12 Minutes Reviews
Twelve Minutes represents a videogame experiment born from a series of suggestive intuitions. The choice to set the title within the confines of a small two-room apartment, combined with the mystery that constantly permeates the work, certainly represents one of the most valuable aspects of indie published by Annapurna Interactive.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Twelve Minutes is bold in its artistic choices in every aspect of the game. From the top-down camera perspective to the deliberate lack of instruction from the very beginning, Twelve Minutes wants you to figure everything out for yourself and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. There are drawbacks to this, as exemplified by my own shortcomings when it comes to puzzle games, but it’s also elegant in its simplicity and minimalism. Twelve Minutes is a deliberately introspective game that doesn’t waste its breath on unnecessary exposition or dialogue. Wanting to see all it has to offer may take some effort on the player’s part, but it’s well worth the hard work and investment.
All in all, I really enjoyed the tension Twelve Minutes implemented even with its sometimes wonky animation and frustrating elements. I found myself constantly thinking about it when not playing and trying to come up with new ways and ideas that would allow me to finally get to the crux of what was happening and why. It’s also well worth getting another mind in on the action to help guide the storyline along in angles you haven’t thought about which essentially turns it into a brilliant two-player game and a real talking point.
The fallout of that ending makes what had been a wafer-thin murder mystery with a gimmick into an exercise in psychological sadism, where the player is nauseatingly complicit. Despite the immense pool of talent giving their all to breathe life into these characters, Twelve Minutes is a game thoroughly lacking in humanity, in any sense of the word.
Twelve Minutes is one of the best indie experiences of the year. History and freedom for the player are its strengths. Still, there are a number of decisions that affect the bottom line.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A manual Must Play if you enjoy investigative cinema, it is difficult to give a verdict for readers without incurring spoilers, what is clear is that this story should be told in the form of a video game and Luis Antonio manages to carry intelligently and with an excellent script tells an unconventional story of a crime that is worth being solved.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I doubt that Twelve Minutes will go down as a crowd pleaser. If the revelation fails to move you then all that came before it was for naught. But if it catches you unexpectedly, as it did me, then Twelve Minutes may linger in your mind as an unusually effective high concept piece.
Overall, Twelve Minutes is an excellent game, with an interesting concept and story. But, it is let down by rigid and stale gameplay, which hold it back from being a must-play...
Ultimately, we found 12 Minutes to be a trite adventure that squanders its initial intrigue almost instantly. We can see how someone else might get a kick out of its star-studded silliness, but in a gaming landscape littered with time loop games, we found this one extremely tedious at best.
Twelve Minutes starts off well but eventually descends into chaos. The game’s premise of trying to rewrite 12 minutes of a couple’s time is a great idea but the execution varies in success. Twelve Minutes starts well with a convincing story loop and gameplay that makes sense. Unfortunately that story loop becomes confused with a controversial twist that muddies timelines and morals. Gameplay starts to lean heavily into trial and error and some will give up before they see some of the later outcomes. Those that persist will likely remain confused. Luis Antonio seemingly had a lot of ambition with this one, but it hasn’t completely paid off.
While it manages to side-step its shortcomings through clever design, Twelve Minutes ultimately feels like it'll be one of those water cooler games that some will love, others will hate, but everyone will just want to talk about. It tells a cerebral story while demanding your full attention, along with an unorthodox wit, to best its cat and mouse puzzles.
Twelve Minutes is a game of dualities. It is very economic in how it presents itself. The focus is tight on three characters, in a small apartment that houses the few instruments of change at your disposal. This allows each little detail to have a nauseating amount of depth to it, including the fantastic performances of the characters and their backstories. The downside to this is that it can lead players astray, due to the limitless possibilities and comparatively limited guidance. Regardless, Twelve Minutes is a tidy and reasonably well-told pressure-cooker drama with few divots, provided you can follow the path.
I imagine this will be a title that enthusiasts will speculate on and theorize over for a long while, while others will pass on it in frustration as it leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Although not totally satisfying, I’m glad I played it, and I think for the right person, this is a rewarding and thought-provoking adventure.
A premise that had me at hello, but a game which I couldn't wait to finish. It's a puzzler with high production values but it doesn't hit the right beats and consequently suffers for it.
Some devilishly clever puzzles shine in a unique take on the point-and click genre, but the game waits to the end to make its story truly interesting, which might be a little late if you're looking for an emotional investment to get you through some of the more tedious moments.
Twelve Minutes features a compelling time loop story with strong performances that will keep players hooked, even when the lack of guidance brings that momentum to a halt.
Twelve Minutes is a thrill ride through and through, constantly presenting players with new and interesting revelations in the time looping narrative that never fails to keep one guessing. It veers away from stereotypical point-and-click adventure tropes, and challenges players to bend its densely-detailed environments to achieve their goals.
Twelve Minutes is a clever and well written psychological thriller, but in the end it chooses to abandon the logic and forces the player to act in a forced way.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While Twelve Minutes can be frustrating at times, the story and characters more than make up for it. Especially when backed up by the tight design and elegant visual/audio elements.