During the Gamescom: Opening Night Live event, we were treated to Annapurna Interactive’s awesome-looking new game 12 Minutes. It’s about a man trapped in a time loop, and really seems to a game that’s going to push our expectations. It also looks like something I could play for days and still never find everything that’s hidden in it.
The game stars James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. But those star names aren’t what makes it special. Sure, listening to Dafoe talk is always enjoyable, but this game has something that you’ll never have tried to work around before. A home invasion.
The game is based around the 12 minutes of a home invasion. The man of the couple who live in this apartment is then caught in a time loop. He’s able to relive the same 12 minutes over and over again, and he can try to change the outcome of the events of that invasion.
Now this does sound great, but it’s also the reality for someone who goes through something like this. You think in your head about all of the things that you could have done differently. What if opening a window would have solved your problems, or saved someone’s life? That’s the crux of the game, and it sounds so interesting to play.
Many games that we play today empower us beyond out imaginations. They’re an escape from reality, and often a great way to get out of the world we’re living in, whether we like it or not. 12 Minutes is a window into someone else’s awful situation though. It’s never nice to even consider that someone might invade your home, but in this game you relive it potentially hundreds of times.
From the looks of things, we’ll be able to change everything, including what the man does, and what he tells his wife to do. This should prove to change the course of events, but will time and destiny allow for events to end any differently? I can see this game raising a lot of questions, and I’m excited to see how players will explore those when the game launches.