Twelve Minutes

 PC
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 513 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 227 out of 513
  2. Mixed: 141 out of 513
  3. Negative: 145 out of 513

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  1. Ki183063
    Aug 20, 2021
    0
    The idea is good. But not executed well. Frustrating loops and some plot holes made it a bad game
  2. tacsquid
    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.    … Expand
  3. diazli1031
    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. amirabbas488ik
    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. Dariabi2020
    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. RomanG700
    Aug 22, 2021
    6
    A very mediocre game without variability, logic and an interesting plot. You expect much more from a project that has been done for six years.
  7. parallax_84
    Aug 28, 2021
    6
    The game is not that bad but in my opinion gets ruined by a soap opera twist that you can see coming from far and the endings are completely awful,
  8. ajgamer
    Aug 27, 2021
    6
    Compelling idea, poor execution. The mystery reveals itself to be a poorly thought out plot, and the big plot twist falls flat. Not only that, but the exciting time loop becomes gratingly frustrating the more that you play, until you reach the point that you hate the characters of the story, despite some solid voice acting.

    On the voice acting - William Dafoe is stellar. James McCavoy    Compelling idea, poor execution. The mystery reveals itself to be a poorly thought out plot, and the big plot twist falls flat. Not only that, but the exciting time loop becomes gratingly frustrating the more that you play, until you reach the point that you hate the characters of the story, despite some solid voice acting.

    On the voice acting - William Dafoe is stellar. James McCavoy okay but unfortunately Daisy Ridley's character becomes extremely annoying through repetition and always doubting your character or lying to you. You stop seeing them as characters and more as means to an end by design on the experimental gameplay.    … Expand
  9. XLazer
    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    … Expand
  10. seyis
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    Although it has a nice idea and story, it gets boring after a while due to the uncertainty in the gameplay and the repetition of itself a lot. It is a game that will be more enjoyable when it is short, but it is very annoying after long hours of playing the same moment and doing the same things over and over again.
  11. ajosanyi
    Aug 21, 2021
    5
    Good story. Good basic idea. Repetitive and boring. Self-repeating. There is nothing to help the game move forward. You always do the same thing in it. The first 12 minutes are exciting after that, the whole game is awful.
  12. ashmit
    Aug 24, 2021
    6
    It's tryhard M. Night Shyamalan ending ruins the whole game. I strongly recommend no one to buy it. Unless you're a **** neckbearded loser
  13. Igniting
    Aug 20, 2021
    7
    In short terms, it's a good game with a good idea. It has nice visuals, good set of puzzles, excellent cast and great voice acting. But, it delivers a average story, that has some unnecessary plots and frustrating loops that will requires some patience to be solved(although, in my opinion it is intended to). It's very recommended to be played on Game Pass if you don't like or aren'tIn short terms, it's a good game with a good idea. It has nice visuals, good set of puzzles, excellent cast and great voice acting. But, it delivers a average story, that has some unnecessary plots and frustrating loops that will requires some patience to be solved(although, in my opinion it is intended to). It's very recommended to be played on Game Pass if you don't like or aren't familiar with the genre.… Expand
  14. Dorner
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    It's nice to feel free to do something in the beginning. But as you progress, you have to do everything as the game demands, and this reduces the dose of fun. You start to get bored with each loop.
  15. D1zzy0509
    Aug 20, 2021
    7
    The idea behind this game is great but it could have been better executed, as you progress through the game it becomes progressively slower because you have to do the same things over and over again and that can be discouraging, combined with the fact that you sometimes have to do some very specific actions which aren't really clear to progress the game, which can become quite boring, butThe idea behind this game is great but it could have been better executed, as you progress through the game it becomes progressively slower because you have to do the same things over and over again and that can be discouraging, combined with the fact that you sometimes have to do some very specific actions which aren't really clear to progress the game, which can become quite boring, but I still think that the turn the narrative takes as you reach the end of the game makes it worth it to endure the not so great game-play, but it was ever so slightly longer I don't think I would reach its end. Overall this is a pleasant experience that is worth a try if you are interested in the concept.… Expand
  16. EfiDiveroli
    Aug 21, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love the concept of this game, but it does not respect one's free time at all and is poorly executed, especially if one takes into account that they worked on it at least for 3 years. The voice acting is on spot, but the developers managed to string their lines and conversations together so poorly that sometimes the dialogues are incredibly clumsy and threw me out of the whole experience. I also encountered cases when the same dialogue resulted in different reaction from a character, which affected the ending of the given loop.

