Twelve Minutes Impressions from PAX East

From Kyle Gaddo

Standing in a line at PAX East and watching individuals step up to Twelve Minutes was something of a marvel. The way developer Luis Antonio quietly gazed upon players enjoying his creation. The way he offered fragments of guidance if they became too frustrated or simply too stuck, inevitably seeing them walk away when they had had their fill of the strange, time loop-themed title that was capturing the attention of media, your average attendee, and even developers from all over. The way he welcomed the next person to his little setup at the Indie Minibooth time and time again, taking great care to almost create an air of concentration for each player stepping up to the keyboard and mouse.

I took my time watching each player's actions, trying to learn from them during my limited time, interjecting these gazes with conversation with my friend Job Stauffer from Telltale Games. The title had grabbed his attention, too, as it holds a certain similarity to Telltale's repertoire. When Job had wrapped up his session, it was my turn to take a stab at Twelve Minutes. Having watched what everyone else had been doing to attempt to progress in this cyclical, time-constrained title, I approached with an appearance of certainty. In reality, placing the headphones over my ears and my fingers on the keyboard and mouse was about the only confidence I could muster—I had no idea what I was meant to be doing.

The premise of Twelve Minutes is simple. You are a husband returning from work, greeting his lovely wife, and sitting down to an equally lovely dinner after a long day of work. Soup, toast triangles—probably spent all day cooking on the stove for that slow-cooked taste.

Partway through dinner, a knock comes at the door. It's the police.

Your wife opens the door. The officer barges in, loudly accusing the missus of having a secret, more criminal life, and promptly places her under arrest. You are soon also thrown to the ground and zip-tied. As your consciousness fades, your wife screams out.

You wake up to find yourself returning from home once again, wondering if the events that had preceded were merely a bad dream. You enter your apartment door to the same lovely wife, the same lovely dinner, the same placid scenario that ended in violence. Without any prior knowledge of Twelve Minutes, most players would be inclined to let things act out in the same manner, only to be met with the same result ending in restraining and unconsciousness. That is, until the point comes where you realize that you have more control over the events than you understand.

Twelve Minutes, as its name implies, lasts twelve minutes in each of its Groundhog Day-esque cycles and within these precious moments you must work quickly and accurately. There are many, many moving parts to solve the mystery contained within. What exactly that mystery is, however, is a mystery in itself. Mr. Antonio didn't really offer a lot of insight as to what the end goal was, but I imagine that it was a lot like Bill Murray's goal in 1993—to stop this endless loop.

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I'm not particularly sure if what follows could be spoiler territory, but be warned that there are a few pieces of information below that could give some parts of Twelve Minutes away.

In my time with the game, I managed to please the missus by serving dinner on the table and preparing water glasses for us to drink. The loop ended the same as above. The loop after, I ventured into the bathroom and poked around at the various interactive spots. The garbage can revealed a use pregnancy test. Positive. Was she planning to tell me if the officer didn't interrupt? This loop ended the same as the others.

This time I venture into the bathroom, scope the trash can, peek into the medicine cabinet and spy sleeping pills. What are those there for? I exit and head to the closet to find a phone tucked away in a jacket pocket. It's not my phone, so it must be my wife's. What is it doing in the closet? Is it a secret phone? I look at a text message on the phone. It has a phone number, but I don't write it down because I don't have enough time. The message reads something along the lines of me being surprised or shocked about finding something out. Is it the pregnancy? Has my wife been cheating on me? Is the kid not mine? I don't know. I don't confront my wife about it. I prepare dinner as I did previously, but I borrow a knife from the drawer and keep it on my person. I know what comes next. The cop comes in the door and throws us both to the ground. I cut myself free from the zip ties and attempt to stab the officer in revenge. He, being more skilled, stabs me. I fade away into unconsciousness in a pool of my own blood, my wife screaming in horror.

A new cycle. I make a beeline for the bathroom. I poke at the trash can for the pregnancy test. What happens if I don't? I had, technically, just died. I think. I take the sleeping pills with me. I don't quite like what I'm about to do. I can't risk my wife opening the door. I prepare dinner. I drug her soup, because she's never taken a drink of the water I prepare for us every time. Antonio looks over at me, smirks, and says, “Wow, drugging his wife. A renegade.” I laugh as well, masking my quiet determination to prevent the seemingly inevitable.

She eats. She feels sleepy and says as much. She wanders to the bedroom to doze. It worked. I ready my knife to take on the officer, hoping that I can catch him off guard this time while his back is towards me when he goes to see my unconscious wife in the bedroom. He throws me to the ground, as has become customary and I wait patiently to free myself from the bindings. I use the knife again to cut the zip tie and attack the officer. He turns the tides once more and I bleed out again into a new cycle.

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At this point I decide it's time to let the growing line behind me become a bit shorter. I thank Antonio for the time I spent with the game, looking forward to a finished, more polished product, but commend the current state of it. He smiles and said, “You should have used the keys to lock the door from the inside.” Of course! Why didn't I think of this?

Twelve Minutes carries similarities to an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine; a construct with many intricacies, some of which seem superfluous, built around completing a simple, inane task. As I mentioned previously, Twelve Minutes has many moving parts, all of which seem to be connected in some way, but it's up to you to figure out exactly which pieces have meaning and which do not. Thanks to the hustle and bustle of PAX East, I couldn't spend as much time with the game as I would have liked, but the taste I did get was very intriguing. Greatly looking forward to what Twelve Minutes will offer in the future as a finished product.

Day 17 | Luis Antonio