Kill the Clock Offers an Early Peek at a Time Loop Mystery

What if your motivation for solving a crime is because you wanted to be the person to kill someone? But now you’re also trapped constantly reliving that scenario. That’s the premise for the upcoming adventure Kill the Clock and, while it’s only in early access at the moment, the concept seems sound. Part of what grabbed my attention about Kill the Clock immediately is the concept. Our character intended to kill William Meyer. However, when we go to do so, we find he’s already dead. His wife Linda happens upon the scene and, given the evidence, thinks that we did it. We’re arrested, but get a chance to clear our name. This means investigating the crime scene and places of interest and talking to people, perhaps gifting and bribing them while there. Stats influence our capabilities, and we can assess individuals with minigames and psychic abilities. However, since this is also a time loop situation, each “loop” will play out differently with possibly a different murderer and outcome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uld7-1e3HsU The story is generally good. I think I like the premise more than the actual Kill the Clock script at the moment. There are issues with tenses and grammar, and some of the writing comes across a bit flat or out of character. However, this is a work in progress. Since it only did just enter early access and is from a Korean developer, we need to expect a learning curve. I suspect by the time the third chapter is included, we’ll start to see the results of editing. I do feel like, at the moment, it’s difficult to assess how well certain gameplay elements work. This is going to be a four chapter game, and two are present. Relationships with characters, influenced by gifts and bribes, will determine the end we see, as will our actions. I didn’t always see exact results from such interactions at the moment, probably because this isn’t complete yet. For example, it seems like sometimes I saw people acting pretty favorable or tolerant toward us even without earning/buying their trust, and I’m curious if the bonds’ effects will be more noticeable in the 1.0 release. Images via Happy Slugs It is also at a point where some quality of life elements aren’t there yet. However, Happy Slugs did already address that. In the time since I started playing and then wrote this initial playtest up, the team already confirmed it would be adding a chapter select option that lets us jump to any of the four chapters and more save file slots. Kill the Clock seems ambitious, to be sure, and I’m eager to see if the finished game can match the scope Happy Slugs set for it. The protagonist’s motive is unconventional for a detective game, and the general time loop concept is promising too. We’ll have to see if some script adjustments, the relationship system, the last two chapters, and bug fixes will make it all worth while in the end. Kill the Clock is available in Early Access on Steam for the PC, and a demo is available. The post Kill the Clock Offers an Early Peek at a Time Loop Mystery appeared first on Siliconera.

Jun 22, 2025 - 10:40

Kill the Clock Offers an Early Peek at a Time Loop Mystery

What if your motivation for solving a crime is because you wanted to be the person to kill someone? But now you’re also trapped constantly reliving that scenario. That’s the premise for the upcoming adventure Kill the Clock and, while it’s only in early access at the moment, the concept seems sound.

Part of what grabbed my attention about Kill the Clock immediately is the concept. Our character intended to kill William Meyer. However, when we go to do so, we find he’s already dead. His wife Linda happens upon the scene and, given the evidence, thinks that we did it. We’re arrested, but get a chance to clear our name. This means investigating the crime scene and places of interest and talking to people, perhaps gifting and bribing them while there. Stats influence our capabilities, and we can assess individuals with minigames and psychic abilities. However, since this is also a time loop situation, each “loop” will play out differently with possibly a different murderer and outcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uld7-1e3HsU

The story is generally good. I think I like the premise more than the actual Kill the Clock script at the moment. There are issues with tenses and grammar, and some of the writing comes across a bit flat or out of character. However, this is a work in progress. Since it only did just enter early access and is from a Korean developer, we need to expect a learning curve. I suspect by the time the third chapter is included, we’ll start to see the results of editing.

I do feel like, at the moment, it’s difficult to assess how well certain gameplay elements work. This is going to be a four chapter game, and two are present. Relationships with characters, influenced by gifts and bribes, will determine the end we see, as will our actions. I didn’t always see exact results from such interactions at the moment, probably because this isn’t complete yet. For example, it seems like sometimes I saw people acting pretty favorable or tolerant toward us even without earning/buying their trust, and I’m curious if the bonds’ effects will be more noticeable in the 1.0 release.

It is also at a point where some quality of life elements aren’t there yet. However, Happy Slugs did already address that. In the time since I started playing and then wrote this initial playtest up, the team already confirmed it would be adding a chapter select option that lets us jump to any of the four chapters and more save file slots.

Kill the Clock seems ambitious, to be sure, and I’m eager to see if the finished game can match the scope Happy Slugs set for it. The protagonist’s motive is unconventional for a detective game, and the general time loop concept is promising too. We’ll have to see if some script adjustments, the relationship system, the last two chapters, and bug fixes will make it all worth while in the end.

Kill the Clock is available in Early Access on Steam for the PC, and a demo is available.

The post Kill the Clock Offers an Early Peek at a Time Loop Mystery appeared first on Siliconera.