NightCry (previously known as Project Scissors) is a survival horror game and Clock Tower spiritual successor developed by Nude Maker for PC to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Clock Tower: The First Fear. The PC version was released on March 29, 2016 and it is available on Steam.
It was claimed that it would also be released for PlayStation Vita, iOS and Android. According to a February 2018 update, the Vita/iOS/Android versions are not cancelled and are still in development. The Vita version will be released in 2018.
NightCry is directed by series original Hifumi Kono who had complete control over the first two Clock Tower installments. Masahiro Ito (Silent Hill art and monster director) designed Scissorwalker. Takashi Shimizu directed a live-action teaser trailer for the game.
Contents
Plot Note: This plot summary follows the Two Survivors ending. However, it is unknown if Two Survivors is the canon ending.
The Oceanus.
The game is set aboard a luxurious cruise liner called the Oceanus on August 18, 2016. This cruise begins from Venezia, Italy, making a stop at Southampton, England, then finally crossing the Atlantic en route for the Caribbean Islands (which are near Florida).
The heroine and her friends are college students from North America that had fieldwork training in the Aegean islands, making their trip back on this cruise liner. However, a group of cultists, simply known as "the Faithful", snuck on board.
As the ship sails across the deep blue ocean, a week into the cruise, a series of gruesome and mysterious murders begins to take place by a monstrous female creature called Scissorwalker, including those of the ship's crew. Soon the ocean liner is crippled and adrift at sea, and has become an inescapable death trap for the passengers.
Jerome, Monica, Leonard and Rooney. Jerome isn't actually a playable character.
As Monica Flores, Leonard Cosgrove and Rooney Simpson, passengers of the ship, the player is tasked with solving the murder mystery to ensure their own survival as well as the rest of the ‘innocent’ passengers.
There are supernatural elements present in the story.
Chapter One 7:26 PM
Monica on the Oceanus.
Chapter One begins with Monica on the Oceanus, leaving the party on board. While looking for her friend Harry, she helps the owner of the ship, Vigo Boradsov, by boiling his artificial eye and also encounters a strange little girl named Connie.
Soon, Monica encounters the Scissorwalker after Scissorwalker kills Harry by pulling him into a vending machine. Monica then tries to escape the ship. Her friends Kelly Butler and Jessica Lopez also go missing.
Monica becomes stranded on the bottom deck, but locates a smartphone belonging to a "John Thompson". John's wife, Angie Brown, communicates with Monica and she is able to unlock his briefcase, finding a fuse that restores power to the elevator. In order to receive the best ending, Monica must find a wedding ring, send a HELP message using the phone, and find Jessica's corpse.
On the upper floor of the ship's cafe, Monica reunites with a clerk named Eric and they vow to escape.
Chapter Two 9:44 PM
Leonard investigating the island.
Chapter Two features Leonard as he leaves the Oceanus and explores a nearby island to investigate a bonfire in the distance with Eric and Cobie, crew members of the Oceanus. Fortunately, in this chapter, Leonard does not have to worry about Scissorwalker (excluding one alternate ending), but he does have to be concerned about being discovered by the Faithful.
On the island, Leonard sends a distress message requesting help on the Oceanus. Soon, he discovers a mass-murdering cult preparing a ritual there, who appear to be rehearsing to perform a ritual on board the ship.
The Oceanus will be a ritual site?
Leonard discovers that one of the high-ranking members of the cult probably has a false eye and sends a text to his students warning them of this development. Later, he finds a secret chamber under a well, where he finds a heavily injured and drugged Jerome Theuriau in a coffin, who was abducted and tortured. Leonard also learned that the Oceanus was going to be used as the site for an arcane ritual.
When he returned to the beach carrying Jerome on his back, he, Eric and Cobie proceeded to try and hurry back to the ship. Unfortunately, when they returned to the ship, an explosion went off from the inside the ship. Leonard looked towards the source of it in shock and quickly turned around to tell the men to hurry up, but was caught off-guard and attacked by an unknown Faithful member. However, it is implied that this member is Eric or Cobie (most likely Eric), since Jerome is shirtless and the member appears to be wearing a crew uniform.
Chapter Three 6:12 PM
Rooney contemplating suicide by drowning.
Chapter Three features Rooney as she explores the Oceanus. This is the longest chapter and follows through to the rest of night.
It begins with Rooney mingling at the same party as Monica. While watching the ocean, Rooney has a suicidal urge to fall in and drown herself, but is prevented by Jerome who empathizes with her and talks to her about suicidal ideations. Jerome persuades her to meet in his room.
There, Rooney and Jerome talk about what's real and existence. Jerome decides to go get some food, but suddenly, Scissorwalker emerges from the bathroom and begins stalking Rooney. Rooney successfully hides from Scissorwalker and finds a group of survivors in a room. She also encounters Jerome on a staircase.
