Twisted Petal is a post-apocalyptic adventure game, spanning across multiple levels in which you take the role of Skyler, a survivor who must travel across Oregon to find safety. In the world of Twisted Petal, society has been upended by an epidemic of hostile sentient plants. Traveling across Oregon's roadways, you will meet many others on your journey to safety, and you can take a variety of actions that could help or harm them, to your benefit or detriment. The actions you take, however, may have consequences later down the line. The main gameplay loop takes you through levels in which you must fight off waves of enemies for increasing amounts of time. Subsequent levels introduce new kinds of enemies with different abilities and stats. The game features multiple weapons that can be combined into unique builds. Weapons can be obtained from defeating enemies and story events, and each one functions vastly differently from the other. Twisted Petal also has a unique story, with dialogue events after each level following your unique journey. The actions you take will often come with real gameplay effects as you continue to reach new areas and new people. The game also includes a journal, which keeps track of enemies defeated, items collected, the various weapons you have encountered, and even a summary of your performance in each level.