The Segment Twins introduces players to the twin girls, Matilda and Amanda, whose profession involves hunting down nefarious creatures that closely resemble friendly mushrooms. However, their routine takes an unexpected turn when they fall into a portal and get transported to a mysterious world that exists simultaneously in different places. The story sets up the premise for their segmented journey, where the gameplay mechanics and challenges revolve around these distinct segments. There isn't much emphasis on storytelling, as the game primarily revolves around hack-and-slash action.
Matilda and Amanda have different fighting styles, with Matilda excelling in swords while Amanda is a skilled gunslinger. The controls are intentionally simplified, focusing on basic attacks, dashes, and a limited number of combination moves for special skills using the face buttons – all with cooldowns.
The Segment Twins incorporates an experience point system to unlock skills, and currency system to upgrade your characters’ stats – which are shared between both characters. As players accumulate experience points, they can level up their characters and gain access to new abilities. However, the game introduces a challenging twist I’ve never seen before—taking damage causes players to lose experience points, potentially losing newly acquired skills as quickly as they are obtained. This risk-reward mechanic adds an extra layer of tension and decision-making during combat encounters. This means that skills unlocked are not permanent, and can be locked again if you lose enough XP points.
The Segment Twins offer a moderate level of replayability, with each world comprising around 20 stages and a boss fight at the end. Completing the game unlocks new worlds, introducing new segments and enemies. However, due to the repetitive nature of combat and the lack of significant gameplay variations, prolonged sessions can be unsustainable. Players seeking a short burst of fast-paced action and challenges will find enjoyment, especially since individual levels are easily completed in under a minute, but those looking for addicting gameplay mechanics and long play time may be left wanting.