Saying this game was a long time coming would be a bit of an understatement. I recall seeing director and writer, Luís António, show up on a YouTube channel I enjoy watching talking about this game all the way back in April, 2015 (you can check out the video HERE). Over the years I always wondered what happened to Luís’ game, Twelve Minutes? It wasn’t until sometime last year when I saw it resurface and Annapurna Interactive was now the publisher. Not only that, but there’s an A-List movie star cast involved with doing the voicework, none other than James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. These three are actually the only cast members in the entire game, so a lot of weight is on their shoulders and I’m happy to say they really elevated what was already pretty great material.
Released in August of last year on Xbox and then December on PlayStation consoles, Twelve Minutes is a time loop game that takes place in an apartment suite. The camera is always in top-down position. You play as the husband coming home to see his wife, but after a few minutes things will quickly get complicated when a very aggressive cop will barge in and complicate things, often resulting in the death of your wife or yourself. The goal of the game is to uncover clues around your apartment and figure out what is really going on. The more you find out, the more there is a much larger mystery at play here that I became obsessed with uncovering. I quickly found myself getting very creative Doing such things as hiding in a closet or setting up a little trap for the cop, the more I explored what I could do the more answers I slowly got. I often ended time loops on purpose because I needed to gather information a certain way that would benefit me better in the following loop.
I don’t want to say too much more about the game because uncovering the mysteries is the most fun part about it. The game itself is fairly basic, as stated before its all top-down in an apartment. There’s the living room/kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, and a closet. That’s essentially the entire game right there. While it may take you several hours to finish the game, I could see for some it may be difficult to keep their attention since what you’re looking at on your screen isn’t always all that stimulating. If you get enamored by the story like I did, then looking at the same room for hours won’t be an issue. While the graphics are simplistic, they are very tastefully done, and since first seeing it originally in 2015, it was pretty much overhauled, in a good way. My only real issue with the game technically I’d say is there was an awful lot of screen tearing, a horizontal line that appears during gameplay. For playing on a PlayStation 5, and a game that is very small, this should not have been an issue the gamer has to experience.
All that being said, I had a blast with Twelve Minutes. There are several endings to uncover, when you think you may be done, there’s a good chance you can jump back in and keep digging for a better ending. I really appreciated the love and effort put into so many intricate aspects everywhere in this little world. This type of game may not be for everyone, but if you’re into mysteries especially with a style that is very influenced by Hitchcock and Kubrick, this is very much worth checking out.
8/10
For more information, visit: https://twelveminutesgame.com/
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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