7. How to Play

7.1 Core Play Cycle

Yu Roguelike is a turn-based dungeon crawler. Choose your destination from the selection screen, challenge the dungeon, and aim for the staircase on the lowest floor. The map layout and enemy placement change every run, so each attempt offers a fresh route and encounter table.

The top of the selection screen presents Standard, Block Dimension, MiniExp, Achievements & Statistics, and Tools tabs. Use the Achievements & Statistics tab to review cleared dungeons, defeat counts, and other tracked milestones before you set out again. For a full layout overview, see 6. Screen Layout & Controls.

When you enter a dungeon with a recommended level of 300 or higher the Satiety system activates. The gauge decreases each time you act. Entering at least five levels above the recommendation keeps the system suppressed, so the gauge stays hidden and does not drain. While satiety is at least 1, automatic recovery at the start of a turn only triggers when your HP is below 70% and your satiety is 20 or higher. The gauge is consumed before HP is healed. At 0 satiety you take hunger damage every turn, based on your maximum HP. Prepare food or switch potions to the “Eat” action to stay safe.

1. Select a difficulty, world, and dungeon on the selection screen, then review the recommended level and features on the detail card.
2. Press Enter Dungeon to begin. You move one tile at a time and attack adjacent enemies.
3. Open treasure chests and watch out for hazards such as poison and ice tiles while heading for the stairs.
4. Advance to the next floor at the staircase. Reaching the final floor automatically returns you to the selection screen with fully restored HP.
5. All stats and items are saved automatically and carry over to your next run.

7.2 Control Cheat Sheet

Esc and number-key shortcuts are not implemented in the current version. Close modals with the “×” button in the corner.

See Chapter 6: Screen Layout & Controls for a full UI map.

7.3 Dungeon Progression

Preparation

• Use the status card at the bottom of the selection screen to check your current level, HP, attack, defence, and stored experience.
• The dungeon detail card lists the recommended level and damage multiplier. When visiting a new area, start with dungeons close to your level.
• Your game is saved automatically, so any items or upgrades earned in previous runs remain available.

Exploration

1. Players and enemies act in turns. Move one tile at a time—stepping into an enemy’s tile automatically attacks it.
2. If you challenge a dungeon that is at least five levels below your own, environmental hazards do not trigger: poison, ice, bomb, conveyor, one-way, vertical-only, and horizontal-only tiles all behave like safe tiles. Within four levels, hazards become active: poison inflicts damage over time, ice makes you slide, and bomb tiles explode for a percentage of max HP (100% / 80% / 50% / 25% / 10% depending on the level gap, with 0% when you exceed the recommendation by five levels).
3. Treasure chests contain recovery items or permanent stat boosters. All loot is logged in the message history.
4. Click or tap an enemy to see detailed information, including estimated damage dealt and taken.
5. In dungeons with a recommended level of 300 or higher, satiety drops by 1 per turn. At 0 you take hunger damage equal to 10% of your max HP each turn, so replenish your gauge once it falls below 30%. If you exceed the recommendation by five or more levels, the satiety system is suppressed and neither drain nor hunger damage occurs.

Interactive Tools & the God Console

The Interactive and God Console buttons on the toolbar only appear under specific circumstances. You can review their placement in Section 6.5: Exploration Toolbar; the notes below focus on when to expect them and how to use them effectively.

• Interactive: Always visible during sandbox runs. In standard dungeons it unlocks when your player level is 1026 or higher and at least 100 levels above the recommendation. Opening the panel records an extra entry in the sandbox session statistics.
• God Console: Appears after you clear the NESTED 99999999 dungeon and awaken Anos-level godhood. It is only shown while the game view is active, and the log confirms the permanent unlock the first time it becomes available.

The interactive panel lets you toggle God Mode (invulnerability) and No Clip (phase through walls), fully heal HP/SP/satiety, edit stats directly, and place tiles, stairs, or domain crystals instantly. The God Console executes scripts against the supplied context object so you can modify the player or UI, and its Enter Sandbox Mode control flips the same interactive toggle. Combine both tools when testing high-level content or building mods—you can safely stage scenarios and adjust data without leaving the run.

