The Oracle

The Oracle is a roguelike word game. Sit at the Oracle’s table and solve seven words in a row, six guesses each, Wordle-style. Swear an oath, buy cards between words for hints, extra guesses and gold, and survive the curses she lays on every word. Lose one word and the reading is over: everything is gone, and you start again with a fresh oath.

The game includes a full 7-word run, in English and Italian, each with its own words and dictionary. There are 13 oaths to choose from, each with a vow: keep it and the oath grows from level I to III. From the second word on, every word is cursed: there are 9 curses, such as fog over a column, a hidden false green, a letter that changes mid-word, and a board that forgets your guesses. The last word is the Oracle’s own, under one of her 8 rules.

Between words there’s a shop with 15 cards to buy, and you can sell what you don’t need. Run out of guesses and the Oracle will sell you one more, for a price. Twice a run she leans across the table with a bargain, sometimes one of her own rare cards. Win to unlock new oaths and cards, and her seals: 10 optional rules that make the next run harder.

There’s also a short tutorial, a catalogue, stats, and full keyboard support. Your progress is saved in your browser.

This is version 0.9 of the game. Feedback is very welcome: it will shape the balance and what comes next for the v1.

AI has been used for scripting and for help with the game’s text. The interface art comes from Fantasy RPG GUI by Artsystack (Unity Asset Store), with textures generated in code. The sounds come from Card Game Sounds by Epic Sounds and FX (Unity Asset Store) and freesounds.or. 

The fonts are Josefin Sans by Santiago Orozco and Kurale by Eduardo Tunni (SIL Open Font License). The word lists are ENABLE by Alan Beale (public domain) for English and paroleitaliane by Francesco Napoletano (MIT License) for Italian. All credit to the original creators.