u/azura26

Platform(s): PC, in an internet browser (likely Shockwave or Flash). Possibly played on a kids'/portal gaming site (something in the vein of Yahooligans-era sites, maybe FunIsland or similar).

Genre: Top-down 2D turn-based strategy puzzle

Estimated year of release: Early-to-mid 2000s, though the visual style feels like it could be older (comparable to Chip's Challenge on Windows 95)- simple pixel sprites, basic shading, mostly white/light-colored tile maps.

Notable characters: You start with a set number of each of three unit types: a warrior/knight (armor, sword, maybe shield), a priest/wizard (robes, staff), and a robber/thief. I think it might have been 3 of each type. The knight looked grey-ish, the wizard/priest blue-ish.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Keyboard/arrow-key control only. Pressing one arrow key moves ALL of your units simultaneously one step in that direction, and then every enemy on the board also moves once, according to its own individual movement pattern.

Enemies have varied behaviors tied to your input direction, e.g., one type moves opposite to your keypress, another moves double the distance, another moves toward the nearest player unit, another stays still, etc. Enemies included things like skeletons, spiders, and ghosts. Rock-paper-scissors-style unit interactions: each player unit type can defeat certain enemies but is killed by others.

The thief/robber can open doors that block the warrior and priest. The priest can clear lakes/water tiles, which are impassable/lethal to the warrior and thief. Regular wall/block obstacles work like a traditional maze.

Units and obstacles block movement, which you can use tactically like maneuvering a single unit (like the thief) to the front of the group, or using blockers to manipulate where enemies end up moving.

Power-ups/upgrades scattered on the map or found in chests: picking one up (a sword) turns a priest into a hybrid "wizard-warrior" type and a thief into a hybrid "thief-warrior" type; a second sword upgrade turns them into full warriors. There also seemed to be an archer-type upgrade that could instantly kill enemies in a straight line (rook-move) from its position. Two other item types could turn any unit into a priest or into a thief/robber.

Goal of each level: get your units from a starting castle/door/portal to an end castle/portal, navigating around obstacles and enemies.

At the end of a level, hybrid units revert to their base type, and only a set number (3?) of each base unit type carry over to the next level; archers and "generic person" units give bonus points but don't carry over.

Other details: Almost no GUI beyond the map itself. The gameplay loop was very much "hit an arrow key, then pause and think about your next move while your units stare down an enemy in front of them." The wizard/priest getting fully upgraded felt like a big power spike ("this thing can destroy anything now").

I've found two separate old r/tipofmyjoystick posts from other users describing what seems to be the exact same game, so I know I'm not misremembering the core mechanic, just hoping someone recognizes the specific title!

Platform(s): PC, in an internet browser (likely Shockwave or Flash). Possibly played on a kids'/portal gaming site (something in the vein of Yahooligans-era sites, maybe FunIsland or similar).

Genre: Top-down 2D turn-based strategy puzzle

Estimated year of release: Early-to-mid 2000s, though the visual style feels like it could be older (comparable to Chip's Challenge on Windows 95)- simple pixel sprites, basic shading, mostly white/light-colored tile maps.

Notable characters: You start with a set number of each of three unit types: a warrior/knight (armor, sword, maybe shield), a priest/wizard (robes, staff), and a robber/thief. I think it might have been 3 of each type. The knight looked grey-ish, the wizard/priest blue-ish.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Keyboard/arrow-key control only. Pressing one arrow key moves ALL of your units simultaneously one step in that direction, and then every enemy on the board also moves once, according to its own individual movement pattern.

Enemies have varied behaviors tied to your input direction, e.g., one type moves opposite to your keypress, another moves double the distance, another moves toward the nearest player unit, another stays still, etc. Enemies included things like skeletons, spiders, and ghosts. Rock-paper-scissors-style unit interactions: each player unit type can defeat certain enemies but is killed by others.

The thief/robber can open doors that block the warrior and priest. The priest can clear lakes/water tiles, which are impassable/lethal to the warrior and thief. Regular wall/block obstacles work like a traditional maze.

Units and obstacles block movement, which you can use tactically like maneuvering a single unit (like the thief) to the front of the group, or using blockers to manipulate where enemies end up moving.

Power-ups/upgrades scattered on the map or found in chests: picking one up (a sword) turns a priest into a hybrid "wizard-warrior" type and a thief into a hybrid "thief-warrior" type; a second sword upgrade turns them into full warriors. There also seemed to be an archer-type upgrade that could instantly kill enemies in a straight line (rook-move) from its position. Two other item types could turn any unit into a priest or into a thief/robber.

Goal of each level: get your units from a starting castle/door/portal to an end castle/portal, navigating around obstacles and enemies.

At the end of a level, hybrid units revert to their base type, and only a set number (3?) of each base unit type carry over to the next level; archers and "generic person" units give bonus points but don't carry over.

Other details: Almost no GUI beyond the map itself. The gameplay loop was very much "hit an arrow key, then pause and think about your next move while your units stare down an enemy in front of them." The wizard/priest getting fully upgraded felt like a big power spike ("this thing can destroy anything now").

I've found two separate old r/tipofmyjoystick posts from other users describing what seems to be the exact same game, so I know I'm not misremembering the core mechanic, just hoping someone recognizes the specific title!