Forward: Escape the Fold is a dungeon adventure where you traverse by selecting a path through a grid of cards. Play is making choices about which cards to land on, that either provide health or enemy counters. It stands out for the challenge to balance your protections with fighting enough monsters to gain the rewards they drop.

To start you choose a character with specific abilities and then set out on a run. Each turn you select one of the three next cards in the grid, deciding to opt for money, health, armour or a battle. You need to think ahead as well as what's currently confronting you.

As you progress (and fail and try again) you learn how to make the best decisions. In this way, you crawl to the end of each level to then combine objects found in chests, and markets and bolster your abilities. There are over 100 Item cards to find that substantially alter your abilities.

The result is a game that's simple to get started and surprisingly deep. It's the interesting and unexpected combination of abilities and cards that creates opportunities for complex strategies. As you gain more equipment you can build heroes that can capitalise on certain cards to your benefit. It becomes a game about using your instincts and knowledge to fight through the gruelling beasts that populate the underworld.