Daisy Ridley co-stars in Twelve Minutes, the interactive time-loop thriller shown during last night’s Gamescom Opening Night Live. But she couldn’t tell you how its story concludes.
The Star Wars actress recorded her dialogue over weeks of afternoon sessions in London - but even knowing her lines doesn’t necessarily help her untangle the game’s non-linear script.
“It goes from being this very joyous, immediate thing to this pretty dark warren of various options,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s cool because you as the player are learning more, so you're trying to figure out more.”
Ridley plays one of three central, though unnamed, characters in Twelve Minutes - the wife to James McAvoy’s husband, who have their romantic evening at home disturbed by a home invader, played by Willem Dafoe.
Twelve Minutes’ publisher Annapurna Interactive has a Hollywood connection, having sprung out of the production company behind films like Booksmart and Hustlers. It’s had an extraordinarily successful few years in games, too, putting out What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, and Journey’s PC version.
The developer responsible for Twelve Minutes is Luis Antonio, a Ubisoft Quebec veteran who has been working on his indie project since 2013. As McAvoy, players will repeat 12 minute time loops, influencing events during each cycle by interacting with the apartment around them.
GamesRadar talked to Antonio about the ideas and inspiration behind Twelve Minutes back in January. One touchpoint was The Witness, which Antonia actually worked on alongside Jonathan Blow as the puzzle game’s lead artist.
Catching up on last night's show? Here's our roundup of every game trailer from Gamescom 2020 Opening Night Live.
