20 Most Controversial Games of the 2020s (So Far)

The Indie time loop thriller was hardly a game most were expecting to be especially contentious upon release, but that all changed once reviews dropped and players got their own hands on it.

Twelve Minutes is set almost entirely inside a small apartment as the player repeatedly plays through a 12-minute home invasion sequence in order to solve a mystery.

But then comes the big twist, that the central husband and wife characters are actually unknowingly half-siblings, made all the worse by the fact that the wife is pregnant with his child.

Now, it's absolutely possible for video games to broach subjects as tricky as incest, though it surely requires a more nimble, tactful approach than the one deployed here, where many felt it was played for mere shock value.

It didn't help that the game was more broadly criticised for its clumsy handling of other difficult themes such as abuse and trauma, and so while some appreciated the bold swing, others felt that Twelve Minutes totally missed the mark and fell flat on its face.