To continue or reset...

[Henry Crabgrass]

Not sure if anyone has come here looking for this, but after the MINDFULNESS ending you can actually continue the same save game (even though the continue button has disappeared) by manually moving the clock hand back to read '2 minutes to 12'.

If you need to reset all your progress altogether you can do so from the options menu.

EDIT; to clarify, I mean the clock on the main menu, not the clock within the game itself, because the continue button has disappeared you literally can't get back into that same loop phase.

[slippin jimmy]

Thanks! It seems that the CONTINUE ending is the only one that needs a reset, good to know to follow any order that leaves CONTINUE as the last one

[Wok]

Funnily, the only ending which prevents the player from continuing is called CONTINUE.

[Henry Crabgrass]

Aha, right? The irony! I wonder if the devs knew.

[Zigurat]

Originally posted by Wok:

Funnily, the only ending which prevents the player from continuing is called CONTINUE.

This is wrong. The "continue" is available on the main menu after doing the Continue ending (which is why it's called the "Continue" ending). Only the Mindfulness ending is missing the "continue" because it's the only ending that breaks the husband out of the loop and makes it the actual true ending of the game. At this point, if you want to play the game again, you either do the obvious thing and reset your progress in the Option menu (DON'T DO THIS because this will erase your progress towards the paintings and gardening Achievements), or you discover the Easter Egg of turning the clock hand to ??:58 to bring you back to the father scene.

[Wok]

Originally posted by Zigurat:

Originally posted by Wok:

Funnily, the only ending which prevents the player from continuing is called CONTINUE.

This is wrong. The "continue" is available on the main menu after doing the Continue ending (which is why it's called the "Continue" ending).

Nope. I guess there is some confusion: when I mention the Continue ending, it is the same as the "Blissful ignorance" ending.

For instance, this is mentioned in

1) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2579883772

and 2) https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Continue

Unfortunately, there's no going back with this ending. Once you've done it, you'll have to start the whole game over.

--

Edit: I see that another website uses different terminology: they mention one of the bad endings (with no credits) and wrongly call it the "continue" "ending". I think that is where the confusion comes from. Moreover, this website is not reliable as it does not know about the "Mindfulness" ending.

https://www.gamesradar.com/12-minutes-walkthrough-guide-endings/

[Zigurat]

The Continue ending is the ending that rolls credits, then immediately starts the game again from the very beginning like you're starting the game for the very first time.
Where does this "blissful ignorance" term come from? The endings are named after the Achievement that pops when you get them, and none of the Achievements nor their description have "blissful ignorance" in them.

[Wok]

The Continue ending is the ending that rolls credits, then immediately starts the game again from the very beginning like you're starting the game for the very first time.

Disclaimer: I have played the game on PC Game Pass, so I don't know when the achievement pops up.

There are 3 endings with proper credits and boot to main menu:

1) Continue ending (credits -> continue -> corridor -> red book -> credits -> no continue)
- https://i.imgur.com/OgyBiEx.png (which does not go as far as IGN)
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Continue
You cannot continue after the full ending.

2) Mindfulness ending (stall the father -> red book -> watch the clock -> credits)
- https://i.imgur.com/PuOJjYH.png
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Mindfulness
You can continue after the full ending, but only if you use a trick.

3) Alone ending ("Maybe it's better that we aren't together" -> credits)
- https://i.imgur.com/Dk31h5G.png
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Alone
You can continue after the full ending.

I think you did not properly achieve the "Continue" ending. This, or the achievement pops up after the first half of the ending.

Based on the description which you give, it looks like it could be the "Continue" ending without properly finishing the ending, as you would appear in the corridor as "the very first time", but you would have forgotten to check the clock in the bathroom in the empty apartment, which is the requirement to trigger the second half of the ending.

Maybe I don't exactly remember but I believe that the player is booted to the main menu in the first half of the "Continue" ending. That is why the ending is called "Continue": you have to hit the "continue" button after the first half, in order to trigger the second half of the ending. Once you have achieved the full ending, there won't be no "continue" button anymore.

As a side-note, what is troubling is that you mention that the game "immediately starts again", which is usually a sign of a fake ending, as the player is not booted to the main menu and the main protagonist is still stuck in the time loop. It would be as much as an ending as when you exit the apartment and the time loop starts again.

[Zigurat]

Originally posted by Wok:

1) Continue ending (credits -> continue -> corridor -> red book -> credits -> no continue)
- https://i.imgur.com/OgyBiEx.png (which does not go as far as IGN)
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Continue
You cannot continue after the full ending.

