Welcome to my walkthrough to Adventure to fate: Quest to the core. This game is the first installment in the Adventure to fate series, and accessibility was not taken into consideration then. It's possible to beat the game by brute forcing and lot's of trial and error, but it is very frustrating. This is why I tried to write a guide on how the dungeon floors are set up and how to solve them.
This guide is not just a step-by-step walkthrough, but it tries to explain the layout of each floor so that the game gets a bit more immersive. I don't know how much I succeded with this, it might also just be unnecessarily confusing.
I hope I could help at least a little bit.
Note: I wrote this about a year ago and stopped on the path of fate for some reason. But since the already covered floors are most of the game, I thought I'd release it anyways. Maybe I will add the final sections when I have enough time, but I can't say for sure. As far as I remember, the rest of the game is not that hard to figure out, the difficulty shifts to very hard battles instead and those are accessible.

Movement

The world of Quest to the core is split into many dungeon floors. Your task is to climb down the dungeon to the deepest floor. This is done by finding stairways that lead downwards. Each floor consists of a five times five grid of fields you can walk on. The fields are numbered from 0 to 24. Field 0 is in the top left corner, field 24 is in the bottom right corner. The topmost row  consists of fields 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. The next row consists of 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The next one is 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. Then there is 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. The bottom row consists of 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. You can only move one field at a time. You do this by double tapping the field you wish to go to. This only works if your character is on an adjacent field. So, you can go from 1 to 2, but not from 4 to 5. Many fields are blocked by walls. You can't walk on those squares. There are also trap fields that hurt you and portal squares which send you to another, linked square. Every step on your way has a chance to start a battle. In this case, the battle screen will appear. Unfortunately, that screen only covers the map visually, but voice over can still see the field numbers underneath. That means, while working with the battle screen, you can ignore the square numbers that are announced.

Save floors

Every fifth floor is a save floor. You can't be attacked here. Every save floor has a number of interesting squares besides the stairs leading up and down:
Temple: Heals you for gold.
Shop: Here you can buy or sell weapons, armor and potions.
Portal: This special portal can warp you to the deepest dungeon floor you've reached so far. It'll bring you to the stairs square that  brought you down to this floor.

The Castle

The castle has three horizontal corridors with one step width each and in the center a vertical corridor to pass between them. You start at 22, that is the bottom corridor, where the vertical one begins. The bottom corridor has the temple at 22 and the game exit portal at 20. From 22, you can move upwards to 17 and then to 12, to enter the central horizontal corridor. This one has the shop at 19 and the library at 15. Back at 17, you can move upwards to 7 and then to 2 to enter the top corridor. This one has the portal at 0 and the stairs to dungeon floor 1 at 4.

Dungeon Floor 1

This one is very simple. There is just one path you can take. You start at 4. From here you can go left to 0, then down to 20, then right to 24, then up to 14, then left to 12, the exact center, where the stairway to floor 2 is located.

Dungeon Floor 2

You start at 12. The stairway you've just come down is ringed in by walls on the top, right and bottom sides. So from 12, you can go only left to 10, where the walls open up. From 10 you can go down to 15, which is a dead end. The correct way is to walk around the walls from before. So, from 10, go up to 0, right to 4, down to 24 and left to 22, where the stairway to floor 3 is located.

Dungeon Floor 3

Still very simple. You start at 22. The stairway you want to take is in the exact center again, at 12. But naturally, there are walls surrounding the stairway on three sides, these are the left, the bottom and right sides. The only opening is on the top side. From 22, it doesn't matter which way you take to go around the walls. Either go left to 20, up to 0 and right to 2, or go right to 24, up to 4 and left to 2. From 2, you can pass between the walls. Go down to 7, which, judging by the encounter there, might be a boss room. Then go down again to 12, where you'll find the stairway.

Dungeon Floor 4

This one introduces the key and lock elements. This floor is set up similar to floor 2. You start at 12 again, where you can go only left to 10, like before. Here, the walls open up. From here, you can go down or up. Let's go up first. Go up to 0, then right to 2 and you'll go against a stronger enemy group as usual. The enemies drop a key when defeated. This path is now a dead end, so retrace your steps left to 0, and then all the way down to 20, right to 24, and up to 14, where your key is used. Then it's only two times up to 4, where you can descend to floor 5.