In the storage area, Rooney finds a wounded Monica hiding in a storage container, who somehow became trapped in after something locked her in from behind. If Monica received John's wedding ring from Chapter One, she will pass it onto Rooney. Elsewhere in the storage area, Eric tells Rooney that she can climb through the air ducts to escape. Unfortunately, Cobie already drowned. Eric provides Rooney with some antibiotics and in the true ending, both Rooney and Monica take them.
While climbing through the air ducts, Maria Ortiz is killed by Scissorwalker.
"How does it feel to kill someone?"
Rooney later finds Leonard in a tub of liquid in the infirmary room and discovers that his body had been flayed from the neck down. He has been kept alive, but is trapped in agonizing pain, to the extent that he can only beg for death. Rooney ultimately heeds his request by shutting off his life support machine and euthanizing him. Connie appears, exclaiming happily that Rooney had killed him. She then asked her how it feels to kill someone. However, when Rooney ignores her and starts to leave, Connie tried to call Rooney out by pointing out how Leonard was like a father to her. This prompted Rooney to stand up to her and reveal what happened on the day Connie died, stunning her.
Connie angrily threw a tantrum and accused her of lying. Rooney then told her that she didn't intend for her to forgive her and declared that she will go on with her life. Rooney then left the room, leaving an angry and stunned Connie behind.
Later, Rooney finds Angie hiding in a clothes store and Rooney gives her John's wedding ring. In response, she gives her a billiard ball which is a clue to enter the VIP area. In the VIP area, Rooney enters Vigo's room and finds a childhood photo of Jerome, a diary revealing the truth of Scissorwalker, and obtains the Eye of the Kassites.
Rooney enters the dance hall.
Rooney enters the dance hall and sees the stringed up corpses of the passengers. Vigo applauds Rooney for surviving this far, and a masked Jerome subdues Rooney. Fortunately, Monica bashes Jerome in the head, knocking him unconscious. Rooney tears out her own eye and replaces it with the Eye of the Kassites, allowing her to command the Scissorwalker to take revenge "on the man who turned you into a monster". The Scissorwalker kills Vigo, then disappears, and the two are rescued by helicopter.
Endings
There are eight multiple endings in total. It is unknown which ending is canon or if there is a canon ending.
Chapter Three
Rooney and Monica survive the ordeal and become friends.
Two Survivors: Rooney and Monica encounter Vigo, who commands the Scissorwalker to attack them. Rooney tears out her own eye and replaces it with the Eye of the Kassites, allowing her to command the Scissorwalker to take revenge "on the man who turned you into a monster". The Scissorwalker kills Vigo, then disappears, and the two are rescued by helicopter.
Trap Party: Triggered if Rooney does not read Vigo's diary or see Jerome's past photo. Rather than encountering Vigo, Rooney is surrounded by the Faithful and wakes up in a hospital bed with Jerome standing nearby. He tells her she is in a hospital in Miami, they have been rescued, and it's all over.
The ending fades ominously as he says "You have nothing to worry about..."
Rooney walks past Monica's bloody corpse.
Purgatory: Triggered if Rooney fails to take the antibiotic Eric gives her (and thus to give it to Monica). Rooney collapses inside the ship's hospital. She is later walking down the corridors of the Oceanus, bloodied and emotionless, passing the old lady from the elevator as well as Monica. She stops in front of Connie, who says "Now we can play together forever..." as she raises her hat.
Pre-established harmony: Triggered if the wedding ring is not found and given to Angie in the clothing store. When Rooney approaches the Billard Puzzle door, Vigo is standing outside the door, and blasts her with sleeping gas. The same sequence as Purgatory plays, but with a brief view of the Scissorwalker seen at the end.
The lone survivor: Triggered if Rooney fails to use the Eye of the Kassites (or doesn't have it). Rooney and Monica are killed by the Scissorwalker. Similar to Two Survivors, but instead of Rooney and Monica standing on deck, there is now Eric.
Rooney and Leonard together forever.
Seduced by the snake: Triggered if Rooney refuses to turn off the life-support machine. Rooney enters the staff elevator after crossing the partially destroyed corridor, only to see something slithering around her. Leonard's head appears, and he coils around Rooney, telling her they will be together forever.
Chapter Two
It's all too late: Triggered automatically if Monica fails to find Jessica's corpse back in Chapter One. When Leonard enters the well without using the non-slip gloves, he falls and is killed by the Scissorwalker. If he does use the gloves and follows through with the rest of the chapter, it continues normally until Leonard is ambushed on the life raft. A week later, a newscast reports how everybody on the Oceanus disappeared and that there are no clues to this mystery.
Chapter One
A Face In The Waves: Triggered if Monica fails to send a SNS message in Chapter One. When Monica comes out of the storage room onto the deck, rather than the single crewman Eric, she is confronted by the Faithful, who throw her overboard. A large image of the Scissorwalker appears in the water.
Game Over: All Game Overs. Life is fleeting, isn't it? Perhaps as you witness the moment the torch is blown out and the light fades, you will be able to taste the relief of knowing you yourself are still safe.
These endings occur in special circumstances and have their own animations. There are 25 of them, and getting them all earns an achievement.
