In development since 1993, TAROTICA VOO DOO is a Japanese ESCAPE ROOM adventure with fully hand-drawn animation (with a mouse!). Despite its simple controls (directional keys and spacebar only), the game overturns the modern logic for how a video game plays. Much like you are picking up a game for the first time again, you will have to rediscover the basics, and apply them to the game's deceivingly intuitive puzzles and rhythmical combat.
You, equipped with nothing but a sword and shield, climb the cliff to a haunted mansion on a hill. A plane is en route to crash-land into the mansion, and you are the only hope to save the family inside. Unfortunately, today happens to be the family's memorial dinner day, and evacuation before they have had their fill is not an option. What's more, there is a horde of monsters and obstacles in between you and getting the family to safety. Get in, navigate the mansion's bizarre challenges, make dinner, and save the day.
The main window is a top-down map view of the mansion, where you can move the cursor to search for and select objects in your current room. New areas reveal themselves as you unlock doors and explore. In the upper-right is a zoomed-in view of objects that you interact with and enemies that you fight. Your character is displayed in the bottom-right, where you can transition between defense and attack position. You will be challenged repeatedly by the battles and likely die, but fortunately you can quickly retry without losing progress as many times as you would like. There are no upgrades or leveling up, so conquering the challenges is entirely up to your own wit and persistence.