Project Scissors: NightCry Kickstarter aims to bring back Clock Tower

The Kickstarter for Project Scissors: NightCry has just opened, asking for cash from those who want to be chased around a cruise ship by a murderous lunatic.

NightCry was originally announced as Project Scissors, a horror adventure for iOS, Android, and the Vita. Now that the Kickstarter has launched, devs Nude Maker have decided to also bring it to PC. Good choice.

There’s a lot still to be disclosed, but you play a guest on a cruise ship. When the passengers and crew start turning up dead, the survivors start suspecting each other. It’s up to you to figure out what’s going on and – hopefully – keep your head. Literally.

There are two modes of play. Investigation plays like a point-and-clicker; you wander the ship talking to people, finding clues, picking up objects, and solving puzzles. Unfortunately, as you’re being stalked by some horrific evil brought on board by cultists, you’re also going to have to flee for your life; running and hiding are your only options.

Oh, and there are multiple endings. Your choices will determine who lives and who dies – most likely including yourself.

If any of this is sounding familiar, that’s probably because of the people working on it. The creator and project director is Hifumi Kono of Clock Tower fame; the co-creator is Takashi Shimizu of Ju-On fame; the creature designer is Silent Hill art director Masahiro Ito, who created Pyramid Head; the… well, let’s just say that Nude Maker is made up of gaming luminaries.

The Kickstarter exists primarily to make sure that the PC version is a step above the mobile version, particularly in terms of graphical fidelity. With bigger screens and higher resolution comes a need for better hair animation, shaders, lighting, facial animation, and lip-synching, and that’s going to take a bit of cash.

They’re after $300,000, and two stretch goals have so far been revealed. $400,000 will offer “More Ways to Die”, while $475,000 will give us an additional playable character.

The Kickstarter is currently sat on $32,507, and I will probably be backing this because I love me some Clock Tower. You can see a short NightCry film below, if you want to get a feel for it.