I was always intrigued to try this game after seeing the launch trailers years ago but I completely forgot about it until I saw it on sale on steam today and thought id finally give it a shot.
Twelve minutes revolves around a man stuck in a time loop where a cop comes to his house and kills him and his wife every twelve minutes as per the title. There is a deeper story to unfold and each loop has you searching for more clues to discover the quite frankly strange twist in the end. Im a sucker for a good murder mystery plot and pairing that with a time loop works quite well in execution. I think that the twist in the end is shocking but was a very weird way for the developers to go with it when they could of removed "That part" and made it work regardless.
I expected this to be a small indie game but was really shocked to see James MacAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Defoe were voicing the main characters. MacAvoy and Ridley are putting on accents and I would of never guessed it was them if the game hadn't told me but you can recognise Willem Defoe from a mile off, but as always he gives a very good performance with the limited dialogue. As do MacAvoy and Ridley and they have decent chemistry during their character interactions.
Its a simple point and click game style with no controls other than the mouse. I think its good that they never overcomplicated the controls as it would of felt needless. Im a big fan of the gameplay format of going into each loop with more knowledge and slowly piecing everything together.
Visually its quite lacking, its all from a top down perspective and the whole game bar a few scenes takes place in the same area so nothing crazy to work with. Nothing really to note score wise but I do quite like the theme as the credits play. Technically I noticed quite a lot of lag/frame drop but nothing game breaking by any means.
There are I believe 7 endings, three of which are very similar and the rest can only be achieved at certain parts during the game. I got two endings and might go back to get the more unique ones that dont require me to play the whole game again.
All in all Twelve Minutes is an enjoyable point and click mystery with an interesting plot and characters. Very much a one and done type of game so I would recommend when it is on sale as I wouldn't pay £20 for it.
Twelve minutes revolves around a man stuck in a time loop where a cop comes to his house and kills him and his wife every twelve minutes as per the title. There is a deeper story to unfold and each loop has you searching for more clues to discover the quite frankly strange twist in the end. Im a sucker for a good murder mystery plot and pairing that with a time loop works quite well in execution. I think that the twist in the end is shocking but was a very weird way for the developers to go with it when they could of removed "That part" and made it work regardless.
I expected this to be a small indie game but was really shocked to see James MacAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Defoe were voicing the main characters. MacAvoy and Ridley are putting on accents and I would of never guessed it was them if the game hadn't told me but you can recognise Willem Defoe from a mile off, but as always he gives a very good performance with the limited dialogue. As do MacAvoy and Ridley and they have decent chemistry during their character interactions.
Its a simple point and click game style with no controls other than the mouse. I think its good that they never overcomplicated the controls as it would of felt needless. Im a big fan of the gameplay format of going into each loop with more knowledge and slowly piecing everything together.
Visually its quite lacking, its all from a top down perspective and the whole game bar a few scenes takes place in the same area so nothing crazy to work with. Nothing really to note score wise but I do quite like the theme as the credits play. Technically I noticed quite a lot of lag/frame drop but nothing game breaking by any means.
There are I believe 7 endings, three of which are very similar and the rest can only be achieved at certain parts during the game. I got two endings and might go back to get the more unique ones that dont require me to play the whole game again.
All in all Twelve Minutes is an enjoyable point and click mystery with an interesting plot and characters. Very much a one and done type of game so I would recommend when it is on sale as I wouldn't pay £20 for it.
9 Comments
@RedBackLoggd I'd say the build up is definitely worth it and i think the twist is good its just really strange, If you check any other reviews you could probably get more of a hint as to what it is if you dont know already.
Its a really strange game to have 3 very big celebrities as the main cast, its a shame that other VA's got pushed aside for it though
Its a really strange game to have 3 very big celebrities as the main cast, its a shame that other VA's got pushed aside for it though
Well I 1000% respect you for being much more vague with prospective readers.
I guess they wanted to make things stand out, but the funny thing is, that initial trailer got them a lot of hype: unlike movies, I don't see people choosing to play a game b/c of a particular celebrity, but who knows.
I guess they wanted to make things stand out, but the funny thing is, that initial trailer got them a lot of hype: unlike movies, I don't see people choosing to play a game b/c of a particular celebrity, but who knows.
@RedBackLoggd I think that in some cases a celebrity being attached to a game can create a bit more hype, like Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk. Which is why this really baffles me that they released the launch trailer with original VA's and not the celebrities. You'd think that having Willem Defoe of all people attached to your game would be a good thing to announce from the get go.
That's a great point for sure, but let's be honest as well - the next CDPR game post-Witcher 3 was gonna sell like hotcakes haha. It's of course a cost-sunk argument: will the amount of money I pay this actor result in at least a 2x return, and sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't.
For the record, I'm not against celebrity castings and think it is different from casting a celebrity who is a genuine fan of the game/genre like Matthew Perry (RIP) in New Vegas or Martin Sheen in the Mass Effect series. But 12 Minutes was bizarre since it was effectively a redub.
No, the reveal trailer is what had the original VAs -- by the time of the launch trailer.
For the record, I'm not against celebrity castings and think it is different from casting a celebrity who is a genuine fan of the game/genre like Matthew Perry (RIP) in New Vegas or Martin Sheen in the Mass Effect series. But 12 Minutes was bizarre since it was effectively a redub.
No, the reveal trailer is what had the original VAs -- by the time of the launch trailer.
*by the time of the launch trailer, they had done the recast
@RedBackLoggd Yeah your right bad example lol I mean it more in the sense that its an added bonus for fans to have a famous face attached to a game that they are already hyped for. I think that bizarre is the best word to describe the casting choice for this game haha, really makes no sense.
All good haha, and yeah, but it is what it is. I look forward to playing this game eventually. Good review.
@RedBackLoggd Appreciate it bro :)
RedBackLoggd
1 month ago
They actually had regular VAs for the initial reveal trailer, but then decided to redub it with celebrities for the actual release disappointingly.