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Escape the Citadel
A solo labyrinth game about distance, pressure, and bad decisions.
What is this game?
Escape the Citadel is a minimalist solo exploration game about getting lost, doubling back, and pushing your luck. You start at the Citadel’s heart and carve your own maze outward, revealing spaces, surviving patrols, and trying to stay ahead of discovery for as long as you can.
How do you play?
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Using only a pen, paper, and a six-sided die, you can sit down and play anywhere, at any time.
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Start at the centre, the Citadel, then take Steps outward, revealing a labyrinth as you go.
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As you enter each Space, roll the die to discover what lies there. It could be a dead end with forgotten loot, a Shrine offering divine protection, or a searching Patrol after your blood.
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Your task is simple. Stay alive for as long as you can and, gods willing, keep ahead of the pursuit. Because when your Steps consume your Lead, you will be caught and taken back.
Where did the game come from
Escape the Citadel began as an experiment in extreme minimalism: a solo game designed to require almost no setup, no components beyond pen and paper, and no reference material beyond a single page. It was built around procedural generation and exploration, with the aim of seeing how much structure, tension, and meaning could emerge from very few rules.
During development, the most unexpected result was the strength of the emergent narrative. Simple decisions compound into pressure, retreat, recovery, and perseverance. The game became less about optimisation and more about endurance.
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