User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 513 Ratings

User score distribution:

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  1. Aug 20, 2021
    0
    The idea is good. But not executed well. Frustrating loops and some plot holes made it a bad game
  2. Aug 20, 2021
    2
    The game is initially fun. Things logically make sense and you have a good time. Eventually though, you end up "fighting the system". you "know" what happened and now you are just clicking away trying to figure out how to get your character to say or do what you want. You'll have to try over and over until you fumble across the right combination to make your dude say the line you need.The game is initially fun. Things logically make sense and you have a good time. Eventually though, you end up "fighting the system". you "know" what happened and now you are just clicking away trying to figure out how to get your character to say or do what you want. You'll have to try over and over until you fumble across the right combination to make your dude say the line you need. Most people who can't afford to replay it over and over will end up googling a walk though because wasting hours on guess work isn't "fun".

    If you have limited free time this game is a hard pass or wait for it to be on sale and have a walk though standing by. If you have nothing to do, have played all the other new releases, and are looking for something to waste a few hours of time this may be the game for you. I wouldn't recommend it though.
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  3. Aug 20, 2021
    0
    A BAD STORY DRIVEN GAME. this game struggle with its loops. sometimes you just want to close the game and never come back. i like the idea. but they couldn't make it good.
  4. Aug 20, 2021
    0
    the definition of a bad narrative. wasting the material and idea. I had big expectations for this game. some dialogues make no sense. i`m not gonna spoil the game. but sometimes there can be many more useful lines. but no. they put senseless lines instead. at first, the loops are fun. but you get more and more tired of it as you play more.
  5. Aug 20, 2021
    0
    the voice acting is f***ing great. but it can't make the storytelling better. don't get me wrong. story isn't bad. but the way that they telling story is bad.
  6. Aug 25, 2021
    4
    Overall - 4/10

    + Good voice acting/dialogues + Interesting game concept - The game gets really repetitive and annoying after 5-7 loops. You will have to play a whole loop again just to get one new dialogue - You can skip most dialogues but some you cant for some reason - The dialogues gets mixed up and overlaps from time to time - The story is very dumb, feels like a child was
    Overall - 4/10

    + Good voice acting/dialogues
    + Interesting game concept

    - The game gets really repetitive and annoying after 5-7 loops. You will have to play a whole loop again just to get one new dialogue
    - You can skip most dialogues but some you cant for some reason
    - The dialogues gets mixed up and overlaps from time to time
    - The story is very dumb, feels like a child was supposed to create a mystery story and wrote whatever tf he could think of to make it look deep.

    Enjoyment - 5/10
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  7. Aug 22, 2021
    2
    I was initially kind of excited for this game since I like choose your own adventure and solving mysteries type games. But this game gets SO repetitive and feels like a drag since you have to see the same rooms and the same dialogue over and over again and after two hours I didn't have any interest in finishing the game anymore. Bummer.
  8. Aug 20, 2021
    0
    I didn't expect such a bad storytelling from this game after all the trailers. I'm still sure the idea was great. but you need to work on that idea. you should develop it. They didn't do that.
  9. Aug 21, 2021
    4
    Interesting idea and intriguing mechanics but the story becomes unrelatable about halfway and the main plot twist makes no sense even after unlocking true ending. Glad I played on gamepass and not wasted money on this
  10. Aug 21, 2021
    2
    I never... ever... look up walkthroughs/tips for a game but this one was just so difficult to understand that it got overwhelmingly frustrating. I was intrigued by the story and wanted to find out what happened next but doing the same thing over and over and over.... and over... just to have to do it over and over again is not fun. Plus when I got to the end and got the "shock"... it wasI never... ever... look up walkthroughs/tips for a game but this one was just so difficult to understand that it got overwhelmingly frustrating. I was intrigued by the story and wanted to find out what happened next but doing the same thing over and over and over.... and over... just to have to do it over and over again is not fun. Plus when I got to the end and got the "shock"... it was meh. Dont get me wrong, the game gets extra points for being intuitive with it's premise but fails in execution. Expand
  11. Aug 22, 2021
    4
    I’ll be avoiding story spoilers:

    On paper 12 Minutes is an intriguing idea. You’re in your apartment with your wife, enjoying a pleasant evening until a very aggressive cop knocks on the door and accuses your wife of murder. You then discover you are trapped in a time loop and have to use the repeating time to solve the murder and break the loop. As I said, on paper it’s an intriguing
    I’ll be avoiding story spoilers:

    On paper 12 Minutes is an intriguing idea. You’re in your apartment with your wife, enjoying a pleasant evening until a very aggressive cop knocks on the door and accuses your wife of murder. You then discover you are trapped in a time loop and have to use the repeating time to solve the murder and break the loop. As I said, on paper it’s an intriguing idea. Unfortunately the execution of the idea falls somewhat short of the hype that has built around this game.