    I often thought more of this game than what it really could offer and I ended up spending ridiculous amount of time repeating the loops in order to try things that eventually did not matter at all (looking out of the windows, analysing paintings etc.). Furthermore, several times I knew how to progress in the story, but I could not find the dialogue that triggered the advancement.

    The number of visual bugs I experienced is frustrating considering that the game provides the tiniest playing area I have ever encountered in a story game. I expect perfect execution when the whole game is 3 small rooms and there are only 3 characters (whose faces were not even animated due to the perspective and what you could see from their face through the peephole was literally pre 2004 graphics), there is no excuse in this matter when you spend 3+ YEARS!!! on this minimalistic graphical content, even if just a single person worked on the graphical content (which I assume was not the case). I also disliked the dialogue skip mechanism. I hated that I had to skip by constant clicks and I just could not jump to the end of a dialogue that I had heard countless times before.

    This game had so much potential, but it was mostly frustrating and a disappointment after waiting for 2 years since the announcement trailer from the 2019 E3. I pity the actors, they deserved better execution. I personally disliked the story and found it bizarre. It was not immersive for me at all (mainly due to the aforementioned frustrating parts and poor design).

    Spoilers:
    I also want to share some really frustrating experiences about certain parts. There are countless like this in the game.

    1. When I convince the cop's daughter that I have evidence about the wife not being the killer, and the cop comes into the apartment he will kill me if I take polaroid photo (the evidence) off of the fridge, even if it is in my pocket and I click on it to show him.

    2. When I wanted to end the game with the meditation quote I accidentally clicked the book a little after the husband started the quotation which resulted in the father beating me up and his death due to the accident, which also resulted in the need of repeating the whole loop.

    3. The light switch... I knew that the only way to advance in the game is to make the light switch shock the cop (when the cop got into the bedroom he always said that **** this light switch, and the wife also talked about the need of repair multiple times). I thought that I had to use one of the available tools in order to jinx it somehow (logical, not?). I tried everything. Literally I spent more than an hour on this matter, and I finally managed to activate the electric shock on the WIFE by accidentally using the switch before her once.

    4. The title. The title does not make any sense at all. It could be 13 minutes or 15 minutes or whatever. The game let you experience the first ~5 mins at the beginning. As you advance the game you get to live through more and more time in each loop. But only 10 minutes all in all. The 12 minutes clearly is just a random integer number that is greater than 10 and you have to set back the clock 12 minutes in order to trigger a certain ending.

    5. I found the writing quite childish that it wanted to make the player hate the wife then like the wife, hate the cop and then arouse sympathy towards him... similar narrative applies to the protagonist with the twist that you were made to like him first and feel disguise at the end.

    6. Once I was stuck in the game and I made the following: I knocked out the wife with the meds, then took the pocket watch, which I put on the dining table. Then I hid in the wardrobe and waited for the cop to arrive. I thought this would be interesting, since the cop would take the watch and leave without further notice, but it was not the case. He did not even notice the watch, even though he clearly had looked around in the house, but managed to find me and kill me instead...    … Expand
  17. Blurrywolf
    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.
  18. 0danielryan701
    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.
  19. silencer
    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
  20. dubesor
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's such a great concept (time manipulation in general) but executed rather mediocre. There are 3 main issues with the game.

    1) Repetitiveness - yes this is a game about a time loop but repeating the same dialogue and actions over and over again could have been handled much better. For example if you reveal something big to a person there are 20 lines of dialogue and you can skip the repeat but it only fast forwards line by line, instead of the entire segment, gets old really fast.

    2) No real clever situations with obtained knowledge - a lot of times the dialogue doesn't make sense considering the knowledge the player/MC should have. One example is if you call 911 for the first time the main character is surprised by the given long response time. If you call again in another loop mc must have lost all memory because his dialogue is the exact same and thus he is again surprised on the 20th loop. This is just one example but basically this was experienced all throughout the game. Just having different lines of dialogue or progression of character with his obtained memory during previous loops should have been an absolute must.

    3) Bit too much illogical mechanics (and/or moon logic) - one very obvious example from early on (in order to prevent spoilers) is that you can put sleeping pills in your wife's water mug. If you do this in her sight she will comment on it (cool!) and if you offer her the drink she will refuse it (again, good!) but if you then place it for her in plain sight, right after she refused it, she will drink it after 1 second. There are many such illogical scenarios and also some really weirdly specific illogical steps needed to be taken.

