I found that the game can't continue without restarting if you get into a situation where there are no enemies that can deal damage, and you can't play any cards, you can declare a salemate to end the level without getting any rewards.
What was the reason for inability to play cards? Did you run out of resource required to pay?
Generally, I consider such situation a loss. The reason game does not force player to lose is that it is hard to detect whether he stalls intentionally or is really unable to play cards.
Maybe I could add some kind of “impending doom” counter, which increases by 1 when player ends turn without any change. But it seems that for player pressing a single “refresh / restart” button is actually more convenient than pressing “end turn” many times, waiting for counter to reach the threshold?
As for making a such situation a “draw” rather than a player’s loss: since player has already run out of resource, starting next battle without additional rewards will probably result in a loss anyway?
Maybe you have example of game where the player has a chance to successfully continue after a stalemate. If so, please tell about it.
I took this image when I got softlocked, and I forgot I could play burning cards (not that it would help), and I had no willpower to play any cards that could damage the chest.
Also, the game The Ouroboros King has a stalemate mechanic, where if nobody can make a move, you get to continue, but you don't get a reward.
Yes, it was as I suspected. The problem is: suppose game would send you to the next stage while skipping rewards. You will start next stage with zero willpower and die, so it does not seem helpful.
Theoretically, there could be much more rare situations where stalemate is not caused by lack of resources. For example, it may happen that the only enemy left in Lava Pit encounter is Salmander Flameraiser, but all attack cards are already exhausted by it. So neither side can deal damage despite hero being able to play cards.
Still, detecting such a situation is quite tricky. How should the game know if the player is stalemated vs intentionally stalling? I will think about this problem some more. If you have specific suggestions, please share them.