I've played enough time management games and HOGs to notice that most of them are basically clones of each other. The gameplay is very similar and there's very little innovation. Don't get me wrong - it's completely alright to want to play something that's "almost the same" as the previous sequel but sometimes, I just long for something different...

...and then comes Twilight City: Love as a Cure!

This game feels a lot like a hybrid game containing multiple genres with its main focus being a clicker of sorts. You'll need to click a lot in this game whether it is to learn a new spell or skill, or perform your job to earn some money. It also has some RPG elements where you'll need to complete quests, most of which aren't relevant or related to the storyline, and "upgrade" your stats in order to unlock better paying jobs or new lessons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4jehBP2Ryk

There's a bit of resource management involved as well here since you'll want to maximize every click, every movement on the map, and every purchase you make so that you won't "waste any time" running all over the map or waste any of your hard-earned coins buying a lower grade item when you could have saved a little bit more to buy something better.

P/S: You don't get any refunds when you "trade in" your old item to buy a better one, which is unfortunate. This means that it's much better to save up and buy the best item in the store rather than buying something inferior and then scrapping up another pile of money to buy the next best item in the list. Oh, and you can't get multiple items from the same category - keep this in mind!

Twilight City also comes with a few hidden object scenes for you to enjoy, but unlike true HOGs, these HO scenes feel more like mini-games rather than being an integral part of the gameplay. They only appear more often at the beginning of the game and it kind of tapers off when you approach the ending.

And of course, there's the storyline. As cheesy as it may sound, which is just perfect since I'm playing this game one day before Valentine's Day 😊, Twilight City puts you through the grueling journey of changing from an immortal, a vampire, back into a mortal human all in the name of human you've fallen in love with. Ahh.... the stuff we do for love 🙂

+ A nice melting pot of genres that makes this game so refreshingly unique
+ Clicker-style gameplay that can be relaxing to play for some. Note that not everyone enjoys playing clickers; some may find the game "pointless" to play
+ A rather cheesy story about the extremes someone (you) would go to for a loved one
+ Great soundtrack and graphics (on par with or better than some time management games that I've played before)

- Typos and grammar - "your" when it's supposed to be "you"; the game addressing me as a "man" when I choose to play as a "woman", etc.
- For 2-3 hours of play time (for a single playthrough), $6.99 (full price) is definitely a bit on the higher end. Wait for a steep discount!

Twilight City: Love as a Cure is one of those rare and unique hybrid games that can only resonate well with a specific niche of players despite being rather fun to play. Don't buy the game at full price though! The game goes on sale a lot often than you'd think 😉

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