How to play Dede Korkut: rules, tales and tips

How do you play Dede Korkut?

Every turn has two parts:

1. You move the hero one square up, down, right or left, or you choose Wait.
2. Then everyone on the board makes one move by their own rule: guards take a step along their patrol or turn, chasers come closer, bulls charge, bridges open and close.

You cannot move diagonally. You cannot step onto a wall, water, a post, a closed bridge, or a square where a guard or an animal is standing; such a move simply does not count. What everyone does is fixed: if you make the same moves, the same thing happens every time.

Your aim is to reach the glowing place, the goal. In some scenes the goal is locked: first you must visit every ringed spot (someone to rescue, a key, a bey), tire out the bull or shut the lion in the cage. When you reach the goal with every condition met, the scene ends at once; nobody moves after that step.

Controls

• Walk: tap the side of the hero you want to go to, or swipe in that direction. On a keyboard, the arrow keys or W A S D.
• Wait: the Wait button, or tap the hero. On a keyboard, Space, Enter or the full stop key.
• Undo: takes back the last step, with no limit. On a keyboard, Z or Backspace.
• Restart: resets the scene. On a keyboard, R.
• Hint: shows the next steps. On a keyboard, H.
• Menu: opens the break screen. On a keyboard, Esc.

The What is what? button explains everything on that board with a picture and a short sentence. When something new appears for the first time, Dede Korkut explains it himself in a speech bubble.

Red and orange squares, getting caught

Before every step the game paints the danger on the board. The colours show what things will look like after you take your step and everyone else makes their move:

• Red square: if you are there at the end of this step, you get caught. Where a guard will look, the square a guard or Tepegöz is about to step onto, the path of a charging bull, the square a chaser will reach and the squares Tepegöz will feel are all red.
• Orange square: only appears in the bard disguise scenes. If you walk there you are seen; but if you are already there and choose Wait, you are safe.

Getting caught does not end the game: after a short warning that step is taken back and you keep thinking from where you were. There are no lives, no energy and no timer; only your times caught are counted in the statistics. If you end up somewhere you cannot move at all, the game tells you: undo a few steps and try another way.

The tales and their skills

Each tale brings a new rule to the board; in later tales what you have learned comes together:

1. Boğaç Han: the bull and the posts. You tire the bull by making it crash into posts; the first guards appear in the last scene.
2. Kazan's Camp: ringed spots (the water, the wolf and the dog Kazan asks for the way), patrolling and turning guards, bushes.
3. Bamsı Beyrek: the bard disguise. Don't walk while they are looking at you; Wait.
4. Burla Hatun: the galloping horse; it slides on without stopping until it reaches something.
5. Deli Dumrul: bridges that open and close, and the Dark Rider, who comes closer every second step.
6. Kan Turalı: three trials: a bull, a lion to lure into the cage and a bull camel. In the last scene you play as Selcen Hatun.
7. Yigenek: a castle, keys, bushes and the castle dog, which disguises don't fool.
8. Basat and Tepegöz: the blind giant, the ram's fleece and the sheep.
9. Emren: the enemy rider, who comes closer every second step; in scene 3 you slide on horseback again.
10. Seğrek: night; torches burn and guards see 3 squares away.
11. Kazan Set Free: the bard disguise again, this time in a busier castle and with the castle dog.
12. The Oghuz Unite: find the scattered beys one by one; the bull, bridges, the horse and the enemy rider all together.

How do guards, animals and chasers move?