Dungeon Floor 5

This is the final floor of the section. You start at 4. The rightmost vertical line (4, 9, 14, 19, 24) is a corridor with not much in it. The corridor has one exit, which can be reached by going left from 19. 18 is the doorway, so go one more left to 17. Now you are in a large 3x3 room (10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22). To proceed, you'll need a silver key, which is, as far as I know, randomly dropped by the enemies here. You can even get more than one, but it's no use farming for them because they are useless for later doors. When you have collected a key, the door you want to unlock is in the top center of the large room. This means, to unlock it, go upwards from 11. At 6, prepare yourself for a hard battle and go up one more time to 1, where the final boss of the chapter awaits. After defeating him, it's almost done. From 1, left to 0 is a dead end, and right to 2 is the stairway.

Dungeon Floor 6

You are now in a safe floor, the desert encampment. You start at 2. This is a large room where you can walk freely except of four pillars at 6, 8, 16 and 18. There are points of interest on the middle of each map edge and in the center of the map. On the middle of the right edge, on 14, is the healing temple. On the bottom, on 22, is the stairway down to floor 7, left, on 10, is the portal and in the exact center, on 12, is the shop. To reach it, you must go between two of the pillars. When you are finished, continue downwards into the sandy section of the game.

Dungeon Floor 7

This is a huge, empty area with really nothing inside but two ways to continue down. The holes are at 6 and 8. You can walk freely without any walls on this floor. Take the right hole, at 8, first.

Dungeon Floor 8

This is a very small 2x2 area with no openings to the rest of the floor. The square area takes up fields 3, 4, 8 and 9. You arrive at 8. Go up and right to 4, where stronger enemies guard a key. Then return to 8 and climb the rope back up to floor 7. Here, go 2 left to 6 and enter that hole to return to floor 8, this time in the main part. 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and 11 are part of an empty area. Right of those 6 fields is the wall that blocks this area from the smaller one you were before. Now the path gets very narrow. The only opening is from 11 down to 16, and then right to 17. Down, at 22, is only a useless dead end. Instead, go right to 18, where you'll use your key, and then right again to 19. Finally, go down to 24, where you'll find the stairs to floor 9.

Dungeon Floor 9

This floor has a very simple layout that is almost similar to the castle. You start at 24, in the bottom corridor, which stretches from 24 to 20. At 22, there is an opening in the wall, so go up to 17 and then up again to 12 to enter the middle corridor. This one only has three fields, 11, 12 and 13. By battling through the lower corridors, you should have gotten a key at some point, which is dropped randomly. If not, just walk around and kill more enemies. When you've got the key, go up from 12 to unlock the door at 7 and up again to 2. You're now in the top corridor. This one includes 1, 2, 3 and 4. The stairway to floor 10 is at 1.

Dungeon Floor 10

This is quite the same as Floor 9 without the locked door and with opposite direction to proceed. You start in the top corridor at 1. This corridor has fields 1, 2, 3 and 4. From 2, you can go down to 7 and then to 12, the middle corridor. This one, again, is three fields long. These are 11, 12 and 13. From 12, you can walk down to 17 and then to 22. The bottom corridor goes 21 to 23. The stairs to floor 11 are on 23.

Dungeon Floor 11

You've reached the last floor of the desert area. This seems to be a tomb or something similar, because the sandy floor has been replaced by stone again. The next stairway is surrounded by walls on the bottom, left and right sides, so you must enter the only opening on the top. You start at 23 and directly over you is the bottom wall I spoke of earlier. Now you can either surround the wall by going right to 24, up to 4 and left to 2, or you could go left to 20, up to 0 and right to 2. Either way, prepare yourself and go down to 7, where the chapters boss awaits. After the fight, go down to 12, where you'll find the stairs to floor 12.

Dungeon Floor 12

This is the jungle encampment, which is safe again. You start at 12. This floor is very open, except from three bushes at 0, 9 and 18 where you can't walk. The portal is at 24, slightly hidden by the bush at 18. The temple is at 7, directly below the starting field. The shop is at 4, but thanks to the bush at 9, you can only reach it from the left. Finally, the stairway to floor 13 is at 21.

