One button decides whether you attack or defend.
Hold to wind the spring tighter; release to strike. The longer you hold, the harder you hit.
Tap and release immediately, and you raise your shield to block.
But the real challenge is this: while you're holding the button, you don't know what attack is coming next.
So you have to guess. Guess wrong, and you get hit. It can feel like the game made the first move.
We put all the information about the battle onto a single timeline at the bottom of the screen.
Every brass diamond represents an attack already scheduled to land, stopping exactly at the moment it strikes.
Solid means the enemy has already started the attack; hollow means the attack is still approaching.
The cyan arrow is your blade—release now, and it will land there.
The red line is your limit: cross it, and the spring breaks. You'll freeze in place, unable to defend.
So the question—“Should I charge a little longer, or release now?”—is no longer a gamble. It's a decision you can see and read.
Climb 36 floors of the Clock Tower, facing three different levels of enemy density. Every floor has been battle-tested by bots:
The bot that reads the entire timeline clears the final chapter 93% of the time;
the bot that ignores all the information clears it only 51% of the time.
Hold to wind. Let go too late and your own spring snaps.