Can’t get enough of mysterious games?
12 Minutes is an adventure game that has taken the gaming world by storm. The story follows a husband and wife, voiced by Hollywood A-listers James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley, in their apartment in the evening, with the wife announcing she’s pregnant. Shortly after, a police officer, voiced by William Dafoe, busts into the apartment, accuses the wife of killing her father before killing her. The husband gets knocked out in all the chaos and time restarts to the moment the husband first walks into the apartment that day.
The husband must now solve the mystery around the police officer and why he thinks the husband’s wife is a murderer while going through numerous time loops. Luckily, he retains the knowledge from each loop to help in his quest. If either the wife or husband dies, or 12 minutes is reached, time will restart again. The game is played in the top-down perspective and the entire game takes place inside the couple’s apartment.
12 Minutes isn’t an overly long game so if you’ve already completed it and are looking for another adventure like the time looping journey, here is a list of a few games that should be able to itch that mystery scratch.
Outer Wilds
Sticking with the time loop theme, Outer Wilds is an action-adventure game where you play as an astronaut that is out exploring the solar system who notices they’re stuck in a 22-minute time-loop that resets when the sun goes supernova. As each time loop resets, the player retains knowledge that will help them in their journey in stopping the supernova.
The open-world, first-person game was first released in 2019 on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and PS4, and has since announced it will be porting the game onto the Nintendo Switch in Q3 of 2021. Like 12 minutes, the game was published by Annapurna Interactive, adding to their collection of world-class games.
Since its release, the game has been critically acclaimed, winning the coveted Best Game at the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards and has also announced an expansion pack titled “Echoes of the Eye” to be released later in the year.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask really is a trailblazer in time-loop games. It wasn’t the first to ever be made but it surely is one that players remember.
Majora’s Mask takes Link on a journey like none that he had been on before. After the events of Ocarina of Time, Link finds himself on Termina, a parallel world to Hyrule. Once there, he finds out that the world is in trouble as the moon collided with the world in three days times. Link must go through various different versions of the three-day period to stop the apocalyptic event from happening.
The game was first released for Nintendo 64 back in 2000 making it a truly vintage game. If you’re looking to play the game on a newer console, it is rumoured that the game will be ported onto the Nintendo Switch, however, no official announcement has come from Nintendo yet.
Last Stop
Another entry published by Annapurna Interactive makes the list. While the game doesn’t focus on any time loop, it certainly has similar elements to it as 12 Minutes.
Last Stop follows three characters on a Supernatural adventure. The game starts by showing friends Peter and Samantha pair steal from an officer and find themselves running through the London Underground to avoid being caught. While down there, they come across a man who opens a door to a portal and offers the pair to go through. Samantha does but Peter hesitates and stays behind. He eventually tries to go through the door, but the portal has disappeared, and so has Samantha.
From there, the game jumps to different characters of John, Meena and Donna and their journeys to the portals. Last Stop has had a wide release on PS5, PS4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
DEATHLOOP
Deathloop, stylized as DEATHLOOP, is an upcoming action-adventure game from Arkane Studios. The game, set in the 1960s, follows an assassin named Colt “The Captain” Vahn who has found himself stuck in a time loop of one day, starting the day waking up on the beach of Blackreef. The other residents of Blackreef don’t retain any memories of each day but Colt does, helping him in his journey to assassinate eight targets before the 24-hours of each day is up. And to make life hard for himself, another assassin, Jules, is after him as she believes Colt needs to die in order to protect the Island of Blackreef.
Fans don’t have much longer to wait for the game. First announced at E3 in 2019, Deathloop will be released on September 14, with a timed exclusive on PS5 and Microsoft Windows and an Xbox version rumoured to be released in late 2022.
The Room
The Room may not be a thriller time loop game, but the puzzle elements of 12 Minutes may make fans want additional puzzling games in their lives. The Room doesn’t have much of a story to it but is defiantly a mystery. The player is invited to an attic of an abandoned mansion. Inside is a cast-iron safe with a note. The note details there is something remarkable inside the safe, you just must solve the puzzles that lie beyond to find out exactly what is in there.
The Room has been highly successful, adding three sequels and a VR game to its collection. The popular puzzling game was first released on iOS in 2012 but due to its success, it has since been ported to Android, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch.
12 Minutes was released on August 19 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review of the “captivating mystery”.
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