TWELVE MINUTES

Willem Dafoe’s face as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man still haunts me. I’ve been scared of Defoe for going on 20 years, and Twelve Minutes is proof that that fear remains strong even when I can’t see his ghoulish grin. Here at least I have good reason: He only went and choked me to death.

That was the first time the aggressive cop, voiced is a time loop game, a miniature Groundhog Day mystery that hinges on this break-in and the buried story behind it. Before I played I didn’t expect my character to be aware of the time loop—I assumed this was a small game about trying to figure out all the possible ways this encounter could go, tugging on threads until you find the one that unravels the whole thing. But after Dafoe choked my character to death and I jumped back in time, I suddenly had new dialogue options with my wife—honey, you’re not going to believe this…