Treasure Events and Golden Chests

Standard chests spawn randomly on each floor but stop appearing once you are five levels above the recommendation, ensuring runs do not become overly safe. Eight percent of chests are promoted to Golden Chests, which trigger a timing mini-game when opened. The four chests around the boss room use the same promotion rate.

When a Golden Chest appears, the log announces “It’s a Golden Chest! Time your stop bar.” Opening the chest launches a dedicated modal.

The timing bar sends a pointer back and forth across the lane—roughly 1.35 lane widths per second. Stopping the pointer within ±10% of the centre counts as a success. The closer you are to the edges when you fail, the higher the explosion damage shown in the preview.

• PC: Click the Stop button or press Space / Enter to freeze the pointer.
• Mobile / Tablet: Tap the Stop button or tap the bar itself.
• The enemy turn pauses during the mini-game and resumes after the result.

Success opens the chest safely. You either receive a rare reward (50% chance) or an enhanced version of the normal chest loot (50%). Failure causes an explosion dealing damage based on effective max HP × 0.5. If the dungeon’s recommended level exceeds your own, the damage increases by 10% per level gap. If you are higher, it decreases by 8% per level (to a minimum of 25%). Raising your level therefore reduces the risk. Domain crystal effects such as shields or damage inversion can nullify the blast or convert it into healing.

Poison tiles deal 10% of your max HP when the dungeon matches your level and scale by ×1.5 per level gap in the enemy’s favour (e.g., 15% at a one-level deficit, 22.5% at two levels). Conveyor tiles move you one tile in the arrow direction. One-way tiles block movement against the arrow, while vertical-only / horizontal-only tiles restrict movement to that axis. All of these hazards are disabled when you exceed the recommendation by five levels.

Return

• Reaching the final floor shows the message “Dungeon cleared!” and returns you to the selection screen with fully restored HP.
• At the end of a run, a result overlay summarises your Level (Start → End ±Δ), Total EXP Gained, Total Damage Taken, and Items Used. If you were defeated, the cause is displayed at the top.
• Use Return to Base to go back to the selection screen. When the requirements are met, a Retry button appears so you can jump back into the same dungeon. The Esc key performs the same action as Return to Base. You can also press Enter / Space while the button is focused.
• Pressing Return on the toolbar ends the expedition early and takes you back to the selection screen with restored HP.
• If satiety drops below 20%, consider heading back before repeated hunger damage puts you at risk. Switching potions to the Eat action ahead of time is another safe option. When you exceed the recommendation by five or more levels, the system is suppressed so you can explore without hunger pressure.
• On defeat you can restart immediately with the same stats using the Retry button.

All values shown on the result overlay are auto-saved and exported under achievements.stats.core (e.g., total damage taken, total items used). See Section 6.9 for a detailed UI breakdown.

7.4 Combat & Growth Tips

Understanding Your Stats

The status card and modal list your level, HP, attack, defence, and experience. HP at 0 results in a game over, so heal promptly after taking large hits. Attack determines your outgoing damage; defence reduces incoming damage.

Making the Most of Items

Auto-use thresholds can be edited from the status modal. Adjust them to match your risk tolerance—setting a higher HP threshold keeps you topped up, while lower values conserve items for emergencies.

Levelling & SP Management

• Experience is earned from defeating enemies, clearing floors, and offering items. Levelling increases HP, attack, and defence automatically.
• SP powers your skills. Move regularly, finish encounters efficiently, and donate surplus potions to keep the gauge charged.
• Unlock new skills through MiniExp rewards and achievements. Review unlocked skills in the MiniExp tab on the title screen.

7.5 Managing Satiety

• The satiety system stays dormant when you exceed the recommended level by five or more. Plan your route around that threshold if you want to explore without hunger pressure.
• Satiety drains faster when you spend multiple turns in place. Keep moving to balance your consumption.
• Offering food items grants SP and boosts the MiniExp multiplier, but it does not refill satiety—ensure you keep a spare potion for emergencies.
• When satiety falls below 20%, switch your recovery items to the Eat action or plan an early return.
• Satiety values carry over between floors. Use downtime after clearing enemies to refill the gauge.