Hey there!
Twitter is hard to give a good in depth reply to just about anything.
Current code is working in that concept. That there is a key press they player can redefine if they want, but there's also something to be said for having a comfortable default key layout. For example the age old ESDF vs WASD. As a staunch ESDFer I want to make that default, I just know better. :)
That said. You're right on me over thinking it for now. I tend to get lost on such things easily, and dwell on details that don't deliver for the amount of time I spend on them, often to the point of tanking the project just due to time.
For this the enemy will occupy a neighboring tile.... and indirectly in the middle of typing this I think you just gave me how I'm going to handle it.
So, here's what I'm thinking. Combat commences and in open tiles around the player 1 to 4 enemies might appear. 1-8 if I decide to use diagonals. Fleeing will require a direction because if you're surrounded you need to fight your way out. Moving away will break all combat to start, but this also could give me that partial end state where you get XP for killing a monster, if not all of them, but gold for finishing the fight.
It also keeps me closer to the path I want which is to see the enemies before they appear. I have ideas for spells like ESP and Clairvoiance that let you see things in dark spaces, or other parts of the map based on where enemies are.
Thanks!