Twelve Minutes
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Twelve Minutes'' is an
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
developed by Luís António and published by
Annapurna Interactive Annapurna Games, LLC (trade name: Annapurna Interactive) is an American video game publisher and developer. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016, and has focused on publishing innovative and emotive indie games ...
. It was originally released on August 19, 2021, for
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
and
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
, with versions for
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
released on December 7, 2021. A version for
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
and Android mobile devices was published by
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on December 13, 2022. The game takes place almost exclusively in a small apartment suite and requires the player to repeatedly play through events of a 12-minute cycle to try to solve a mystery.


Gameplay

''Twelve Minutes'' is played from a top-down perspective and is set in an apartment suite shared by a husband and wife (voiced by
James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor and director. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. His notable television work inclu ...
and Daisy Ridley, respectively) which includes the main living and kitchen area, their bedroom, a bathroom, and a closet. The player controls the husband during these events in the style of a
point-and-click adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an Interactive storytelling, interactive story, driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus ...
, where he is free to do various actions. Without taking certain actions, over the course of 12 minutes, the husband learns his wife is pregnant. A self-identified police officer (voiced by
Willem Dafoe William James "Willem" Dafoe ( ; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades including a Volpi Cup Award for ...
) arrives at the apartment and accuses the wife of murdering her father several years ago, and in trying to arrest her knocks out the husband and kills the wife and her unborn child. Time resets at the point where the husband enters the apartment, with the player now free to attempt to work out why the cop suspects the wife of murder, how to prevent her arrest, or several other possible actions in order to find a way to end the loop. If the husband dies or leaves the apartment, time is reset. However, the player is not given any exact information of what this goal is, leaving it up to them to explore how to resolve the situation. The husband is the only character that retains knowledge of the previous cycles – such as knowing about the impending arrest – and this information can be used to perform other actions in future cycles. This gameplay loop has been compared to '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask''. While the main loop lasts only 12 minutes in real time, the game is expected to take a player between 6 and 8 hours to complete.


Plot

''Twelve Minutes'' is a decision-driven game involving
time loop The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby Character (arts), characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. Time loops are co ...
s; however, the order of events will differ depending on how the game plays. A husband returns to his apartment after work and is greeted by his wife, who surprises him with the news that she is pregnant. As they start to celebrate, a man claiming to be a cop knocks at the door and proceeds to arrest them both. He accuses the wife of murdering her father and stealing an expensive pocket watch eight years ago. The cop then strangles the husband to death, only for the husband to suddenly find himself back to the start of the evening after, trapped in a time loop. If the husband dies, leaves the apartment, or runs out of time, he returns to the beginning of the evening. After finding the hidden watch in the apartment and proving he is reliving the same evening to his wife, she eventually confesses her secret past. The wife tells him that shortly after she was born, her father had an affair with the nanny, resulting in a child being born. The discovery of the affair and the existence of an illegitimate child drove her mother into a deep depression and eventually death. Years later, during a heated argument on Christmas Eve, she accidentally shot her father with a gun and ran away, afraid of the consequences. The husband eventually questions the cop and learns he was a close friend of his wife's father. The cop's daughter has cancer, and he wants to sell the pocket watch to pay for her treatment. The cop's version of how the father died is also different: The father survived being shot on Christmas Eve, but someone else returned on New Year and killed him with the same gun. Realizing his wife did not commit murder, the husband finds a way to prove his wife's innocence to the cop. The three characters talk peacefully and deduce the killer was the wife's brother from the affair. Unfortunately, the loop still repeats, so the husband focuses on finding the brother's identity. By interrogating the cop with this new information, he learns that his mother, whom he had never met, was the nanny. In shock, his repressed memories return, and he relives that fateful New Year's evening eight years ago: He confronts the man who took care of him and confesses he has fallen in love with his daughter, only to learn that this man is his father, and the daughter is his half-sister. Unable to cope with the truth, a struggle ensues, and he accidentally shoots his father and flees. Using the watch to reverse time, the husband returns to reality, where he is still talking with his father about falling in love with his half-sister; the time loops are revealed to be the husband imagining a positive future with his wife, and the cop is a manifestation of his father's interference. If the husband refuses his father's proposal to leave his half-sister, the scuffle repeats and he accidentally breaks his father's neck, and the loops continue to repeat. If the husband decides to accept his father's proposal, he enters a loop where the apartment is empty and he is alone. If the husband recites a book that the wife was reading during the loops, the father offers to help him to forget his half-sister, causing the loops to reset and begin anew. Finally, if the husband recites that same book once more, then stares at the clock before choosing to forget, the father tells him to end his imaginary future, ending all the time loops.


