Warden’s Duty is a turn-based roguelike that makes you the keeper of a packed prison, where the cells hold goblins, rats, dragons and stranger things. Your job is to empty every one, level by level. You can play Warden’s Duty unblocked with just a keyboard, and there’s no dungeon to wander. Each cell is one decision about how to deal with whoever is locked inside, so it’s really a game about managing what you’ve got. Ondřej Žára made it in a week for a 2015 roguelike challenge.
How to Play Warden’s Duty
Press Enter on the intro screen to start. Every level is a grid of cells. Move between them with the arrow keys, W A S D or H J K L. From level 2 on, a mini map in the corner shows where you are.
Step into a cell and its occupant fills the screen, with your options listed below. Against a prisoner, you can usually fight up close, cast a magic missile or shoot your bow. Press a number key to pick an option, and colored gauges preview exactly how each of your stats will change. Press Enter once you’re sure.
Every level opens with a short letter to the warden. From level 3, it ends with a “P.S. They say that…” rumor. Don’t trust them too much. Some are useful, some contradict each other, and some are just jokes.
Your Resources
- Health pays for close combat. Strength training lowers the damage you take.
- Mana pays for spells. Magic affinity makes them cheaper.
- Arrows run out as you shoot. Each bow shot uses one arrow most of the time and two about one time in five. You sometimes find a spare one.
- Gold drops from defeated prisoners and chests, and buys supplies from merchants.
- Experience comes from every prisoner you defeat. The bar fills at 10 total points, then 30, then 70, with each step twice as long as the last. Each level up raises your stats and refills you completely.
Skills max out at 100, and at that point a fight or spell costs only about 30 percent of its normal price.
How the Prison Gets Deeper
Level 1 has a single cell and level 2 has two. Levels 3 through 8 have three cells each, 9 through 11 have six, and from level 13 there are nine or more. Market levels are the exception, with three cells. Prisoners get tougher as you go down, too.
The first four levels hold only prisoners. After that, a cell might also contain a chest, a trap, a magic pool or a merchant. About half of all chests are trapped. Chests and pools offer an Ignore choice that still counts as clearing the cell.
Some levels follow a set pattern:
- Elemental levels (4, 9, 14 and so on): every prisoner shares one element, poison, fire or water. These are where training your resistances really pays off.
- Market levels (5, 12, 19 and so on): three merchants instead of prisoners, a calm break to restock.
Some defeated elemental prisoners give you a single-use breath attack. It hits hard against a foe of a different element but weakly against one that matches.
Merchants and Prices
Merchants each sell one kind of goods. Potions cost 4, 8 or 12 gold for small, medium and large. Mana scrolls and books are 4 and 8. Strength or magic training costs 8, and resistance training for fire, water or poison costs 4. Arrows are the priciest at 12 gold each, which is why they’re worth saving.
Thinking Like a Warden
- Compare every option. The gauges show the real cost, so check them all instead of always fighting up close.
- Plan for the whole level. Spend health on easy prisoners and keep mana and arrows for the tough ones, since every cell must be cleared before you can go deeper.
- Time your level ups. A full refill is the best healing in the game. If your bar is almost full, an expensive fight right before it fills is nearly free.
- Save gold for market levels. Knowing when the next one comes lets you plan purchases.
- Skip risky extras. If you don’t need what a chest or pool might give, ignore it.
- Spread out resistance training. An elemental level picks its element at random, so a little of each resistance beats a lot of one.
Who It Suits and Similar Games
This is a calm thinking game with no reflexes needed, so you can plan as long as you like. It uses text characters and simple colors, has no sound, and needs a keyboard, which makes it a good fit for a laptop or Chromebook in a quiet room. For more, browse the adventure games or try:
- The Great Train Robbery, also by Ondřej Žára, where you plan a heist in advance and then watch it play out.
- Broughlike Dungeon, a turn-based crawl across six tiny floors where you grab gems and earn spells on the way to each exit.