    It doesn’t take long for the game to get extremely repetitive. A lot of your time will be spent doing the exact same things over and over again trying to figure out how to advance the shockingly short story. As I said I won’t be going into detail with the story so we’ll look at the gameplay. At its core it is a basic point a click adventure game. You click a point in the room to move your character and spend most of your time interacting with items and selecting dialogue options. The whole game is shown in a top down perspective of your apartment which consists of 3 rooms. Character animations and movement do feel a bit janky at times with characters often clipping into each other and the apartments furniture. The one aspect that 12 Minutes can’t be faulted on is the voice cast and the quality of the acting. With James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and the highlight of the game, Willem Dafoe, the voice work is AAA as you would expect of these seasoned actors. Luís António Does deserve high praise for creating 12 Minutes. As a first game from an independent developer and his first game period, it lays the groundwork for more ambitious projects in the future and I for one look forward to his next projects now he has dipped his toe into game development. I just hope we don’t have to wait 6 years for the next project.

    Overall 12 Minutes is a game you should at least try if you subscribe to GamePass. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing it as it has almost zero replay value. Unless of course you need to explore every dead end option just to hear every line of dialogue possible. But once you know what you’re doing the story can run it’s course in just 7 loops, or about an hour in real time.
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  12. Aug 21, 2021
    3
    I do not know how to pass this game without tips because you're not even told what the end goal and you literally do not know what to do next. I spent 2 hours trying to kill a cop and leave his wife alive, but as it turned out this is not the purpose of the game.
  13. Aug 21, 2021
    0
    Doesn't worth a try. this game doesn't have anything. no gameplay. no story. It's just boring. this is one of the games that you just wanna finish and get rid of it.
  14. Aug 22, 2021
    0
    Bad writing, worse execution. Repetitive, boring puzzles, you won't care what will happen, you definitely won't like any endings. Dialogue options are sloppy and makes you frustrated. And the worst thing is, loop means **** for this game, there is no real purpose
  15. Aug 21, 2021
    2
    Wow so developer give the money to the actors instead of development of game. I must say i was really hyped for that game. It was have a great idea, great concept. Execution is worse i saw. First you have ZERO freedom. You must do everything the way game wants you to do. I know this not an rpg game but i never saw that much. Example like, you cut the handcuffs, try to sneak up to doWow so developer give the money to the actors instead of development of game. I must say i was really hyped for that game. It was have a great idea, great concept. Execution is worse i saw. First you have ZERO freedom. You must do everything the way game wants you to do. I know this not an rpg game but i never saw that much. Example like, you cut the handcuffs, try to sneak up to do police, only thing you can do is click on police and say "Sir?". God, atleast give me attack option, he can beat me again after i try but atleast give me freedom of try.

    Aaaand i hope they didn't gave James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley very much because they weren't even that good lol.
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  16. Aug 21, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Awful. The hype was completely unwarranted. The game's 12 minutes mechanic is frustrating in how many loops you require to get things done and how little time you have to explore as everything is timed. Then when you do know what to look for you are stuck waiting in real time for *nothing* to happen. And the exact nature of things you need to know is not always obvious or easy to uncover.

    Beyond the gameplay the story is completely vapid. Having an incest baby with your half-sister? That's the big twist? Really? Are all these narrative games just going for the quick and easy shock factor now?And then the game doesn't have the balls to commit to you staying with her or leaving her once you figure out the truth (you are given the option for both but those don't lead to a real ending). Instead the game asks you to merely relive your life up to that point over and over so you don't need to commit to a decision because of course that would cause a controversy. Something tells me this game only got developed on the promise of the gameplay and no one was looking to see how the narrative was panning out.

