12 Minutes confronts players with some uncomfortable decisions. However, one of the most challenging choices might not even seem readily apparent. The player character’s wife is just one piece of the looping puzzle, and some wonder if it’s okay to kill her in the game. We’ll discuss what happens when a player kills their wife in 12 Minutes and some alternatives to doing so below.
What happens if I kill my wife in 12 Minutes?
The player’s wife sometimes stands in the way of a task in 12 Minutes. In particular, if she is conscious, she will out the player’s position to the cop whenever he appears by asking her husband to help her. She’ll also always let the cop in, even if the player locks the door.
The easiest way to get the wife out of the way is to kill her using the knife from the kitchen. She comes back next loop with no memory of her death. As far as we can tell, there are no consequences to doing so. However, it is a sad scene, and it’s especially tragic to see the protagonist come to terms with it after repeated loops. Eventually, he just wordlessly slits her throat as if the whole thing were routine.
There is an alternative to killing the protagonist’s wife in 12 Minutes, though. There are sleeping pills in the bathroom cabinet that players can slip into a drink. If the wife drinks them, it’ll knock her out cold, accomplishing the same thing as killing her. She won’t speak to the cop or let him in, which is key to setting up the trap needed to kill him.
Though it’s more of a pain to put the wife to sleep, we don’t believe the player has to kill her as part of a playthrough. Instead, it’s just a means to an end that makes the loop quicker and easier to get through.
