Twelve Minutes is not a straightforward game at times, so picking up some essential tips before you play it can improve your experience. At points, the game can be so obtuse that you will likely need a guide to figure out a simple puzzle. But with the right tips, you won't miss much.
This guide will give you all the information you need to prepare you for your first playthrough and maximize your experience by hinting at unique items in the game. You're stuck in a time loop, so take your time and play around with it.
Spend The First Loop Enjoying Dessert With Your Wife
When you first enter your apartment in Twelve Minutes, it can be tempting to start solving the time loop puzzle right away. If it's your first playthrough, avoid this inclination and just let the story play out naturally by enjoying dessert with your wife. By allowing the story to play out for a bit, you will gather plenty of information to help you throughout the game.
Talk To Your Wife About The Book She Is Reading
To avoid any spoilers, let's say that talking to your wife about the book she is reading is worthwhile. It isn't a prominent element in the game and is missable, so make sure you interact with the book a few times while you play.
You don't need to know anything else about it for now, but be sure not to miss it. Everything in Twelve Minutes does something, so don't underestimate the tiniest details.
Water The Plant In Your Bedroom
If you water the plant in your bedroom every couple of loops, you will unlock a unique achievement. The flowers are on top of the dresser and are frankly a forgettable element. By watering the plants for a few loops, you will notice that they continue to grow over time. Eventually, the flowers will bloom and look nice and pretty. Once you get the achievement, you can forget about the flowers as they don't affect the game.
Look At The Painting In The Bedroom And Living Room
When you start Twelve Minutes, be sure to take a quick look at the paintings in the bedroom and living room. All three Paintings are linked to separate achievements. Like the flowers, little details in the paintings will change. These changes occur after you complete the puzzles in the story, so after you figure out one, go and check on the paintings. Once you get near the end, the achievements should unlock when you look at the last stage of the paintings.
Try To Unlock The Secret Endings
"Endings" might be too strong of a term, seeing as these will just reset the loop. To see these scenarios, play around with the items and dialogue in the game. Part of the fun in Twelve Minutes is avoiding the story puzzles, so give yourself a few loops to mess around with the order of events.
Unfortunately, like the main story puzzles, these can also be slightly unintuitive. Fortunately, we have a guide to help you solve each of these alternate ending puzzles. Just check the above link!
Keep Track Of The Time
The loop in Twelve Minutes takes place in real-time, so paying attention to the time is vital to solving the puzzles. The easiest way to check the time is by clicking the menu button. There you will see a clock with the correct time. When you first start, log the time every time something happens in and outside of the apartment. If you know when everything will happen, you can navigate around these events.
Speed Up Time
Seeing as the game takes place in real-time, it can be a little bit of a slog if you have to sit around and wait for the proper event to occur. Fortunately, you can speed up the in-game time a couple of ways.
The first way you can speed up time is by going to bed. This option should advance time by a few minutes. Another option is hiding in the closet and closing the blinds in front of you. After a beat, you will say, "Now we wait..." and the game will skip until the cop shows up.
Restart Loops On Your Terms
You don't have to wait every time until the loop automatically resets. If you messed up something or need a clean slate, you can easily skip to the next loop by walking through the front door. Another option is that you can kill yourself in various ways. To avoid spoilers, the means of how you accomplish it will remain a secret, but you will be able to figure it out when you see it.
Use And Combine Items In Your Inventory
Twelve Minutes never explicitly says that you can combine stuff in your inventory, but you totally can. Granted, this is not a huge component of the game, but it's sometimes necessary when you're trying to solve a puzzle. Also, remember that you and the other NPCs have inventories and might be carrying something useful.