    Waste of time, don't bother. No idea why this game got the hype it did from Microsoft. You can't tell me anyone in an office knew what this game was about beyond the surface concept of reliving 12 minutes before your own murder. "Yeah, the sister incest baby game! That's the one we should hype this E3!"
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  17. Aug 20, 2021
    1
    i can't believe that they ruined so great idea with this stupid endless nonsense loops
  18. Aug 22, 2021
    0
    The game is full of guesswork and trying to do things you know you have to but can't figure out the convoluted way to actually do. The story is fine for the first half or so, but then it becomes a mess of information you're supposed to piece together into something coherent. Repeating the same thing over and over numbed my mind and I would stop after an hour if I was playing alone.
  19. Oct 24, 2021
    4
    While this isn't an awful game the game has a very interesting concept but terrible execution you'll be playing loops over and over again until you just get frustrated and give. The story here is the only reason to play this game it is pretty good. It's a very simple game and most of the time you'll get frustrated and not know what to do because the game isn't smart enough.
  20. Sep 15, 2021
    1
    If you found yourself stuck in a mysterious time loop with your pregnant wife and a cop, and you were the only one who could remember it, would you A.) tell your wife, or B.) murder her with a knife to see what happens? If you picked B, and didn’t even consider A, congratulations, you wrote “Twelve Minutes.”
  21. Aug 22, 2021
    3
    the first hour she's really cool. you can do whatever you want as you are in a time loop) but then comes complete disappointment due to the fact that you have to move in the plot simply by clicking on everything. for me it would be better if you could come to conclusions from logical actions ala as in detective stories. in fact, you just need to click on everything in order to guess athe first hour she's really cool. you can do whatever you want as you are in a time loop) but then comes complete disappointment due to the fact that you have to move in the plot simply by clicking on everything. for me it would be better if you could come to conclusions from logical actions ala as in detective stories. in fact, you just need to click on everything in order to guess a random set of actions invented by the developers. Well, the main plot is also not for everybody. Expand
  22. Aug 23, 2021
    0
    boring jank game incredibly frustrating to play completely busted in every aspect without a single redeemable aspect
  23. Aug 25, 2021
    0
    Is it even a game? Can't remember so boring, stupid, useless and featureless game. Game design is totally ucked! Embodiment of emptiness
  24. Sep 5, 2021
    4
    Сначала было интересно потом стало раздражать. Игра с отстойной графикой грузит видеокарту на 100 процентов и выдаёт 30 кадров с просадками а в холодильнике вообще 17 офигеть детализированный холодильник. Как проходить не понятно даже если делать по гайдам в интернете.Сначала было интересно потом стало раздражать. Игра с отстойной графикой грузит видеокарту на 100 процентов и выдаёт 30 кадров с просадками а в холодильнике вообще 17 офигеть детализированный холодильник. Как проходить не понятно даже если делать по гайдам в интернете.
  25. Aug 21, 2021
    1
    Boring, again a boring indie , is free for lucky of all . No pay for that game is a 1
  26. Aug 22, 2021
    0
    The game just seems really boring and the idea isn't interesitng, I refunded it
  27. Aug 22, 2021
    1
    trop prise de tete pour rien avoir a la fin pas vraiment mon truc mais a faire quand meme sur le gamepass
  28. Aug 24, 2021
    4
    12 Minutes is a time loop game done wrong. Instead of exploring the interesting possibilities, it gets tied up in the monotony and bothersome repetitions. And yet, I can tell there is a market for what this game does almost accidentally. If you have ever seen Bill Murry's "Groundhog Day" you would know exactly what I mean. It better reflects the pain and trauma connected with the game, as12 Minutes is a time loop game done wrong. Instead of exploring the interesting possibilities, it gets tied up in the monotony and bothersome repetitions. And yet, I can tell there is a market for what this game does almost accidentally. If you have ever seen Bill Murry's "Groundhog Day" you would know exactly what I mean. It better reflects the pain and trauma connected with the game, as you will reach the point where you try taking your own characters life, or even killing his spouse. That's a part of Twelve Minutes that I really enjoyed. But to get to those gut wrenching dark moments where your character is at his lowest, you have to wade through endless dialogue, poorly strung together at that.
    I can ask my wife "Did you murder your father" (not a spoiler, happens in the first 5 minutes) She will deny it and get VERY offended. Then you can ask her who killed her father and her tone will do a 180 and she will be confused. I have heard ludacrous claims such as this being "the most realistic game of all time" That is insanity, it is merely ok in its realism.
    The puzzles are nearly non existent. They felt like puzzles for the sake of puzzles because they couldn't make any good puzzles, if that makes sense. Most involved simply clicking the right things at the right time. The worst one only allowed you to click a thing on a different loop at a specific time. Very dumb.
    Overall, Twelve Minutes really makes you f e e l like Bill Murry. 4/10
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  29. Aug 26, 2021
    2
    Great game!! Scratch that. Horrible game! Scratch that...! Great game! 600 time loops later...Nope! Horrible game! OK, honestly this had potential. Just have to replay it 50 times to find it! Oh wait!! I got it! This is a frustration simulator! Nailed it....
  30. Sep 20, 2021
    2
    Good concept, terrible execution. The game quickly becomes tedious and boring, forcing you to replay loops in search of what it expects from you. You often know what you *want* to do, the real challenge being how to explain the game you want to do it. Give it a try if you're subscribed to the Gamepass, but don't spend your money on it otherwise.
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 60
  2. Negative: 0 out of 60
  1. Dec 2, 2021
    66
    Twelve minutes is a puzzle game with the theme of time loop. Although the scenes are rich in details and the art design is attractive, the mediocre gameplay and bad ending ruin everything the game has come before.
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Nov 30, 2021
    64
    It’s one of those cases where it’s really hard to rate a game. It has a great concept and good plot delivery, but actual gameplay is incredibly frustrating. You’re stuck in the loop along with your character, with no way to fast-forward the events, and you have to meticulously try every possible combination, until find the trigger that will open up a new option. And then you re-check it all over again. [Issue#256, p.44]
  3. Nov 24, 2021
    75
    Used to atypical games, the publisher Annapurna Interactive surprises us once again with Twelve Minutes. Yes indeed the game has some rigid animations, not really worthy in 2021, game is quite short, and the system of dialogues isn't perfect, but the stifling atmosphere, the atypical staging, the surprising scenario and the puzzles are really worth the detour in our opinion.