Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink is a hidden object point and click puzzle game set in a steampunk world filled with worry and paranoia. In the game, which has been ported to Xbox One from mobile devices, you are put in the hands of undercover investigator Evangelina Glass and her long-time friend, mentor, and scientist, Dr. Ambrose Ink.
When first launched, you are met with the opening cinematic voiced by Dr. Ink, who describes the game’s backstory. There has been a sudden increase in unnatural earthquakes. Dr. Ink believes the earthquakes are coming from the small town of Hochwald, so he sets off to investigate.
During the campaign, you play as Evangelina. Dr. Ink has asked you to come and help with his investigations of localised seismic activity as he believes the earthquakes are coming from below the castle of the newly promoted General Engineer Barber. General Engineer Barber is a Nazi-like crazy scientist who has made the inhabitants of Hochwold scared and paranoid of what is happening in the usually quiet town. With soldiers on the streets and local businesses being affected, the early feel is of despair and desperation.
The Gear Wheel Inn and its surrounding areas are where you will spend the opening of the game. You meet Dr. Ink and he starts to explain what is going on, only for another earthquake to hit. In the commotion that follows, Dr. Ink gets captured by a steam-powered golem that carries him away to Barber’s Castle, leaving you to head up the investigation. You have to rescue Dr. Ink and figure out how you can stop the crazed Barber from destroying the town.
During Dr. Ink’s capture, his mechanical sidekick bird Matthew, is broken. Fixing him is your opening task. Matthew will act as your sidekick of sorts, helping you out by getting out of reach items, and displaying video captured throughout Ink’s investigations. After looking at the broken bird, you will be met with your first hands-on scene. You have to find certain items which are hidden across the screen in your first “Where’s Waldo” hidden object game. Trying to find all you need can be quite tricky as items blend in with the background, making your needed components and parts, at times, hard to find.
Upon further investigation you find a note hinting for you to head to the castle gates and to find a tool box. Once found, your next step is to solve the puzzle of opening the box, this is done by looking around the screen and solving the small puzzles of melting ice, moving the magpie and finding the box of matches, amongst other things.
Once the initial puzzle is complete you return to the Gear Wheel Inn where you are met by the barmaid. She will explain about her alcohol licence being revoked and state that Dr. Ink was paying for his stay by fixing the bar’s doll house. This is where you come across Clockwork Tales’ first mini game of fixing the doll house. You must find the missing parts and then you must search the rooms of the toy house to place the correct items in their corresponding rooms. Once completed you are presented with a prize which will be needed for completing other puzzles as the game progresses.
Hints are available for solving all puzzles and mini games throughout Clockwork Tales: Of Ink and Glass, although, every time a hint is used there is a thirty second cool down on normal difficulty to stop abuse of the system. This is expanded to one minute on hard.
As the game progresses through its storyline, tasks and mini games become increasingly difficult. You move to other areas on you quest to find your friend, but not once did I feel like I was particularly challenged after the basic mechanics were learnt.
If my first playthrough had been on the harder difficulty, I still can’t see how it could have taken me much longer to finish. All the puzzles have only one way which they can be completed, leaving the title with little to no replay value, as once you have completed the game you have seen it all.
The main storyline took me a little over 4 hours to complete, although I did play through the entire story again on the hard difficulty whilst trying to wrap up achievements. This took me just over an hour to complete the second time around.
Summary
Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink offers an enjoyable but short game in the hidden object and puzzle genre. The price might be a little ambitious for developers Artifax Mundi, but they have put together a well-made title. Sadly it offers little over other point and click puzzlers available today. Pick this one up if you’re looking for a casual experience between those heavy hitters.
David Anthony contributed 13 articles to ICXM between 2015–2016, covering game reviews, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push. They post on X as @ziplobthud.