Clockwork Revolution is an upcoming first-person action RPG from inXile Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios.
Set in the sprawling steampunk metropolis of Avalon, the game combines firearms, gadgets, character customization, time manipulation, and deep branching choices.
Its defining mechanic is the Chronometer, a mysterious device that allows protagonist Morgan Vanette to travel into the past and alter important events.
The consequences don't simply change a dialogue line.
They can reshape characters, relationships, locations, factions, and the future version of Avalon itself.
🏙️ The Setting: Avalon
Avalon is a Victorian-inspired city powered by extraordinary technology.
Steam trains travel overhead, automatons walk the streets, mechanical servants work for the wealthy, and some citizens replace body parts with elaborate clockwork prosthetics.
But underneath Avalon's technological progress is a deeply divided society.
The wealthy live comfortably while the working class struggles in industrial districts such as the Tangle.
At the centre of this system is Lady Ironwood, a powerful ruler who has secretly been manipulating history to preserve her position.
She isn't simply waiting for Morgan to discover the truth.
She's already using time travel herself.
⏳ The Chronometer and Time Travel
The Chronometer is the central gameplay mechanic in Clockwork Revolution.
Morgan can travel into the past, influence important events, and return to the present to see how those decisions changed Avalon.
The game's developers describe this as a butterfly-effect system, where seemingly small decisions can create much larger consequences.
That means the past isn't simply another location.
It is effectively a tool for rewriting the present.
A decision made decades earlier could change who is alive, which faction controls an area, or what Morgan encounters later.
🧬 A Reactive World
inXile is building Clockwork Revolution around the idea that the world should react to player decisions.
The Xbox description specifically says choices can affect characters and the world around them, while the game's showcase presentation highlighted how Morgan's allies can have their lives changed by alterations to the past.
This extends beyond traditional dialogue choices.
The developers are aiming for changes that can be visible in the actual city.
Change the past, and Avalon changes with it.
🧑🔧 Who Is Morgan Vanette?
Players take control of Morgan Vanette, a fully customizable protagonist and member of the Rotten Row Hooligans.
Morgan's appearance, skills, gear, and attributes can be customized.
Xbox says players can build their character around different specializations, allowing them to shape Morgan according to their preferred playstyle.
Morgan is also accompanied by Prentice, a flying automaton who becomes an important companion and guide through the game's branching realities.
Prentice has her own abilities and skill tree, giving her a role beyond simply providing dialogue during missions.
🤖 Meet Prentice
Prentice is a small flying automaton who accompanies Morgan throughout the adventure.
She is connected to the Chronometer and helps Morgan navigate the different realities created by manipulating time.
Her own abilities and skill tree also provide additional ways to interact with the world.
That makes Prentice an important part of both the narrative and gameplay systems.
🕰️ Time Manipulation in Combat
The Chronometer isn't restricted to story sequences.
Morgan can use its abilities during exploration and combat.
One demonstrated ability is Displace, which allows Morgan to instantly reposition certain objects.
That can be used to:
- Open previously inaccessible paths
- Solve environmental puzzles
- Manipulate objects
- Turn environmental objects into weapons
- Launch explosive objects at enemies
In the 2026 gameplay reveal, Displace was demonstrated by moving an explosive barrel into a group of enemies.
This is where Clockwork Revolution starts to feel more like an immersive simulation than a conventional shooter.
🔫 Steampunk Combat
Combat takes place entirely from a first-person perspective.
Morgan has access to firearms, specialized equipment, time abilities, gadgets, and other steampunk technology.
The game combines conventional weapons with more unusual systems, including the ability to manipulate the environment and hack hostile automatons.
Players can also craft steampunk weapons and gadgets, giving the combat system an additional customization layer.
The result is a combat system built around more than simply shooting enemies.
The environment itself can become part of your arsenal.
⚙️ Automatons and Hacking
Mechanical enemies are an important part of Avalon's world.
Players can encounter hostile automaton robots and use their abilities to turn some of these machines against their masters.
This gives Morgan another option during encounters.
Instead of attacking every enemy directly, players can potentially manipulate the battlefield and use technology against itself.
🎭 The Rotten Row Hooligans
Morgan isn't alone in the fight against Lady Ironwood.
The Rotten Row Hooligans are a group of outcasts and allies connected to Morgan's journey.
The 2026 reveal introduced several members, including:
- Ulysses
- Nazim
- Erasmus
- Hazel
- Anne
These characters aren't simply generic followers.
inXile says their lives can change as Morgan begins manipulating the timeline.
That creates an interesting consequence system.
The people Morgan returns to may not always be the same people Morgan left behind.
👑 Lady Ironwood
Lady Ironwood is the primary antagonist of Clockwork Revolution.
She rules Avalon with enormous power and has already discovered the potential of time manipulation.
Rather than allowing history to unfold naturally, she has used time travel to alter key events and maintain her wealth and influence.
Her objective is essentially the opposite of Morgan's.
Morgan wants to change the future.
Ironwood wants to control it.
Her Industrial Secret Service agents will also pursue Morgan throughout the adventure.
🏭 Avalon Has Two Very Different Faces
Avalon is designed around a stark social divide.
