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This game is rated PEGI 18
Our review includes potentially triggering words:
Abuse, Death, Drug, Extreme Violence, Gore, Murder, Sexual Content and Torture.
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GAMES Twelve Minutes
Twelve Minutes Review
Posted: 2 years ago, last updated 8 months ago.
Author: @GeekDadGamer and Jo Robertson.
Overview
You wake at the start of the same night when you opened the front door. This Groundhog Day time-loop offers you a chance to escape the terror you remember. You need to use the knowledge of what happened in previous loops to change the outcome.
Games often want to draw on films to substantiate their importance and weight. Here though, there is storytelling and acting talent to match with James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe taking on voice actor roles.
Along with the unusual time-loop mechanic, Twelve Minutes has a dream-like reality that draws on films like The Shining and claustrophobia of Rear Window and the fragmented structure of Momento. Things ramp up in unexpected and potentially upsettings ways with scenes of emotional abuse and manipulation that are described by the developer as including violence, gore, blood, sexual themes.
Game Details
Release Date: 19/08/2021, updated in 2021
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Content Rating: PEGI 18
Players: 1
Genres: Narrative, Puzzle and Communication
Accessibility: 21 features
Developer: Faca Electrica (@FacaElectrica)
Lists
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Duration
Play Style
Age Ratings
Rated for younger players in Australia. Rated Mature Accompanied (MA 15+) for Strong Violence, Strong Themes, Strong Coarse Language.
The developers describe the content as containing "violence, gore, blood and sexual themes". There are moments in the game when the husband must drug his pregnant wife and torture the police officer to get the information he needs. He has to do this repeatedly to get the order correct. There are also other acts of violence against the wife and disturbing scenes. The game doesn't warn of these (and we have avoided giving too much detail away here) because of a desire not to spoil the plot. You can read more about this in Renata Price's article about the controversial ending to the game.
Costs
Accessibility
Twelve Minutes plays on a loop, where you have as many opportunities as you want to try to solve the mystery, so the game is structured in a way where failure is an opportunity to start fresh with what you've learned. There are times when reacting quickly to events can be important, but since things happen at the same time each loop the need for quick reactions can be lowered by planning out your actions.
Most of the text in the game is decently sized with good contrast, but because of the transparency level of the text there are occasionally some words that end up more difficult to see against their background. Seeing the cursor to input numbers on the cell phone is very difficult due to a white cursor on white background.
Diversity and Inclusion
Hand-Picked Games Like Twelve Minutes
Our experts have hand-picked the following similar games. These are similar to Twelve Minutes in how they play or their theme. These are good alternative games to Twelve Minutes, or are a younger rated alternative for players not ready for PEGI 18 or ESRB MATURE 17+ games.
