Love & Pies-Merge Mystery (Android) Snapshot Review

While watching YouTube one day, I saw an advertisement for a mobile game called Love & Pies-Merge Mystery. I’m typically one to ignore advertisements, but the graphics were too cute for me to resist. 

Summary

Love & Pies-Merge Mystery centers around Amelia and her daughter, Kate. Amelia’s mother Freya, has recently disappeared leaving behind various mysteries for Amelia to untangle. She has also acquired her mother’s bakery, the Windmill Cafe. The game ties in both mystery and romantic entanglements. We get to know the competing bakeries in town as well as several friends and family members of Amelia as the story progresses. 

In between these storylines is a matching game. The goal is to match up ingredients to create the bakery items that the customer’s have requested. Each time a customer’s order is completed, coins and gems are earned. Earning coins is the way to progress into the next part of the storyline. The player is also given a certain number of lightning rods that are known as energy. Each time the player gets out an ingredient from the shopping bag it counts as one energy. In order to continue merging ingredients, the player must earn more energy. This can be done by watching a short video, putting together a big order or purchasing it with money. 

How’s the Storyline?

I’ll admit, I’m on level 25 of the game, so I have not finished the overall story yet. 

So far, I enjoy the love story between Joe and Amelia throughout the series. It gives you something to look forward to. Will they kiss? Will they finally go on a date? I’ll just have to wait and see. I also like that Amelia is never really alone in all this. She often gets assistance from Joe, Uncle Sven and many others in town to help restore the Windmill Cafe. With all these characters, there is never a dull moment.

I do wish that the storyline had more character development. We are introduced to various characters along the way but the only information we get about them is through conversations. I understand that this game needs an air of mystery due to the fact that all characters need to be ruled out as suspects of setting the Windmill Cafe on fire. But I still feel like a bit more information is needed to really get to know these characters. I would also like more of a backstory on Amelia. We know that she’s a single mom but what was she doing before all this happened? 

Different Challenges

This game includes other challenges as well such as building toys to help earn more gems and coins along the way. This challenge comes up every so often when uncle Sven and Angus come to town. This takes place in a screen separate from the bakery items. Another challenge in the game includes competing against Edwina to earn more coins in a specific timeframe. Edwina owns a bakery in town as well so she is the local competition. There is also a challenge involving Amelia’s friend Yuka in which the player needs to earn roses to get rewards. These two challenges take place within the bakery setting but give the player extra rewards along the way to help push them into the next part of the story.

I like that this game has different challenges because it’s a nice change up from the regular bakery tasks. It gives the player other goals to focus and provides different visuals along the way. To me, these challenges are great for earning extra coins. The only downside is that these challenges are typically only for a certain amount of time. So the player feels like they have to work on them right then and there instead of on their own time.

This Game Can’t be Played for Hours

Once the player has run out of videos to watch to earn energy, they must either stop playing for a bit or purchase more energy. For each minute that goes by, one energy is formed again. In a way it is a good thing because unless the player wants to pay to get more energy, they can’t spend hours upon hours on this game. The player gets a little taste of the game everyday which for me, is perfect.

Even though this game is free to purchase on the play store, there is pressure to buy energy along the way in order to continue. I personally have not done so, but if someone is impatient, they may be inclined to. I would pay attention to this, especially if there are children that are playing this game. 

Final Thoughts

I find myself returning to this game on a daily basis. I’m a big fan of mysteries and intrigued to find out who started the fire at the Windmill Cafe. This game is perfect for a cozy night in. I find myself playing it on nights when I want to keep my brain sharp. It currently shows a four point four out of five stars on the google play store. This mobile game is recommended for ages 12 plus. If you enjoy romantic entanglements and mysteries, this game could be for you.