I’m trying out something new for the blog. When Rooster Teeth’s The Know was around, I loved the segment “Know Before You Go” that they would film and found it super informative. (It covered the basics. What was the game, who made the game, why you should play, other miscellaneous things you should know, and when you could get it.) This “What to Know” will feature the upcoming game 12 Minutes.
Background
Developer Luis Antonio is a artist who formerly worked at Rockstar Games, as well as Ubisoft. He also worked as part of the art team on The Witness before starting development on 12 Minutes.
He’s stated in several interviews that Stanley Kubrick was a large influence on 12 Minutes as well as Alfred Hitchcock and movies like Memento and Rear Window. The game first premiered at PAX East in 2015 with a planned release date of 2016, but Antonio teamed up with a small group to make some changes to the game.
Those changes also brought publishing support from Annapurna Interactive, which would affect the game in several ways.
The Hook
Straight from their Twitter page, 12 Minutes is an “interactive thriller about a man trapped in a time loop.”
However, Groundhog Day it ain’t. There’s a murder mystery at the heart of the game – your wife may have murdered her father – and it’s your job to figure out what’s the truth and what are lies to break the 12-minute loop cycle. (And it’s 12 minutes in real-time, too.)
Who’s Who?
There are three characters in the game, voiced by some major names. In August of 2020, it was announced that James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe were the voice cast for the game. The publishing support from Annapurna helped with the casting, and logistics for locating studio spaces for the trio to record in, due to COVID-19.
How Long?
A preview from Engadget in 2019 had the game clocking in from 6 to 8 hours, but it’s hard to know how much of that has changed, if it has, in the last year and a half.
Where, When, and How Much?
12 Minutes will be releasing on August 19th for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles for $24.99. If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, it’ll be available as part of your subscription on day one. Are you excited for 12 Minutes to release? (I feel like it’s been forever!)