    3b) weak ending (canon ending as well as all alternate "endings").

    Overall neither game play nor dialogue felt particularly clever, which in a time loop game absolute has to be. Mediocre game.    … Expand
  21. ThunderRam
    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
  22. aljirik1992
    Aug 22, 2021
    7
    Без пяти минут 12

    … уже с титульного экрана. Внимание, понимание и азарт играющих начинают биться с намеренной монотонностью полёта фантазии авторов двенадцати минут. А потому риск ни к чему не прийти, когда все три действующих фактора сойдут на нет, крайне велик, как и мастерски проделанная работа трёх актёров, которых не смогли лаконично связать со всеми сценами, где трио    Без пяти минут 12

    … уже с титульного экрана. Внимание, понимание и азарт играющих начинают биться с намеренной монотонностью полёта фантазии авторов двенадцати минут. А потому риск ни к чему не прийти, когда все три действующих фактора сойдут на нет, крайне велик, как и мастерски проделанная работа трёх актёров, которых не смогли лаконично связать со всеми сценами, где трио взаимодействует друг с другом. В то же время попарно химией между персонажами просто свербит, а оставшись наедине с подконтрольным уже сам игрок волен поддаться безысходности, пока мрачная «как достать соседа» насчитывает минуты до очередного перезапуска происходящего, что одновременно является и главной загвоздкой, и беспринципной силой игрового процесса. Правда данность эта предназначена только для того, чтобы единожды сделать всё правильно, и не как-либо иначе. Где-то за 5 минут до финала вопросов накопившихся за прохождение окажется больше, чем ответов, но всё, что получится в конце это продолжить…    … Expand
  23. OctaviaAlpha1
    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.    … Expand
  24. RagnusLif
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    good premisse, but the story, and the way characters react or simply talk is horrendous, also the game is pure repeat and you get all the story halfway thought the game, so the ending is only seeing differente routes that never make you feel like you accomplishment something
  25. SuperBurger
    Aug 22, 2021
    7
    Fun for a short while but can get repetitive and boring. Fun for someone looking for a story based mystery game, but overall a mediocre game at best.
  26. NeoRazyMist
    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.
  27. jboy74183
    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.
  28. FernandesMM
    Aug 21, 2021
    10
    This game is a masterpiece. One of the best games I've played in years. It's simple and complex at the same time. You have to be smart to be able to finish. Those who give this game negative marks are because they are not smart enough and are frustrated at being a loser.
  29. TheRealPurtuzzi
    Aug 20, 2021
    7
    Twelve Minutes uses clever storytelling, coupled with elite Hollywood talent, to unravel a dark mystery surrounding a family heirloom. The story is short but well-written, and solid ambience adds suspense and realism to counter sub-par animations.

    Voice performances are memorable and engaging, allowing players to be engrossed in the gradually exposed drama... err trauma. While    Twelve Minutes uses clever storytelling, coupled with elite Hollywood talent, to unravel a dark mystery surrounding a family heirloom. The story is short but well-written, and solid ambience adds suspense and realism to counter sub-par animations.

    Voice performances are memorable and engaging, allowing players to be engrossed in the gradually exposed drama... err trauma. While animations and rendering do not detract from the overall experience, they certainly aren't groundbreaking -- or even exceptional.

    The short experience of this point-and-click murder mystery is a markedly AA game with AAA talent. Asking $30 (Canadian) for this game is a little steep, as replay value to extremely low; I would say this is a solid $20 experience.    … Expand
  30. Latdug
    Aug 20, 2021
    8
    It's a shame that so many people are tarnishing the User Score of this game. If you like point and click adventures I really encourage you to play this game. Maybe you'll like the story, maybe you won't, but giving it a zero is an outrage.

    The story keeps you engaged right until the very end, and even after the credits roll there are still things left to be discovered. Overall a solid    It's a shame that so many people are tarnishing the User Score of this game. If you like point and click adventures I really encourage you to play this game. Maybe you'll like the story, maybe you won't, but giving it a zero is an outrage.

    The story keeps you engaged right until the very end, and even after the credits roll there are still things left to be discovered. Overall a solid experience.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 60
  3. Negative: 0 out of 60
  1. Gamersky
    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.
    Read full review
  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. JeuxActu
    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.
    Read full review
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