12 Minutes, a chilling horror-mystery coming from Outer Wilds and Gone Home’s Annapurna Interactive, was first announced in 2015, and news has been relatively scarce since. We’ve still got no release date and not much of an idea regarding how the game will play. However, Gamescom 2020’s Opening Night livestream event did reveal one critical new piece of information: the indie title’s incredible all-star voice cast.
The trailer for 12 Minutes shown during Gamescom’s event was not a new one, having previously debuted during E3 2019. However, it was now accompanied by a somewhat mysterious voice-over, narrated by none other than the legendary Willem Dafoe. Although they did not speak in the trailer, Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy were also announced to be voicing characters in the game.
12 Minutes tells the intriguing story of a man who becomes stuck in a time loop (which is, according to the title, a mere twelve minutes long) after a detective bursts into his home and arrests his wife for murder. So far, it is assumed that the three announced actors will be performing as these three principal characters, although it is not yet known whether Dafoe’s role is the detective or the husband.
What we know about 12 Minutes essentially ends there. It features a top-down perspective with a minimalist aesthetic. The trailer hints at a few gory possibilities regarding how the time loop can go – each of the three characters can potentially end up dead. Beyond that, we’ve got nothing. Will the game be a puzzle? Narrative-based? Will it feature quick-time events?
Although 12 Minutes was initially announced for 2020, no official release date was announced during this trailer, which ended with only “Coming Soon.” What is known is that the indie title will be releasing for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.