No, you ARE continuing the game from this ending, but with the husband's memory erased. If you go to the bedroom and you've been watering the plant before, you will see a flower has bloomed. If you've been looking at all the late game paintings except for the ones that are only available when the husband knows nothing, the Achievements will pop once you look at them at this point. This is impossible if the game was actually reset to the beginning. This ending does not reset the game to the beginning, it resets the husband's mental state to the beginning and he's still stuck in the loop, except he doesn't know it anymore.

Originally posted by Wok:

2) Mindfulness ending (stall the father -> red book -> watch the clock -> credits)
- https://i.imgur.com/PuOJjYH.png
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Mindfulness
You can continue after the full ending, but only if you use a trick.

No, you are NOT continuing the game in this case. What the Easter Egg on the main menu allows the player to do is reset the game back to the last scene with the father so you can replay that section and choose another ending that does allows the husband to continue. Otherwise, there is no game after the event of Mindfulness. The husband woke up. He's finished with the dream/delusion/hypnosis session. Therefore no continue on the main menu.

Originally posted by Wok:

3) Alone ending ("Maybe it's better that we aren't together" -> credits)
- https://i.imgur.com/Dk31h5G.png
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Alone
You can continue after the full ending.

Correct. This one continues into a new loop that never ends and walking out of the apartment just kicks you out to the main menu until you decide to play again. The husband is stuck in that apartment forever since time is neither moving forward or backward, until you manually manipulate the pocket watch.

[Wok]

Originally posted by Zigurat:

Originally posted by Wok:

1) Continue ending (credits -> continue -> corridor -> red book -> credits -> no continue)
- https://i.imgur.com/OgyBiEx.png (which does not go as far as IGN)
- https://www.ign.com/wikis/12-minutes/Continue
You cannot continue after the full ending.

No, you ARE continuing the game from this ending, but with the husband's memory erased. If you go to the bedroom and you've been watering the plant before, you will see a flower has bloomed. If you've been looking at all the late game paintings except for the ones that are only available when the husband knows nothing, the Achievements will pop once you look at them at this point. This is impossible if the game was actually reset to the beginning. This ending does not reset the game to the beginning, it resets the husband's mental state to the beginning and he's still stuck in the loop, except he doesn't know it anymore.

Thanks for clarifying. I did not know about the paintings and flowers.

However, there are a few things which I don't understand.

First, this ending is the last thing which I achieved after getting the "Alone" and "Mindfulness" endings. It is a state similar to "Mindfulness", except that the trick on the main menu (or the easter egg as you put it) does not work. So I don't see how you explore the apartment after giving the red book to the father. You could explore the empty apartment, but that is before giving the red book, and thus before triggering what I think is the FULL "Continue" ending.

Second, I don't get this quote:

he's still stuck in the loop, except he doesn't know it anymore.

What I mean is that:
- once you are in the empty apartment,
- if you get the clock in the bathroom, you can go to the scene with the father.
- then choose the red book right away (no stalling contrary to "Minfulness"),
- after the credits, there will not be any "continue" button on the main screen.

Since there is no "continue" button, and no trick to make it appear, the husband cannot be stuck in the loop. It should be the same conclusion as for the "Mindfulness" ending, for which you agree that the loop is broken.

[Poach]

Originally posted by crakkka:

Thanks! It seems that the CONTINUE ending is the only one that needs a reset, good to know to follow any order that leaves CONTINUE as the last one

hey do you have a 100% save file so i can just look at the watch and see all endings

[Zigurat]

Originally posted by Wok:

Originally posted by Zigurat:

No, you ARE continuing the game from this ending, but with the husband's memory erased. If you go to the bedroom and you've been watering the plant before, you will see a flower has bloomed. If you've been looking at all the late game paintings except for the ones that are only available when the husband knows nothing, the Achievements will pop once you look at them at this point. This is impossible if the game was actually reset to the beginning. This ending does not reset the game to the beginning, it resets the husband's mental state to the beginning and he's still stuck in the loop, except he doesn't know it anymore.

Thanks for clarifying. I did not know about the paintings and flowers.

However, there are a few things which I don't understand.

First, this ending is the last thing which I achieved after getting the "Alone" and "Mindfulness" endings. It is a state similar to "Mindfulness", except that the trick on the main menu (or the easter egg as you put it) does not work. So I don't see how you explore the apartment after giving the red book to the father. You could explore the empty apartment, but that is before giving the red book, and thus before triggering what I think is the FULL "Continue" ending.

