12-minute test: stand up killers and raise your hearts!

A golden cast made up of James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe, an astonishing concept presented in the form of a camera seen from above… from the first trailer, 12 minutes intrigued the gaming community. This virtual UFO was released yesterday, and it's time to tell you what we think!

12-minute test: stand up killers and raise your hearts! Read the conclusion12 Minutes

An original and captivating concept
An exciting story
A voice cast with small onions

Clues that are too rare and very discreet
The game will drive the most impatient players crazy

It's late and you come home from work exhausted. In your small apartment awaits your charming wife. She seems particularly perky that evening and for good reason: she has good news to announce! To celebrate, she even prepared your favorite dessert. What a good evening in perspective! As you sit down at the table, there's a knock on the door.

He's a sinister-looking man who says he's a policeman and has a warrant for your wife's arrest. Before you can even ask a question, he ties you both up and even starts choking you. You lose consciousness and… reappear at the front door, ten minutes earlier. Your wife doesn't seem to realize what happened. Why did you go back in time? Who is this terrifying man? And how to stop this infernal loop? This is only the beginning of an avalanche of questions that you will ask yourself...

12 minutes, delicious hellish loop

And here we are trapped in the infernal loop that is "12 minutes"... for your greatest pleasure! One thing to note before diving into this temporal hell: it's a point and click in the purest tradition, which is therefore much more pleasant with the mouse rather than the joystick. Once the mouse in hand, we are immediately absorbed by the story of the game. There is no time to get bored, since the disruptive element arrives after a few minutes. From the end of the first loop, we want to search, untangle, question, understand... and that's good because the game pushes us to do so.

Still in a purely point and click style, "12 Minutes" rewards the player who snoops, tests, tries to open all the cupboards and recovers all possible items, from the uninteresting teaspoon to the mysterious gift package. This is even how we move forward, since the clues are rare and really very discreet. No doubt you will find yourself stuck and particularly frustrated at times.

This frustration, it is in fact rather well brought. At the end of each time loop, when our character reappears at the entrance to the apartment, he is more and more angry, he groans, hits the walls, huffs… and so are we! The feeling of weariness that we can feel after a while is destined to push us to the limit and try crazy things like stabbing anyone, throwing our keys in the toilet, trying to jump out the window… More than he game, "12 minutes" is a nerve-wracking experience.

Nevertheless, it is good to specify that "12 minutes" will especially appeal to regulars of puzzle games. If the work is a real narrative gem, it is above all its puzzle side that contributes to the gaming experience. In fact, we could compare it to a kind of virtual escape room: it is by searching , by trying things and connecting the clues that we will manage to evolve in this infernal trap. In fact, if you quickly tend to throw in the towel in the face of difficult puzzles, "12 minutes" may not be for you... unless you have decided to play with the walkthrough at hand. No one is judging you. You do as you wish.

An extraordinary experience

No doubt "12 minutes" was expected at the turn: the work is the latest from the studio Annapurna Interactive, known for other puzzles with a studied narration such as What Remains of Edith Finch and Outer wilds . The latter also plunged us into a time loop. Luis Antonio the creator of the game, went through Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, and worked on the puzzle game The Witness. To crown it all, "12 minutes" was created within the Nomada studio, already at the origin of the very beautiful GRIS. In short, we were entitled to expect a good game.

And the bet is held! The narration is original, the mystery is gripping, the story is fascinating and full of twists and turns. The choice of James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe in the voice cast is not just a commercial argument. When we launch the game, we will spend several hours in the company of these three characters, replaying the same scene over and over again. We needed protagonists with presence, sharp acting skills. Willem Dafoe is also the most striking of the trio, in the role of the villain who terrifies us to come and violate us again and again, but who also intrigues us as his motivations are obscure.

12 minutes: l'avis de JVFR

Let it be said, "12 minutes" is not a triple A: the game lasts less than ten hours and takes place in a small three-room apartment with only three characters. It would therefore be awkward to compare it to large narrative games released recently. The ideal is to take it as such: a fascinating parenthesis, full of mysteries, twists and turns.

Even if it constitutes a video game experience in its own right (and that's what's beautiful about this medium), the work is not intended for all players. It requires a hell of a lot of concentration, patience, and also, it must be said, a bit of luck. Everyone will have their opinion on the end of the story, which still offers its share of tasty cliffhangers. Who would've believed that ? Reliving the same scene over and over again can be entertaining. Provided you are in the right frame of mind!

12 Minutes

Puzzle lovers, 12 minutes is for you! Over time loops, this work will put your nerves to the test and make your brain spin. Be careful, however, if you lack patience: the game is stingy with clues, and you will have to restart the scene many times to find your way through this winding timeline.