Using a timeloop narrative in games makes a lot of sense, because they kind of exist on the player level for most games anyway, as a result of checkpoints or save scumming. Go forward, die, come back earlier, and try something you learned to succeed a second time. The biggest issue here is that Twelve Minutes is trying to be a timeloop movie, not a timeloop game.

Imagine you're making a movie. You have 4 "loops" of the main character trying out a plan. The first 3 times it fails because of some variable he didn't anticipate, before succeeding on the fourth. What do you do to make sure it's not boring? Simple, a quick montage showing what worked and how the protagonist corrects their mistakes until they succeed. Twelve Minutes can't do this. Instead, you play completely through 4 loops, with the game throwing sometimes unforseen obstacles your way or characters not reacting to your changes until you finally get it right. It's exactly as tedious as it sounds, if not more. This on its own can still be compelling. The game could've focused itself around the hopeless tedium of clockwork precision, of the ultimately soul sucking feeling of repeatedly failing to make sure life is orchestrated in the perfect way. But it's too focused on being a twisty Hitchcockian thriller that ultimately repeatedly shoots its pacing in the foot. It doesn't help that the narrative being told also just kind of sucks on its own, particularly by the end.

Reviewed on Aug 19, 2021


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