Twelve Minutes: 300 Seconds

Azeiza Hamza
8 min readNov 17, 2021

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When I sat down to play, I was determined to finish the game and get to the truth. The first thing I noticed was that the opening screen said LIES. I wonder if it’s random every time or changes depending on your progress.

The first thing I did was hide in the closet before the wife could see me and time moved forward. I was worried the cop would find me but I guess since the wife never saw me she thought I was still at work. I did feel bad that she was getting beat up but I wanted to see what would happen if I stayed hidden. Interestingly, she actually said where the watch is. I guess it was just luck I found it the way I did instead of finding out the right way. The cop then shot her and he left. I could then pick up what she had. It was just the book and house key and then the loop reset.

I tried asking the wife more questions and honestly, she was annoying me. She wouldn’t answer me the way I needed her to. The cop came and we tried talking to him but he wouldn’t listen so I ran at him with the knife haha.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

I then decided to go back to my old tricks because they've given me results before. For some reason, the wife started glitching at the bedroom door. I couldn’t push her to fix it so I decided to shock myself to reset the loop.

For whatever reason, it just made me unconscious and when I came to, the wife was on the bed asleep. I quickly turned off the lights and hid in the closet. Unfortunately, this time he didn’t get shocked, I guess because I used up all the faulty electricity.

He then found me and there was a series of questions I could ask. I asked if he knew she had a brother and he said he didn’t care and then I told him where the watch was. He killed me anyway.

This time I filled both cups with sleeping pills and water and grabbed everything I needed. I put one on the table thinking maybe the cop would drink it.

I didn’t realize you only have one chance to get everything off the cop, I thought you could pick up his items again. So I only grabbed the zip ties.

I insisted the wife was innocent but he said it didn’t matter. Then I asked about the nanny and the brother and he claimed he didn’t know anything. Then I even showed him the polaroid and he wouldn’t budge an inch. He only pleaded to let him go.

During this loop, I went speed mode. I grabbed the knife, pills, mugs, turned off the lights, and waited in the closet after drugging the wife. I grabbed everything off him and stabbed him. I looked through the messages and called the daughter. She didn’t even let me talk. I also called health insurance but that yielded nothing so I hung up. I even wrote down both numbers on a piece of paper.

I once again insisted the wife was innocent. Nothing. I asked him all the available questions and there were no worthwhile responses. He died.

This time I called the daughter right away and said I knew about her situation and she cursed me out haha. I also called the health insurance and kept clicking the wait for representative option. Clearly, it wasn’t going to let me talk to anyone so I talked to the wife instead. When the cop came I tried giving him the polaroid but it wouldn’t let me. So death took me once again.

Photo by Dmitry Grigoriev on Unsplash

I called bumblebee in front of the wife so she left the apartment in anger. The cop still came up with the wife and killed us. So I called the daughter in the bedroom with a closed door. She said she would call her dad so I sat on the couch and waited.

When I finally heard the elevator pull up, he was on the phone with her. This time he rang the doorbell and said please get on the floor so a little improvement! He still pushed us to the ground and killed me.

I took the watch out from the vent and thought maybe I could twist it to reveal something but nope, wouldn’t work. I even tried putting a mug of water on it. I was desperate for a new clue or answer. I even called bumblebee but I think I called too late because she said the movie was starting.

At the door, I gave the cop the watch and he slapped me to death. Sigh. I convinced the wife I knew the truth but I guess I wasn’t supposed to pick up the polaroid cause he slapped me for talking. I hate this cop so much.

Once again, I convinced the wife and called bumblebee. This time, I didn’t move and kept my mouth shut. The cop told us about this daughter. Then I got mad.

He said he was leaving and was ashamed of his actions. What about all the times I’ve died! He wasn’t ashamed then! Ugh!!!

The wife gave him the watch but interestingly the loop still reset when we hugged. When I convince the wife I just click the options, I don’t even read them. I just need to get through these loops. I picked up the baby clothes because I wanted to test a theory I had.

I couldn’t even give the cop the clothes for some reason but he did say the nanny had a flowery name. So umm hello??? My theory might be right.

I did another speed run. I got even madder because I guess I waited too long to give the cop the baby clothes so now I have to repeat everything AGAIN! Can you tell I’d been playing the game too long but refused to stop because I needed answers?

I finally timed it right and it worked!

I WAS RIGHT!!!

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Except maybe I shouldn’t be celebrating because of what the truth is.

Then a video of the clock showed up and the hands went backward. I was in a room with the father and I had three options of what to say. I didn’t even think about it, just clicked the first one. It said what if she didn't know. That confused me because if he talked to the dad all those years ago, how did he not know presently? I honestly didn’t understand the timeline and why he didn’t know.

Then the loop happened again and he was freaking out because he didn’t remember anything. I told the wife I was her brother and I could say it was my fault or wasn’t and I said it was. She was rightfully mad. I even clicked the option that I would confess to the cop.

I kept clicking on her trying to talk to her and she got mad so she left. But she came back up with the cop and I noticed the living room paintings. It was now winter in the one above the couch and the other was an eye peeking out of the egg.

This loop I told her it wasn’t my fault and she got mad and left. I had no idea where to go from there. But then she snitched on me to the cop! I thought I hated her before but now I really hate her. Obviously, the cop didn’t listen and killed us.

This time I said it was an accident which yielded the same result. Then I did all the nice options like apologizing and saying I would fix things. I decided to pick up the watch and apparently that’s the key because it gave me the video of the clock and I was back in the room with our (lol) dad.

It was the same options but instead of three, it was two of them. It was either she doesn’t need to know the truth or maybe she’ll accept the truth and unfortunately, I took too long deciding and it reset for me.

This time I clicked what if I told her the truth. It still resulted in the father’s death. So this time when I picked up the watch I tried the last of the three options, what if we weren't together.

Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash

The clock video showed up again and it gave me credits for the people involved in the game.

SO I FINISHED!

But I did wish I got to see the outcome. It seemed kind of unfair to me after all those loops to not know what happened. I still didn’t understand the timeline when I was playing but now as I’m typing I realize that the dad found the brother who was dating the daughter and the brother got amnesia.

HOWEVER, I still don’t understand how the husband didn’t know he killed him. Wouldn’t he have the memory of the stranger dead in an office? Did he just forget he was next to a body? I feel like that could have been better explained. Like why didn’t he call the police and instead just run away and forget about it? So many questions still.

Thankfully I clicked continue and something started to happen!

I was in the elevator and outside the apartment, but there was no houseplant. I used the key in my inventory and the place was extremely bare. I looked over every room and area and there was nothing there. I will say, it’s kind of sad he ends up alone. Obviously, I don’t think he and the wife/sister should still be together, but I do think he deserved a happier ending.

Overall, this game might have been extremely frustrating, but it was still fun. It also made me realize that twelve minutes is actually a pretty short amount of time when you’re fated to die.

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