• Guard: walks back and forth along his patrol and sees 2 squares in the direction he faces. A wall, a post or someone standing in between blocks his view. Stepping onto the square a guard is about to move to also gets you caught.
• Turning guard: never moves from his spot, but looks a different way every step. Watch his order and pass while his back is turned.
• Night: in Seğrek's tale guards see 3 squares away.
• Bush: while you are inside, guards and the bull cannot see you. But chasers still come after you, and the square a guard is about to move to is still dangerous.
• Bull: if it sees you in the same row or column with nothing in between, it shouts '!'. On the next step it charges straight that way until it hits something; if you are in its path, you get caught. If it crashes into a post it gets tired and stays dazed for 2 steps; once it reaches the number of crashes needed it kneels and never gets up again. If it hits a wall or another obstacle, it just stops. Kan Turalı's bull camel charges the same way.
• Chasers: come towards you along the shortest path. The lion comes one square closer every step (every second step in Kan Turalı's scene 3). The Dark Rider, the castle dog and the enemy rider come closer every second step. The castle dog is not fooled by the bard disguise. If a chaser reaches your square, you get caught; if it is already right next to you, it catches you on its next move.
• Cage: if the lion steps into the cage while following you, the door shuts and it stays there. In Kan Turalı's scene 2 the goal only opens once the lion is in the cage.
• Tepegöz: is blind, walks his own path and feels the 4 squares next to him with his hand. If you have taken the ram's fleece and you are next to a sheep or on the same square as one, he thinks you are a sheep. The sheep walk back and forth along their own paths; you can step onto them.
• Bridge: is open for 2 steps of a 4-step cycle. You can only step onto a bridge whose planks are laid, and you cannot Wait on a bridge that is about to close. Water can never be crossed.
• Horse: in the horseback scenes (Burla Hatun, Emren's scene 3, scene 3 of The Oghuz Unite) the horse slides on without stopping until it reaches an obstacle, a ringed spot or the goal.

Bard's path, stars and Epic points

Above every scene you see Bard's path: the number of steps in the shortest solution of that scene. It is between 7 and 26 steps depending on the scene. Wait also counts as a step; steps you undo do not count, so trying things out and undoing them never costs you a star.

• 3 stars: finish in at most Bard's path + 2 steps.
• 2 stars: finish in at most Bard's path + 6 + a third of Bard's path (rounded down). For example, if Bard's path is 18, up to 30 steps.
• 1 star: just finish the scene.

In a scene where you used a hint you get at most 2 stars. The 48 scenes hold 144 stars in total.

You can score at most 300 points in a scene. Every step beyond Bard's path costs 10 points and a hint costs 50; the score never drops below 100. The sum of your best score in every scene is your Epic points; the maximum is 14,400 and it goes to the leaderboard.

Hints, unlocking and the story

A Hint draws the next 3 steps of the shortest solution from where you stand as golden footprints on the board. You get 1 free hint in every tale; after that, if you like, you can watch a short ad for another. That is always your choice. If you are in a position with no way out, the hint shows no path and tells you to undo a few steps.

Unlocking: finishing a scene opens the next scene of the same tale. Finishing the first scene of a tale also opens the first scene of the next tale, so you can leave a tale you are stuck on and move ahead. On the Tales screen you see the four scenes of every tale and their stars.

Story: Dede Korkut opens every tale with illustrated panels, continues the story before scene 4 and tells the ending when the tale is done; after the 12th tale comes the finale. In these tales the mind wins, not the sword; battle and fighting scenes are not shown.

Solving tactics

• Look at the red squares before you step. If the square you want is red, Wait one step; once the patrol moves on, the way often opens.
• Watch a guard's patrol for a few steps. Every guard repeats the same route; find the moment his back is turned.
• To tire the bull, keep a post behind you. When the bull shouts '!', step aside and let the charging bull crash into the post.
• Use the dazed bull's 2-step break to change position.
• Keep a chaser busy by leading it around an obstacle; it is easy to gain ground on the ones that move every second step.
• In horseback scenes, think about the obstacle beyond the square where you want to stop; ringed spots stop the horse too.
• At a bridge, Wait on the bank and cross when the planks are laid. Don't plan to stand on the bridge.
• If you are stuck, Undo has no limit: experimenting does not hurt your stars, only the steps left at the end count.

Common mistakes

• Staying put when the bull shouts '!': '!' means the bull will charge that way on the next step. Get out of that row or column right away.
• Stepping next to a chaser: a lion or rider standing next to you catches you on its next move. Always keep some distance.
• Walking in front of a watching guard while in bard disguise: the disguise only works when you stand still. Wait on the orange square and walk once the guard turns his head.
• Waiting on a bridge that is about to close: you must be across before it closes; Wait is not accepted on a bridge that is about to close.
• Rushing to the goal before visiting every ringed spot: reaching a locked goal does not end the scene. Collect the items and the people to rescue first.
• Thinking you are completely safe in a bush: the bush hides you from guards and the bull, but chasers still come and the square a guard is about to move to is still dangerous.
• Passing Tepegöz without the fleece: if you stop on a square next to Tepegöz without the ram's fleece, or with no sheep beside you, he finds you with his hand.