’ve done in ways that you just don’t see in many other games.”

That’s a lofty statement, but I look forward to seeing if Moore and the inXile team back it up when I finally play Clockwork Revolution.