Dungeon Floor 13

From now on, be very careful. This floor introduces the second most annoying element of the game, when you try to learn layouts blindly. Traps. You start at 21. 20, to the left, is a dead end. 22 is a wall. So you can only go up to 16. From this row on, the leftmost column (0, 5, 10, 15) is blocked by a wall. But the wall directly to the right is now a bit farther away, so field 17 would be availlable, but it is a trap. Don't step on it. Instead, go up to 11. Now the wall to the right has gone completely, but 12 is a trap, too. The only safe way is up again, to 6. Farther up, 1, is a trap, but now right to 7 is safe. At 7, you can go up to 2, but this is another kind of trap, a very strong enemy group. But it gives lots of experience points. Back at 7, you can go right to 8 and have now passed the trap area. From here on, the upper row (3, 4) is blocked by a wall, but 8, 9, 13 and 14 are safe to walk on. The last bit of path leads from 14 down to 19 and then to 24, and a last step left to 23, where the stairway to floor 14 is located.

Dungeon Floor 14

And here they are, the most annoying fields in the game when you try to figure it all out blindly. It's the portals. Stepping on them will immediately bring you to their counterpart, but you can click on the counterpart again when you're standing on it and it'll send you back. So, you start at 23. This is a very small enclosed area with 23 and 24, and 24 is a portal. So step on it to get to the main area of the floor. You are now at 20. The only way is up to 15 and then right to 16. Now it opens up a little. 11, 12, 16 and 17 are a 2x2 room where you can walk freely. The way to proceed is to go right from 12 to 13. 3, 4, 8, 9, 13 and 14 are another room. But now be very careful. 3 and 4 are portals. Don't step on 3, this one brings you back to 20. Instead, step on 4 and you'll be warped to 0. This is another tiny area, just like in the beginning of the floor. The only thing left to do is to walk right to 1 and climb down the stairs to floor 15.

Dungeon Floor 15

And deeper into portal hell we go. You start at 1. This is a small area including 0, 1 and 2, where you can decide which portal (0 or 2) you want to take. There is also a completely useless dead end at 6. Step on 2, first. You'll appear on 20. This is a straight path upwards. So, go up to 15, prepare and then go up to 10 for a stronger enemy. You receive a bronze key after beating the encounter. Return down to 15 and then to 20 to reappear back at 2. Now, return left to 1, where the stairway was, and then farther left to 0. This time, you'll appear at 4. The only way is to go down to 9. Then the area opens up a little. 8, 9, 13 and 14 is a 2x2 room, which you can leave by going left from 13, to 12. From 12, the only way leads down to 17, where you'll use your key, and then down once more to 22. This is the stairway to floor 16, but there is a stronger bonus encounter to the right, at 23, that gives lots of experience and some gear. What ever you do, don't step on 24, because this is a portal that takes you to the stairway at 1, but from above (on floor 14). Instead, return to 22 and climb down the stairs.

Dungeon Floor 16 and 17

The last two floors of the jungle area add another complication to the mix. They are connected. To solve 16, and thereby opening parts of 17, you need a key from 17. So, let's start on floor 16, field 22. This row (20, 21, 22, 23, 24) is completely open. To the left (21, 20) is nothing really important, but going right to 24 warps you to 0. This portal jumps you over a row of traps (16, 17 and 18), so you should take it. From 0, the only path leads right to 1, then down to 6 and down again to 11. Careful, now you are directly above the trap row I mentioned earlier. Going to the far right from 11, to 14 would bring you to a locked door at 9, so don't do that yet. Instead, from 11, go left to 10. This is a portal that brings you to field 0 in floor 17, so let's start floor 17 now.

