Knights In Tight Spaces lets you have knock-down, drag-out fights in a gritty fantasy world. As the Hustler, you'll routinely face impossible odds, outnumbered and overwhelmed at every turn. It will take every dirty trick you know to come out on top - including some you may not have learned yet.

Like many roguelikes, KITS is the kind of game where mistakes add up quickly. While some runs can crumble due to bad luck, you're much more likely to make it to the end if you keep these tips in mind as you play.

8 Skip New Cards If There's Nothing You Need

It's always tempting to pick a new card for your deck, and Knights In Tight Spaces is very generous - almost too generous, in fact. You'll get an opportunity to draft a new card after almost every fight, but that doesn't mean you should take it.

Unless one of the offered cards really adds something to your deck - extra Move or Block that you're lacking, for example, or more powerful attack options that work well with your existing ones - it's often smarter to skip the draft entirely by clicking the button in the lower-right corner of the screen.

As deck-building veterans know, a smaller deck is more consistent, letting you get the cards you want faster and more reliably. It's very hard to get an unwanted card out of your deck in KITS, so only take the cards you definitely want.

7 Beware Of Head Slam's Turn Effect

One of the most powerful early cards available is Head Slam, which you'll often see in the default deck for the Brawler Archetype. It ends your Combo, but deals a large amount of damage as long as there's a wall or obstacle to smash your hapless opponent's noggin against.

The other effect of Head Slam is easy to miss, though; if the enemy survives, they'll turn to face the attacking character. That means that if Head Slam doesn't finish off its target, or you don't have a way to evade, they're going to hit you back at the end of the turn!

6 Stick With Bad Runs Until The End

If a run is going poorly, resist the urge to go back to the Main Menu and start over. If you overwrite your existing run by starting a new campaign, you don't get any of the XP that you earned!

XP is only paid out at the end of a run, whether it's in victory or defeat. That means that, even if things are looking grim, you should fight to the bitter end. When you finally succumb to your enemies, you'll likely level up your profile, unlocking new cards and maybe even classes to use on the next attempt.

5 Don't Move If You Don't Have To

Positioning is key in Knights In Tight Spaces, but there's always a cost to moving. Outside of a few very rare cards, most Move effects cause you to lose Combo equal to the number of spaces moved. Moving around too much, therefore, can limit your options and prevent you from using attacks like Palm Strike or Choke Slam at critical moments.

Most Move cards also have a Momentum cost, so using them means you won't have as many opportunities to Attack or Block.

In general, the only reasons you should move are:

• To set up an optimal attack.
• To avoid an incoming attack.

When setting up an optimal attack, remember that there's no bonus for overkill. If a character can take out an enemy on their own, there's no need to move an ally into position for a Support Attack. In those circumstances, you don't need to maximize damage - just do enough to get your opponents' HP to zero.

4 Counterattacks Happen Before Support Attacks

Getting hit by a Counter or Auto-Attack is one of the easiest ways in the game to take unexpected damage. Getting around these retaliatory strikes means pre-empting them, usually by stunning or knocking down the enemy, or defeating them outright before they have a chance to Counter.

Be especially careful when setting up a Support Attack against an enemy with Counter. If you have enough damage to defeat them between your attackers, they'll still retaliate against each attacker until they die. For example, if you're attacking an enemy with 14 HP and a Counter with a 12-damage attack and a Support, here's how it will resolve:

1. Your first character hits the enemy for 12 damage.
2. The enemy strikes back at your first character.
3. Your second character makes their Support Attack, finishing the enemy.

If the Support Attack hadn't been lethal, the enemy would have Countered the Support Attack, too!

3 Standing On Knocked-Down Enemies Hurts You

Knocking down enemies is a great way to neutralize them, if only temporarily. Brawlers are especially good for this, thanks to their access to unarmed throws. While enemies on the ground can't be targeted by most attacks, they also can't do anything but lie there until the next turn.

Characters can stand on the same space as a character that's knocked down, preventing them from standing up. This can keep enemies down longer, but the character standing on the prone foe will take five damage. Keep this in mind if you send one of your teammates to pin down an enemy; or better yet, try to shift one of the fallen foe's allies on top of them instead!

2 Protect The Party Leader At All Costs

Starting in Chapter One, you can recruit up to two additional party members at Taverns. Having extra characters can broaden your deck's capabilities, and also gives you more overall Momentum.

If a hired ally dies, they can be resurrected at a Necromancer, but if the Hustler - the main character and leader of the party - falls in battle, the run automatically ends in failure. For this reason, it's worth being a bit more cautious when it comes to the Hustler's safety. If it comes down to taking damage on your leader or an ally, it's better to save your leader and sacrifice the ally.

1 Draft Your Deck

Once you've gotten the hang of the game over the course of a few runs, the best thing that you can do to up your game is stop using the default decks for each Archetype. You'll get a much more consistent, efficient deck by drafting your own at the start of a new campaign.

When you select the difficulty for Story Mode, notice the checkbox at the top of the list that says "Draft Deck." If it's ticked, then you'll get to choose cards from groups of three until you have a starting deck for your selected character class. Be sure to have a little bit of Movement, Attack, and maybe a Block or two if you can get it.

Also try to focus on cards that match your Archetype's strengths; a Swordsman can use kicks, for example, but deals much more damage with weapon attacks, given the choice.