The Last Clockwinder is a blend of puzzles and factories that takes advantage of VR’s unique perspective to make some truly engaging gameplay.
Within the Clocktower, a huge tree that serves as a safe haven for many plant species, it’s your job to get everything running again. With the Clockwinder’s gloves, you’ll create looping clones of your actions to automate the gathering of fruits, activating machinery, and more. By recording something in a short period of time, you can, for example, pick a fruit and toss it across the room repeatedly. Then you can create another clone to catch it.
All your actions are influenced by your own movements, so the game has a lovely tactility. It’s really satisfying to make an endlessly repeating production line, making molecular structures from sticks and fruits, then throwing them in a container. As you explore the Clocktower, you’ll discover new plants, learn more techniques, and discover the story (which serves mostly as set dressing). It introduces new ideas while upping the difficulty at a great pace.
It is not strictly necessary for progression, but there are efficiency targets to aim for. As you create more clones, chill music builds. There’s no fail state or time limit — just clone yourself to loop factory lines. While you work out a solution, time melts away.
Despite some low-res textures, a pleasant art style tops things off nicely, and a decent range of comfort options is available if required. The Last Clockwinder doesn’t try to be a big, showy game, rather using VR to anchor you to the puzzles. It’s a great game throughout and not for a long time.
Pros:
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Puzzles with open-ended solutions.
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A satisfying, engrossing game.
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An ambience of relaxation.
Cons:
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Textures with low resolution.
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It’s mostly background noise.
My Score is 8 over 10.