YMMV / Clock Tower 2

• Alternative Character Interpretation: It's a bit of a stretch, but there's suggestions that Edward's memory of being Dan Barrows, the other Scissorman, actually was wiped until Professor Barton brought them back to the surface. Does this mean that in either story side, the cause of the murders is Barton's fault? Could Edward/Dan have been a normal boy and not a horrible murderer if things had been left alone?
• Broken Base: Nolan's feelings for Jennifer, and their relationship. Some fans are fine with it because it's not sexual in nature and makes for an effective foil for Harris's feelings, while others are squicked out and disgusted that a relationship between an underage girl and grown-up is being portrayed positively. According to the creator, the latter reaction was somewhat intentional and their relationship isn't intended to work out.
• Contested Sequel: Though reception for the sequel leaned on the positive side, there was still a noticeable divide compared to its predecessor. Fans and critics praised the sequel for its more intense atmosphere and interactive story, but criticism was made towards the game's incredibly sluggish pacing and difficult gameplay.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Gotts for both averting Police Are Useless and being the only character who takes being chased by Scissorman in stride. His best scene is when Scissorman appears, he calmly draws his gun and shoots him. Of course, he quickly discovers his bullets don't have any effect...
• Narm:
  • As typical of survival horror games from this time period, the voice acting is... less than stellar. Shawn and Genghis from You Tube Channel Genghis Kait even compared Rumiko Varnes' voicework as Jennifer to that of a Disney Princess.
  • One way to fight back against Scissorman is... throwing a blanket on him. Sure, it actually does make sense in context and isn't that stupid of an idea, it just comes off as silly since other ways of stunning Scissorman are things such as hitting him with a board or slamming a cart into him.
  • The fact that when the investigators check out the Barrows castle in England, they take literally everyone. Including the two survivors of a traumatic murder spree (who are both minors) and a magazine journalist.
• Narm Charm: The very idea of the killer of "Scissorman" just using a giant pair of shears to attack you is almost too goofy to take seriously. Yet hearing the "shing shing shing" to let you know Scissorman is near and that you can't defeat him can be oddly scary.
• That One Level:
  • Scenario 2 is arguably the most difficult of the three scenarios. Scenario 1 was a fairly large area and the university had plenty of places to hide and escape. While Scenario 3 doesn't have any reusable SAFE (keyword being safe as the only reusable way of fending off Scissorman is the door to nowhere, which requires you to give up a point of strength to survive it) hiding places, the castle at least is large enough and has enough room for you to continue running while you come up with a plan. Scenario 2 takes place either in Rick's house or the library, both of which are very small areas, both with a total of only about 9 rooms. Unless you know what you're doing and where you're going, you can very easily get trapped in a dead end when being chased, and you must find the statue if it's there and either find the location of the Barrows Castle (Rick's House) or find a way for Edward to escape (Library) before you are allowed to leave yourself. Thankfully at least both locations have a reusable hiding place.
  • Of the two choices here, the Library is a bit easier since all of its evasion points will succeed; you just have to know what's usable. Rick's house has two hiding places, a box in the storeroom and the shower stall in the bathroom, that are dangerous to use. Scissorman will always kill you in the box, and it's random if he'll burst into the shower stall and kill you. Also, the pantry-cellar in the kitchen is a very common hiding place for Scissorman to jump out at you if you inspect it, even if he's already chasing you, though it can be used if he's not there. Lastly, the umbrella by the front door will require Gotts/Nolan to mash the panic button, a mechanic often not used for such things, else Scissorman will deflect it and kill them anyway. As a result, there's less safe places to use in Rick's house.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While the North American release of Clock Tower 2 got a very appropriate "Mature"-rating, the European release of the game was rated 10+ (as in appropriate for ages 10 and up)! Not only is the game filled with brutal and gory murders, but the game's very cover art depicting a grotesque-looking man wielding a giant pair of shears dripping with blood should have made it abundantly clear to the ELSPA that the game is not appropriate for kids.

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