Clockwork Revolution is inXile Entertainment's first-person steampunk RPG, launching on PC and Xbox Series X|S in 2027 with Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere support (Xbox Wire, 2026). It is an Xbox console exclusive, which in practice means PC and Xbox only — no PS5 version has been announced.
The pitch is unusually specific for a game this far out: you carry a time-travel device, and using it does not rewind your mistakes so much as rewrite the city, its shops, and the people you care about. That is a genuinely different promise from the usual RPG choice-and-consequence framing.
Note
Key Takeaways
- Releasing in 2027 on PC (Steam and Xbox store), Xbox Series X|S and cloud. No month or season has been given — it could land in December.
- You play Morgan Vanette, a fully customisable member of the Rotten Row Hooligans gang in Avalon's industrial Tangle district.
- The Chronometer enables time powers including Displace, which repositions objects to open paths, solve problems or weaponise the environment.
- Changes ripple forward as butterfly effects — game director Chad Moore says "every choice you make will matter."
- Day one on Game Pass, with Xbox Play Anywhere cross-platform progression.
When Is the Clockwork Revolution Release Date?
Clockwork Revolution releases in 2027 on PC and Xbox Series X|S. inXile confirmed the year during the June 2026 Xbox Games Showcase but gave no month, quarter or season — which is worth stating plainly, because a bare year means the game could arrive in January or in December.
The 2027 confirmation also locked in the game's console exclusivity to Xbox. It will be on Steam and the Xbox store on PC, available through cloud streaming, included with Game Pass at launch, and it supports Xbox Play Anywhere so a single purchase covers both PC and console.
Clockwork Revolution
Game Rating: Unrated (2027)
Developer: inXile Entertainment
inXile is the Wasteland 3 studio, which sets a reasonable expectation: dense reactivity and writing over spectacle. This is their first major first-person RPG at this scale.
What Is Avalon?
Avalon is a steam-powered Victorian metropolis defined by stark class division — overhead steam trains, clockwork artificial limbs, and mechanical servants above; the industrial Tangle district below. The city is ruled by Lady Ironwood, who manipulates time to preserve her own power and wealth while the working class stays exactly where it is.
That is the political spine of the game, and it is not subtle. The antagonist's crime is not conquest; it is using time travel to make an unequal status quo permanent. Her Industrial Secret Service agents hunt the player throughout.
Morgan Vanette
Your fully customisable protagonist — appearance, skills and gear. A member of the Rotten Row Hooligans, working out of the Tangle.
Prentice
A flying brass automaton companion who links you to the Chronometer and guides you through branching realities. She has her own abilities and her own skill tree.
The Hooligans
Ulysses, Nazim, Erasmus, Hazel and Anne. Each has an independent life and story that your decisions reshape, sometimes without your knowledge.
How Does the Chronometer Work?
The Chronometer is the device that makes time travel a mechanic rather than a plot device. It is used in both combat and exploration, and the showcased power is Displace.
Game director Chad Moore described Displace as letting you "instantly reposition certain objects" in order to "open paths, solve problems, or turn the environment itself into a weapon." The practical example given was launching an explosive barrel at enemies — but the same power solves traversal puzzles and unlocks routes.
Time Travel Creates New Realities, Not Undo Buttons
This is the distinction that matters. Travelling through time creates new branching realities rather than reverting to a save state. Moore's framing is that "every choice you make will matter," with decisions producing butterfly effects that reshape characters, storefronts and Avalon itself in ways the player did not plan.
Why this is a risky design: Reactivity of this kind is expensive and hard to test. A game that genuinely rewrites shopkeepers, allies and city districts based on time-travel decisions is promising a combinatorial explosion of states. inXile's Wasteland pedigree makes it plausible, but this is the claim to scrutinise when previews arrive, not the visuals.
What Is Combat Like?
Combat is first-person and built around three overlapping toolkits: crafted steampunk weapons and gadgets, hacking hostile automatons, and time powers from the Chronometer.
Enemies shown so far include armoured Justicars carrying flame weapons — heavily armoured targets that reward using the environment rather than trading damage directly. Turning an automaton against its owners, or Displacing a barrel into a firing line, is presented as the intended answer to a hard fight.
| # | System | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chronometer | Time powers in combat and exploration |
| 2 | Displace | Repositions objects to open paths or weaponise them |
| 3 | Hacking | Turns hostile automatons to your side |
| 4 | Crafting | Builds steampunk weapons and gadgets |
| 5 | Character build | Customisable appearance, skills and gear |
| 6 | Companion skills | Prentice has an independent skill tree |
The comparison the game keeps attracting is BioShock meets Arcanum, and on the evidence shown that is a fair shorthand: immersive-sim toolkit, RPG systems, industrial-fantasy setting.