Development

Luís António is a former artist from
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
and
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
who left these companies to pursue independent game development. He spent time in 2012 working to help develop '' The Witness'' before setting out to make his own. For his first game, he wanted a title that would explore the consequences of decision-making and how these choices affected others. António also considered that most video games are built on loops, with the player-character dying and the player using knowledge from the previous deaths to proceed farther in the game, a concept built into the time looping nature of ''Twelve Minutes''. Initially he had envisioned a game that took place in a small neighborhood over the course of 24 hours, but this proved to be too large in scope for himself, and he scaled it back to a single apartment suite and a much shorter period of time. Much of the design of the game is inspired by film director
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
, and as one nod to Kubrick, the lobby area around the apartment includes the iconic carpet pattern Kubrick had used in the Overlook Hotel for '' The Shining''. Additional inspirations come from the films ''
Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (, , , ; Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if ...
'', '' Memento'', and ''
Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...
''. António also took inspiration from '' Filth'', a film starring McAvoy in which the lead character keeps getting into increasingly worse situations while trying to rectify others. Other film directors that helped to establish the
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
alongside Kubrick like
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
and
David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. Often described as one of the preeminent directors of his generation, David Fincher filmography, his films, of which most are psychological thrillers, have collectiv ...
were also influential to the game's design, and António, along with advertising firm mOcean, designed the game's poster as a homage to films from these directors. António had premiered the game at the 2015 PAX East event, at this point the game using placeholder art but having the gameplay loop completed. The game was given an honorable mention for the
Seumas McNally Grand Prize The Seumas McNally Grand Prize is the main award given at the Independent Games Festival (IGF), an annual event that takes place during the Game Developers Conference, one of the largest gatherings of the indie video game industry. It was first aw ...
at the
Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...
in 2016. António had planned for the game to be released in 2016. However, in the intervening years, António brought on a team of five to help refine the game, as well as obtained publishing support from
Annapurna Interactive Annapurna Games, LLC (trade name: Annapurna Interactive) is an American video game publisher and developer. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016, and has focused on publishing innovative and emotive indie games ...
. The game was re-shown during the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
press conference from
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
during E3 2019, and with a planned release for 2020. Among final elements to be included are fully voiced lines for the main characters, and improved character animations using
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
. As he finalized the game's design, António took a reductionist approach, removing gameplay elements to focus on the essentials he wanted. For example, António originally had timepieces within the game world for the player to anticipate when events would happen, but later removed these, leaving it up to the player to follow on conversations and other cues to know when events were to happen and prepare for them. Voice acting for the game was provided by
James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor and director. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. His notable television work inclu ...
, Daisy Ridley, and
Willem Dafoe William James "Willem" Dafoe ( ; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades including a Volpi Cup Award for ...
as the husband, wife, and the officer, respectively. Annapurna Interactive helped with casting as well as finding safe locations for them to record lines which came just as the general world lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
had started. António stated an anticipated release by the end of 2020 for
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
and
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
, with ports to other systems later. In November 2020, Annapurna Interactive confirmed that the game was delayed to 2021, and was released on August 19, 2021. Versions for
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
were announced on November 23, 2021. They were released on December 7, 2021. A version for
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
and Android mobile devices was published by
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on 13 December 2022. The game was showcased at the 2021
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
, where it competed for the inaugural Tribeca Games Award.


Reception

''Twelve Minutes'' received "generally favorable" reviews for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
but received "mixed or average" reviews for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
OpenCritic OpenCritic is a review aggregation website for video games. OpenCritic lists reviews from critics across multiple video game publications for the games listed on the site. The website then generates a numeric score by averaging all of the numeri ...
determined that 53% of critics recommend the game.
Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...
praised ''Twelve Minutes'', stating he hadn't "been into a game this much since ''
Inside Inside may refer to: Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 film), a Canadian prison drama film * ''Inside'' (2006 film), an American thriller film starri ...
''", and had inspired him to consider making another adventure game. Some reviewers expressed strong criticism of the amount of domestic violence, particularly that is forced onto the wife in order to progress in the game. Renata Price of ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' stated that while it was possible that a story could include this type of violence if it was well crafted, its inclusion within ''Twelve Minutes'' was "pretentious and exhausting", and considered the twist ending "terrible". According to ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'' Samit Sarkar, the staff at ''Polygon'' were split whether the violence was necessary to serve the game's story, but Sarkar also was concerned with the lack of any disclaimers related to the violence or other troublesome topics at the start of the game. ''Twelve Minutes'' had been released near the same time as '' Boyfriend Dungeon'', which on its initial release also had received similar criticism related to darker, mature content that had not been alluded to through pre-release materials or in-game content warnings. Both games were considered examples of where proper in-game content warnings would be necessary to warning players about disturbing content before encountering it. ''Twelve Minutes'' has been considered a fresh take into the ‘
point-and-click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermedi ...
’ genre using a very small space for exploration with the ability to tell a story in a unique way. ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
s Ryan McCaffrey compared it to a "fresh twist on the genre" and flipping the traditional point-and-click adventure on its head while GameSpot's Andrew King saw it as "mechanically rich while encouraging creative thinking".


Awards


References


External links

* {{Annapurna Interactive 2021 video games Adventure games Android (operating system) games Annapurna Interactive games Fiction about familicide Fiction about incest IOS games Mystery adventure games Netflix games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Point-and-click adventure games Romance video games Single-player video games Video games about crime Video games about siblings Video games about time loops Video games developed in the United States Windows games Works about marriage Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Video games with multiple endings