Twelve Minutes (Xbox Gamepass/PC)

The readers post their own reviews.
User avatar
Crummylion
Posts: 300
Joined: February 10th, 2017, 11:20 pm

Twelve Minutes (Xbox Gamepass/PC)

Postby Crummylion » August 21st, 2021, 10:32 pm

Oh hey, a game that I have time to play through and judge thoroughly. Yeah, a pretty short game that's entirely made up for by replayability. Anyways, Twelve Minutes is another one of those indie game Microsoft boasted about to compete with Sony and I think what caught everyone's eye is the star studded cast of James Avoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem DaFou. The meat of the game is the story, so I'll be brief. You play as the main character, better know as the Husband (Avoy,) with your Wife (Ridley.) You have a little party with her only to be interrupted by the Cop (DaFou.) No matter what you do, time is reset a few minutes and you have to figure out the motives behind the Cop and your wife's backstory in hopes of ending the loop.
First impressions weren't really good. Was playing this on the elusive Xcloud through Xbox Gamepass and the controls felt off. Could be because of input lag or the controller, or both. The game takes place in real time, so any crucial point could be missed by the second. After giving up, I downloaded the game on PC and thought it was more fitting experience. The game presents itself as this Hitchcock/Kubrick inspired interactive movie, but plays more like a point and click adventure game, so mouse and keyboard was my go to. After you get The general idea, you're encouraged to explore the apartment and use items to your advantage. The game has oodles and oodles of different scenarios and dialogue to explore that gives itself its long replay value. A good example would be when a friend of mine was streaming this game on discord and he said the first thing he did when he started the game was stab the wife and was forced to have a one on one with the Cop while I knocked him and the wife out to better interrogate him. The nature of the game is to play it blind to better forge a more unique experience, one akin to the perspective of the protagonist even. A couple complaints we shared is literally the story (Still won't spoil it, sorry,) and how tedious the game is. Thank God you can skip most of the dialogue, but there's literally no fast forward button when a lot of the cycles can be the same, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVEN'T PROGRESSED PAST CERTAIN PLOT REVEALS. Friend didn't like the game, but I did even though I understand or agree with his points. I thought it was too short, he thought it was too long. Despite the game falling flat by the end, I did enjoy my time with what worked well.
Anyways, if you just so happen to have Gamepass, get the game on Windows 10. Because you'll save a bit of money, play the game where it's meant to be played, and decide if the people involved truly deserve 25 dollars for this short game. This game devs tout this as the gaming equivalent of the greatest films from 50 years ago, I see this as nothing more than getting a weekend dvd rental from Blockbuster.

User avatar
BlasteroidAli
Posts: 1594
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 7:50 pm

Re: Twelve Minutes (Xbox Gamepass/PC)

Postby BlasteroidAli » August 22nd, 2021, 6:56 pm

thanks for the warning. I have games pass but was rather underwhelmed by it. Now I will stay away.


Return to “Reader Reviews”