Once a player dies with terminal illness, the game will be over (hardcore mode). Players will be able to extend their life for a short while, but death is inevitable. With terminal illness, you will suddenly see a constant countdown timer until the player dies. Get three of the worst tarot cards, and the player will contract terminal illness. Fear not, players who make it through the struggle with bad readings are rewarded in later levels, with more powerful attacks/spells and easier pathways. Some readings provide an easy start to the game, while other readings force players into harder, less fair situations. What makes HtA unique is the random tarot-card reading that a player receives at the beginning each new game. “In life we cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand”. Animations are hand drawn using custom in-house rotoscoping techniques as used in classic animation movies (e.g Fire and Ice). Art work inspired by Francisco de Goya paintings (e.g. TinyKeep is a reminder that, when you really think about it, a dungeon is to be avoided or fled, not deliberately sought out.Each character, enemy and backgrounds are painstakingly hand drawn in 2D artwork. If you’re looking for a kill-heavy dungeon slog, go back to Diablo. This is a prison-break, after all.ĭifficult fights are just another reminder of the urgency of your situation. Don’t even try just run as fast as you can. This is no hack-and-slash fest, either early level guards are fairly easy to take out with your sword or by luring them into traps, but bosses are nearly impossible to kill.
![tinykeep cards tinykeep cards](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/278620/ss_929c15a9d2d527f11e867b29444b293500767e48.116x65.jpg)
#Tinykeep cards free
The lack of inventory leaves you free to focus on your escape. Apart from the sword and shield and occasional health potions, there’s no inventory to deal with or worry about beyond collection coins, which can be used at randomly placed fountains to give your character permanent buffs. Starting the game with literally nothing, you’ll need to find a sword and shield, each of which is controlled by a single button, and make your way through various enemies, traps and puzzles to each level’s exit. (Trying the game both with and without camera smoothing available may help, as may playing the game with a controller rather than a mouse and keyboard set-up.)Īpart from the occasionally persnickety camera, though, TinyKeep is a solid rogue-like, pared down to exquisite simplicity. The sudden shifts, spins and even zooms of the camera will also make this a tough recommendation for anyone with motion sickness. The overhead isometric view shifts automatically, which during busier moments sometimes makes it tough to follow the action.
![tinykeep cards tinykeep cards](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/278620/ss_abb9bada68a2d72aa73d799c979ea0b4929a57f4.1920x1080.jpg)
![tinykeep cards tinykeep cards](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1sf-DBbdnL.png)
You Spin Me Right Round, BabyĪs beautifully rendered as TinyKeep is, the graphics do leave something to be desired.
![tinykeep cards tinykeep cards](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/278620/ss_11b4c5d9c9f4742d81d36d67455a1fbccf9953d8.116x65.jpg)
If you’re not, they might run screaming in random directions or even turn on you, their unpredictable behavior presumably caused by too much time in solitary confinement (again, there’s a grimness here despite the cheerful-looking characters). They may help you fight the guards, if you’re lucky. Adding to the immersion are notes left behind by your compatriot Maggie as well as the fact that you occasionally come across other caged prisoners, whom you can free. Especially in its early levels, Pershdal Prison (the dungeon from which you must escape, of course) feels fully realized though the levels are randomized in typical rogue-like fashion, this is a dungeon that actually feels like a dungeon, not a random collection of underground rooms.įrom storage rooms to cages to realistically behaved prison guards, every element seems to have its place. With their oversized heads, tiny bodies and occasionally Sims-like chatter, the characters of TinyKeep belie the grim nature of the game’s setting. Behind the two-button combat controls and charming enemy designs is a fiendishly difficult dungeon escape. It’s deceptively cute and deceptively simplified, but don’t let the minimalism fool you. Phigames’ TinyKeep, successfully Kickstarted in 2013, is the latest in the current wave of action rogue-likes.