Full Spec Sheet for Clockwork Revolution
| # | Feature | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Game Title | Clockwork Revolution |
| 2 | Developer | inXile Entertainment |
| 3 | Publisher | Xbox Game Studios |
| 4 | Game Director | Chad Moore |
| 5 | Platforms | PC (Steam, Xbox store), Xbox Series X|S, cloud |
| 6 | Console status | Xbox console exclusive |
| 7 | Release Window | 2027, no month announced |
| 8 | Genre | First-person action RPG |
| 9 | Setting | Avalon, a steampunk Victorian metropolis |
| 10 | Protagonist | Morgan Vanette, fully customisable |
| 11 | Companion | Prentice, a flying brass automaton |
| 12 | Antagonist | Lady Ironwood |
| 13 | Game Pass | Day one |
| 14 | Play Anywhere | Supported |
What We Still Don't Know
inXile has not announced a release month, PC system requirements, campaign length, or whether the game has any post-launch content plan.
Five open questions:
- When in 2027? A year with no quarter is a wide target.
- How deep does the reactivity go? "Storefronts change" is a demo moment; sustaining it across a campaign is another matter.
- What are the PC requirements? Nothing published.
- How long is it? No figure given.
- Is there a PS5 version later? It is an Xbox console exclusive. Whether that exclusivity is permanent has not been stated.
Treat any specific 2027 date currently circulating as unverified.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Clockwork Revolution release?
Clockwork Revolution releases in 2027 on PC and Xbox Series X|S. inXile confirmed the year at the June 2026 Xbox Games Showcase but did not give a month, quarter or season, so the window is genuinely open across the whole year. It launches into Game Pass on day one and supports Xbox Play Anywhere.
Is Clockwork Revolution coming to PS5?
No. Clockwork Revolution is an Xbox console exclusive, confirmed alongside its 2027 window. It will be available on PC via Steam and the Xbox store, on Xbox Series X|S, and through cloud streaming. Whether that exclusivity expires later has not been addressed by inXile or Xbox Game Studios.
What is the Chronometer in Clockwork Revolution?
The Chronometer is a time-manipulation device you carry throughout the game, linked to your automaton companion Prentice. It works in both combat and exploration. The confirmed power is Displace, which instantly repositions certain objects — used to open paths, solve environmental problems, or turn objects like explosive barrels into weapons.
Does time travel undo your choices in Clockwork Revolution?
No, and that is central to the design. Using time travel creates new branching realities rather than reverting to a previous state. Game director Chad Moore has said every choice will matter, with butterfly effects reshaping characters, businesses and Avalon itself — including your own crew, whose stories continue independently of you.
Who develops Clockwork Revolution?
inXile Entertainment, the studio behind Wasteland 2 and Wasteland 3, now part of Xbox Game Studios. This is their first large-scale first-person RPG, and the studio's reputation is built on dense writing and heavy reactivity rather than technical spectacle — which is consistent with what has been shown of Avalon so far.
Should You Be Watching This One?
Watch it if you liked immersive sims that let you solve a room three different ways, or if inXile's brand of consequence-heavy RPG writing appeals. The paid attention here should be on the reactivity claim: a city that rewrites itself around your time-travel decisions is either the most interesting RPG structure in years or a demo-scale trick.
Be patient about it. A 2027 window with no month attached, from a studio that has been quiet for a long stretch, is not a game to plan a year around yet.
If you are tracking the same window, Fable lands in February 2027 for the same PC and Xbox audience, and The Witcher 4 is circling nearby. Console-side, our upcoming console games hub covers what PlayStation owners get instead. To work out whether your machine will handle a 2027 RPG, start with how much VRAM you need for gaming.
Screenshots and key art courtesy of Xbox Game Studios and inXile Entertainment, used for editorial coverage. Clockwork Revolution is a trademark of its respective owners.
Sources
- Xbox Wire, Clockwork Revolution: Burlesque, Bullets, and Butterfly Effects, retrieved 2026-07-27, https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/07/clockwork-revolution-preview-xbox-games-showcase-2026/
- Wccftech, inXile Seals Clockwork Revolution's Xbox Console Exclusivity, Locks 2027 Launch Window, retrieved 2026-07-27, https://wccftech.com/clockwork-revolution-2027-xbox-console-exclusive/
- Shacknews, Clockwork Revolution is coming in 2027, retrieved 2026-07-27, https://www.shacknews.com/article/149517/clockwork-revolution-is-coming-2027
- RPGamer, inXile Entertainment's Clockwork Revolution Releasing Next Year, retrieved 2026-07-27, https://rpgamer.com/2026/06/inxile-entertainments-clockwork-revolution-releasing-next-year/
- Steam, Clockwork Revolution store page, retrieved 2026-07-27, https://store.steampowered.com/app/2439280/Clockwork_Revolution/
