Welcome to our review of Twelve Minutes, a game where everything keeps repeating until you find the way out!
Twelve Minutes is a real-time top-down interactive thriller with an accessible click and drag interface. Featuring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. What should be a romantic evening with your wife turns into a nightmare when a police detective breaks into your home, accuses your wife of murder, and beats you to death… Only for you to find yourself immediately returned to the exact moment you opened the front door, stuck in a Twelve Minutes time loop, doomed to relive the same terror again and again…
Unless you can find a way to use the knowledge of what’s coming to change the outcome and break the loop. Twelve Minutes blends the dream-like tension of THE SHINING with the claustrophobia of REAR WINDOW and the fragmented structure of MEMENTO.
I would even go as far as to say that Twelve Minutes is a psychotic thriller that you either love or hate. You will love it because it is so dark and deep. It will cut deep down in your psyche and get under your skin so quickly. You will also hate it because you want to do something else, you do not want to pursue the options given. You want to do your own thing.
Twelve Minutes is actually a game that is both very smart yet very limiting because of this aspect. There is always the desire to break the loop, but how do you break it? Sure, you got a plan at first, but you fail to do it because you are not given the options you want. For me personally, I had one of my first breakthroughs or so I thought when I closed the door and locking it behind me.
The cop just busted open the door and I ended up getting choked out even. Things took a real turn there… Luckily everything resets when you get taken out. It is the main appeal of the game and the psychology factor is just plain amazing. At times I wished the controls were so great too, those were a bit clunky at times and while they do not hurt the experience, they can be annoying.
My advice when playing this game, which is currently on Game Pass, yet another reason to go all out for Xbox in the next generation of consoles, is to take it slow and really think about stuff. Do you really want to be asking the same questions you did last time? How do you prove that you are being stuck in a time loop? How do you prevent the cop from knocking you down or outright killing you? What is your wife’s part in all this?
In conclusion, Twelve Minutes brings you not just a game, but an experience in itself. It will not be for everyone, no sir, this is a niche game if there ever was one. But our loyal fans know us, Gaming Boulevard loves a good game and we know you do too!