Second, I don't get this quote:

he's still stuck in the loop, except he doesn't know it anymore.

What I mean is that:
- once you are in the empty apartment,
- if you get the clock in the bathroom, you can go to the scene with the father.
- then choose the red book right away (no stalling contrary to "Minfulness"),
- after the credits, there will not be any "continue" button on the main screen.

Since there is no "continue" button, and no trick to make it appear, the husband cannot be stuck in the loop. It should be the same conclusion as for the "Mindfulness" ending, for which you agree that the loop is broken.

The empty apartment is the Alone ending, not the Continue ending. There definitely is the continue button on the title screen after the Continue ending. In the Alone ending, he continues onto a loop that doesn't end (until you mess with the pocket watch). In the Continue ending, he continues onto another loop just like any other loop, except this time, he has forgotten everything. Only the Mindfulness ending has no continue button after the ending because his "journey" is over.
The Continue ending is where the father tells you to focus on a flower and see it go back into the bud. The Mindfulness ending is where the father tells you to stop obsessing over your sister and to (literally) wake up.

[Henry Crabgrass]

Originally posted by Zigurat:

Only the Mindfulness ending has no continue button after the ending because his "journey" is over.

Think there are other, deeper implications here by the writers because you can absolutely still jump back in to the 'end phase' loop by moving the clock to what (I guess?) is supposed to be a reference to two-minutes-to-midnight on the IRL Doomsday Clock.

Haven't quite figured out what it would mean yet from a thematic point of view but it's handy to mop up any end-phase achievements you might've missed in the meantime.

[Zigurat]

Originally posted by The Pizza Man:

Originally posted by Zigurat:

Only the Mindfulness ending has no continue button after the ending because his "journey" is over.

Think there are other, deeper implications here by the writers because you can absolutely still jump back in to the 'end phase' loop by moving the clock to what (I guess?) is supposed to be a reference to two-minutes-to-midnight on the IRL Doomsday Clock.

Haven't quite figured out what it would mean yet from a thematic point of view but it's handy to mop up any end-phase achievements you might've missed in the meantime.

I think that being able to move the minute hand two minutes back at the main menu is a cheat code rather than something the player is expected to do. I think the developer expected people to go to the option menu and reset the game after Mindfulness, but that sucks if you were still going for the Achievements, because that resets all your Achievements progress. So they put in this cheat code where you can replay the current loop and do anything else but cause the Mindfulness ending, allowing you to continue to the next loop to grow the plant (you need to trigger three endings on the same game to get the three flower buds) and see the other paintings you've missed.

[Castor]

Originally posted by Zigurat:

Originally posted by The Pizza Man:

Think there are other, deeper implications here by the writers because you can absolutely still jump back in to the 'end phase' loop by moving the clock to what (I guess?) is supposed to be a reference to two-minutes-to-midnight on the IRL Doomsday Clock.

Haven't quite figured out what it would mean yet from a thematic point of view but it's handy to mop up any end-phase achievements you might've missed in the meantime.

I think that being able to move the minute hand two minutes back at the main menu is a cheat code rather than something the player is expected to do. I think the developer expected people to go to the option menu and reset the game after Mindfulness, but that sucks if you were still going for the Achievements, because that resets all your Achievements progress. So they put in this cheat code where you can replay the current loop and do anything else but cause the Mindfulness ending, allowing you to continue to the next loop to grow the plant (you need to trigger three endings on the same game to get the three flower buds) and see the other paintings you've missed.

Moving the dials in the mindfulness is not a 'cheat code', it's a continuation of what you would have done in the 'Alone' sequence with the 'broken' pocket watch to return to the office.
It's not something we wanted to be hidden, but something the player would have learned from previous loops.

[Zigurat]

Originally posted by Castor:

Originally posted by Zigurat:

I think that being able to move the minute hand two minutes back at the main menu is a cheat code rather than something the player is expected to do. I think the developer expected people to go to the option menu and reset the game after Mindfulness, but that sucks if you were still going for the Achievements, because that resets all your Achievements progress. So they put in this cheat code where you can replay the current loop and do anything else but cause the Mindfulness ending, allowing you to continue to the next loop to grow the plant (you need to trigger three endings on the same game to get the three flower buds) and see the other paintings you've missed.

Moving the dials in the mindfulness is not a 'cheat code', it's a continuation of what you would have done in the 'Alone' sequence with the 'broken' pocket watch to return to the office.
It's not something we wanted to be hidden, but something the player would have learned from previous loops.

Could have not learned this was possible if Mindfulness was the first ending I've seen.