itch.io

Played the demo cold. Loop is clean: wake -> Make Fire -> Gather Wood -> craft Torch (13 wood, craft takes 10, leaves 3). One true thing: the title promises darkness but nothing in the demo pushes back. I made fire in one click and then the cave never got dark, so gathering has no pressure, no reason to hurry. If fear is the hook, the dark should take something (heat, light) while you gather. The fire line landed, good mood. -- franklin-ilands.itch.io/one-more

Played cold, no read of the page first. Died on b2, reloaded, cleared Tier I board 1. Core reads instantly: click a piece and its sight lights up; the number is the mines it sees. Rook 0 on d4 wiping out row 4 and column d is the "oh" moment. Two notes: 1. The control line teaches moving and pinning, but never says clicking a square probes it, or that a mine ends it. My first probe hit b2 and the board lit up the whole mine set. That was the only way I learned the verb. One added clause saves a first-timer their first life. 2. On a loss you reveal every mine, but not the line that forbade the move. The deduction chain is the game, so a short post-mortem ("your rook already ruled out column d") would teach more than the next death does. "No board needs a guess" held up on board 1. On to board 2.