Inspired by the many mystery-thrillers from directors like David Fincher and Alfred Hitchcock, 12 Minutes uses the premise of a time loop in order to solve a mystery and has been met with some praise. A Husband and Wife sit down for a nice evening when they're interrupted by a Cop who accuses the Wife of murder. He ends up killing both of them, but then the Husband finds himself 12 minutes before the incident occurred. Players then play as the Husband, stuck in a time loop trying to figure out the truth behind the events.
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Time is essential in 12 Minutes. Players only have 10 minutes before the Cop shows up, and then 2 minutes once he's there. Preparing for the Cop's arrival is essential, and players aren't given much time to prepare. For this reason, knowing what not to do can be just as important as knowing exactly what to do.
Fight the Cop
One of the first things players might attempt in 12 Minutes is to fight back. Players will find that if they grab the knife and immediately hide in the closet, the Wife will be unaware that the Husband came home. Once the Cop shows up, he'll begin searching the apartment. At this point, the player can take advantage of the situation and attack the Cop with a knife.
This might seem like a good idea, but the Cop can easily fight back, usually resulting in the Husband getting knocked out or stabbed. It is possible to avoid both of these outcomes by clicking away at the right moments, but then the Cop will instead fire his gun, killing the Husband. Ultimately, there isn't really an option where the player fights the Cop and comes out unscathed.
The Wife's Routine
In 12 Minutes, the player is given 10 minutes in each loop before the Cop shows up. This means 10 minutes to prepare for a possible different outcome. The clock starts ticking immediately, so players should think fast. Unless provoked with conversation or an action, the Wife will relatively go through the same routine in each loop.
Some parts of 12 Minutes require the player to have the Wife go through a specific set of actions, but parts of her routine might prevent this if the player waits too long. For example, some outcomes require the player to give the Wife some water with some sleeping pills. But if the player waits too long, the Wife will get water on her own and decline water from the player. The player should also take some time to figure out exactly what the Wife does in any of the immediate outcomes, so they can plan accordingly.
Tell the Wife About the Time Loop
Eventually, yes, it is a good idea for the Husband to tell the Wife that he's stuck in a time loop. However, it can take quite a bit of convincing for her to believe him. When asked, the player can try to find things that will prove the Husband is in a time loop. Considering that the player already knows how the evening was going to go, it's understandable that the player might try to tell the Wife everything she had planned.
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Unfortunately, most of this goes unimpressed by the Wife. Even predicting her pregnancy, which does take her by surprise, won't exactly be enough to win her over. The player has to progress further through the game to gain enough knowledge to convince the Wife.
Give the Cop the Watch
In the first loop, the player learns that the Cop is really after the Wife's watch, and not necessarily the Wife herself. Once the player learns where the Wife is hiding the watch, and how to get it, the player might try to give the Cop the watch immediately once he arrives.
Unfortunately, this doesn't really change the outcome of the evening. Even once the player finds out why the Cop wants the watch, mentioning his reasoning won't allow the evening to go any differently.
Tell Beebee What's Happening
Late in the game, the Cop's daughter Beebee becomes essential to the plot. While she never appears in the game, the Husband discovers her phone number and can call her. The first mistake players might make here is to tell her about the time loop. Upon doing this, Beebee will simply hang up and refuse to pick up again. The second mistake might happen if the player tells Beebee that the Wife is innocent.
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Beebee will try to call her father in hopes that he'll clear everything up. Players might think that this will be enough to sway the Cop, but it isn't. Instead, he'll get upset that the Husband contacted his daughter and refuse to listen. Telling Beebee to call her father can in fact work to progress through the game, but players will have to do more than just that.
Leave the Apartment
Since the apartment is the scene of the crime, the couple should flee as soon as possible, right? Well, if the Husband tries to leave the apartment, the loop simply starts over again. However, the Husband can try to convince his wife to leave. There's a dialogue option about leaving the apartment, but eventually, players might discover other, faster ways to get her to leave.
It doesn't matter, however. No matter how quickly the Wife leaves the apartment, she'll always run into the Cop on her way out of the building. Then the Cop leads her back to her apartment, and the rest of the evening plays out like normal.
Kill the Cop
It takes quite a bit of strategy, but the Husband can get the upper hand on the Cop. The player can eventually get a hold of his gun, at which point it might be tempting to just kill him. After all, it's his arrival that disturbed an otherwise perfect dinner.
Killing the Cop does nothing, however. The Husband is still stuck in a time loop. Furthermore, killing the Cop offers no new information, meaning that once players kill the Cop, they'll have nothing to do but stare at a dead body until the next loop starts.
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