It's hard to tell what's going on, I was totally lost at first. At some point I noticed the three tiles you had pointed out in the icon and I figured out that they are the tiles that damage you. Once I figured that out, I was able to enjoy it. However, occasionally there were times when there wasn't a possible path I could take without taking damage.
The two primary things this game needs is a brief explanation screen and a system to make sure that a path is always possible.