The upper portions of the city showcase wealth, technology, and luxury.
Meanwhile, areas such as the Tangle are filled with industrial pollution, poverty, crime, and working-class communities.
This class conflict is central to the game's setting.
The city's impressive technology isn't equally available to everyone.
That gives the time-travel mechanic a larger purpose: changing history could potentially change who benefits from Avalon's technological progress.
🎮 Gameplay Systems
Clockwork Revolution combines several major RPG and action systems:
- First-person combat
- Character creation
- Gear and equipment specialization
- Attributes and skills
- Firearms
- Crafting
- Steampunk gadgets
- Automaton hacking
- Time manipulation
- Environmental interaction
- Branching narrative choices
- Reactive characters and locations
Xbox describes the game as a truly reactive RPG, with decisions capable of producing far-reaching consequences.
🧩 Choices Can Rewrite the City
The most ambitious part of Clockwork Revolution is the relationship between gameplay choices and the environment.
Traditional RPG choices often change dialogue or determine which quest ending players receive.
Here, the developers are promising something broader.
Changing an event in the past can affect the future version of Avalon, including characters and elements of the city itself.
This means two players could potentially experience substantially different versions of the same city.
🎨 Unreal Engine and Visual Style
Clockwork Revolution is being developed as an AAA first-person RPG using Unreal Engine technology.
Its visual identity combines Victorian architecture with exaggerated steampunk machinery, automatons, industrial environments, ornate clothing, and mechanical prosthetics.
The result is a world that feels inspired by Victorian history while remaining distinctly fictional.
Avalon isn't trying to recreate the real 19th century.
It's building an alternate history where clockwork technology transformed society.
📅 Clockwork Revolution Release Date
Clockwork Revolution is scheduled to release in 2027.
There is currently no specific launch date.
Xbox's official game page lists the release simply as 2027, while the June 2026 Xbox Games Showcase confirmed the broader window.
The game was originally announced in 2023 without a firm release date, making the 2027 confirmation the first concrete launch window.
🎮 Platforms
Clockwork Revolution is currently confirmed for:
- Xbox Series X|S
- PC
- Steam
- Xbox Cloud Gaming
It will also launch day one with Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Play Anywhere support means players can purchase once and play across supported Xbox and PC versions.
The game is positioned as an Xbox console exclusive.
☁️ Xbox Game Pass
Game Pass subscribers will be able to play Clockwork Revolution on day one.
The official Xbox listing includes the game with Game Pass across supported console, PC, and cloud access.
That makes it one of the more notable 2027 first-party RPG releases for the service.
🛠️ Development Timeline
| Year | Development milestone |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Clockwork Revolution officially announced |
| 2025 | Major gameplay footage revealed |
| 2026 | Xbox Games Showcase reveals the 2027 release window |
| 2026 | New details revealed about Chronometer abilities, companions, combat, and Avalon |
| 2027 | Planned release |
inXile described Clockwork Revolution as its first fully fledged Xbox Game Studios release and its first AAA first-person action RPG when the project was originally announced.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
When is Clockwork Revolution releasing?
Clockwork Revolution is scheduled for 2027, but no exact release date has been announced.
What is Clockwork Revolution about?
It is a first-person RPG about Morgan Vanette, a customizable protagonist who uses a time-manipulation device called the Chronometer to change Avalon's past and reshape its future.
Who develops Clockwork Revolution?
The game is developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios.
What is the Chronometer?
The Chronometer is Morgan's time-travel device. It allows players to travel into the past, alter events, and experience the consequences in the future version of Avalon.
Can you customize Morgan?
Yes. Morgan Vanette is fully customizable, with players able to specialize their character through appearance, gear, attributes, and skills.
Is Clockwork Revolution multiplayer?
The game is being presented as a single-player first-person RPG. No multiplayer mode has been announced in the current official material.
Is Clockwork Revolution coming to PlayStation?
No PlayStation version has been announced. The currently confirmed platforms are Xbox Series X|S and PC, alongside Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Will Clockwork Revolution be on Game Pass?
Yes. It is scheduled to be available day one with Xbox Game Pass.
🔥 Why Clockwork Revolution Is Worth Watching
Clockwork Revolution has an unusually strong hook.
It's not simply another steampunk shooter.
It's an RPG where time itself becomes part of the character build, exploration system, combat toolkit, and narrative.
The Chronometer could allow players to approach problems differently, while the reactive world promises consequences that extend beyond simple dialogue choices.
And then there's Avalon itself.
A city filled with automatons, flying steam trains, mechanical limbs, criminal gangs, industrial districts, wealthy elites, and a ruler who is already rewriting history.
If inXile can deliver on the scale of its time-manipulation promises, Clockwork Revolution could become one of the most distinctive RPGs of 2027.
🎮 The Bottom Line
Clockwork Revolution is built around one compelling question:
What if you could change the past and then walk through the world you created?
That's the foundation of its entire design.
The Chronometer can alter history.
Those changes can reshape Avalon.
And the people Morgan cares about can be affected along the way.
Combined with first-person combat, character customization, steampunk technology, automaton hacking, and a deeply reactive world, Clockwork Revolution is shaping up to be much more than a traditional action RPG.
The revolution begins in 2027.