Tricky Tale

Tricky Tale is a puzzle adventure where every step is a decision, and the decision is arithmetic. There is no attack button. You move one tile at a time across a floor of corridors and chambers, and a fight starts the moment you walk into a monster. The fight resolves instantly, and what matters is not whether you can win it but whether you can afford it: every encounter has a price in health, and every floor ends with a boss you cannot skip. Fight the wrong enemy and you will reach that boss with nothing left. Fight too few and you will never find the key you need for the door in your way. That is the whole game, and it is a real one. The map is the puzzle. Keys open specific doors, and a door might hide a vault worth the key you spent on it, or nothing but the long way round. Potions are worth more the later you drink them. A floor you barely survive leaves you starting the next one…