Probably the most disappointing game I've played since The Witness. Absolutely adore the concept, the story and the use of imagery (the use of the clock is fucking stellar) but the gameplay is so painfully dull that I was left bored and uninterested only an hour in.

And I don't think it's necessarily a puzzle design problem, there's a bunch of clever puzzles in here, it's just that the game design (more specifically the execution of the loop mechanic) practically disincentivises experimentation. No one wants to slog through the same dialogue over and over again just to try a different approach that MIGHT give some new information, but that is exactly what Twelve MInutes forces you to do. Again. And Again. And Again.

I gave up 2 hours in and looked up a guide. Puzzle games are never fun when you follow guides religiously but this game somehow managed to be more fun when I was tabbing out every 3 seconds to look at Polygon, which is a fucking achievement.

This was lovely. It's got rough edges all over (the platforming sucks, the dialogue lacks any subtlety, a complete lack of polish, etc) but it's such a warm, fuzzy game. I spent a good 3 hours total just sitting on screens that looked nice and colouring them in, even though it was completely superfluous. Making this world feel like a world again is such a satisfying loop that I wish the game took advantage of in more meaningful ways, instead of just using colour as a way to activate a spring, or something.

With that said though, the Metroidvania elements are excellent. The world design is top-notch, naturally moving you from place to place and prodding you to explore in really smart ways. Making clothing items a reward for exploring is always a good move, but the brush styles system is on a whole other level. A lot of them are pointless stamp things but the texture and tool ones are incredibly useful, and let you get even more creative and efficient with colouring.

All in all, it's really great. If I didn't have to waste a minute of my life trying to colour in certain objects because they didn't program the hitboxes correctly this would be a 9/10.

Probably has the worst UI in any game I have ever played. The Windows 10 version took 6 attempts to get past the title screen because they didn't code the Xbox sign in properly. My controller worked in the menus but not in the actual game, for some reason. The keyboard controls are actual shite, and there's no bindings menu in-game, so you won't even know what they are without googling them. I'm baffled that a game this well-known still feels like an early alpha after 4 years.

Worst part: the funny physics aren't even that funny :(