This area is pure hatred. Don't step from the path I tell you, unless you want to hate the game. You start at 0. 1 is a very strong trap, so go down to 5. 10 is a portal back to 0, so go right to 6. 7, again, brings you to 0, so go down to 11. This portal brings you to 20. Don't try to teleport back to 11 and explore the surrounding fields. 12 is a trap and 16 is a portal to 0. So, at 20, going up to 15 is safe, but then you're in a dead end with two portals to 0 above and to the right. Instead, go right to 21. Now it gets really mean. Upwards, at 16, is a portal to 0, and right, at 22, is a trap. Sadly, this is the only way to continue, as far as I could gather. So, heal yourself up to 250 hp, then go to 22. 23 is a portal to 0 again, so go up to 17. From here, it's right to 18 and right again to 19. Upwards to 14 is safe, but again it's a dead end with portals and walls all around. Instead, go down to 24, which is a stronger encounter and finally collect the key. Return to floor 16 by going left to 23 and arriving back at 0, and then clicking 0 again to teleport to field 10 on floor 16.

Navigation wise, the rest is very easy. From 10, go right until you arrive at 14, then up to 9 where you'll use your key. The boss battle for the jungle area is at 4, so prepare well. Then step on the warp at 3, to arrive at field 3 in floor 17.

Nothing much to say here. You can only go right to 4, where the stairway to floor 18 is.

Dungeon Floor 18

Welcome to the undead area of the game. This safe floor is divided into three vertical halls, each one step wide and the three entrances at the very bottom. You start at the top of the right hall, so you can only walk down it from 4 to 24. 24 is also the stairway to floor 19. Go left to 23 and then to 22 to stand in the entrance of the middle hall. But this one is blocked by a golden door at 17. You need to go left two more times to 20, the entrance of the left hall. 20 is the temple. Walking up the hall, you pass by the shop at 10 and at the very top, at 0, is the portal. When you're finished, return to 24 and continue the adventure.

Dungeon Floor 19

Finally, we return to a very easy layout. You start at 24 and there are three horizontal corridors. The one you're standing in now is 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. It has two pathways to enter the middle corridor. One is from 24 up to 19 and then to 14, the other is from 20 up to 15 and then to 10. Decide which way you want to take. In the middle corridor (10, 11, 12, 13, 14), there is only one pathway, from 10 up to 5 and then up to 0. At 0, you can only walk along the corridor to the right, until you reach the stairway to floor 20 at 4.

Dungeon Floor 20

This is a sort of small labyrinth with portals. Each portal brings you back to 4, where you came down. There are also four pillars evenly placed at 6, 8, 16 and 18. The portals are at 7, 13, 21 and 23. So, there is only one path you can take. From 4, go left to 0, then down two times to 10. From this side, you can enter the center of the four pillars by going right twice to 12, but be careful, because 12 is a very hard fight. Then, go down twice to 22 and climb down to floor 21.

Dungeon Floor 21

This is quite simple again. You start at 22. This room would be quite open, wouldn't there be traps everywhere. The dangerous part is in the row above you. 16 is a trap, 17 is a pillar, 18 and 19 are traps again. So, the only safe way to go from 22 is left twice to 20, then up twice to 10 and the danger has been avoided. Above you is a wall, so follow it to the right to 14, where you can go up to 9 and up again to 4, where the stairway to floor 22 is. Note that you couldn't reach 0, 1 and 2.

Dungeon Floor 22

The floor is quite different from the others. There are no random encounters, but there are three different boss encounters at 10, 12 and 14. You need to go from 4 to 20, but at 6, 8, 16 and 18, there are pillars, meaning that you have to pick at least one of the boss battles. Even more annoying is the portal at 17 which brings you back to 4, and the boss enemies do respawn each time you enter their field. The portal also makes it so that beating the boss at 12 is basically worth nothing but experience, because you can't go down from there. So, pick a boss: At 10, there is a soul with very strong magic and agility, at 12, there is a taurus with huge strength and at 14 there is an undead king with two underlings. Finally, step on the portal at 20 to arrive, again at 20, on floor 23.

Dungeon Floor 23

Be aware that you entered the floor through a portal, so the "jump to last visited stair-portal" doesn't count for this floor. Be extra careful not to die, unless you want to repeat the boss battles again. This floor is a bit strange with navigation. The whole outer ring (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24) is called outer path by the game and it's not possible to climb down into the inner area. But you can climb back up to the outer path from the inner area, which makes this a bit strange. You start at 20. Every enemy you kill on this floor stays dead forever. On field 4, there is a portal to floor 24, but you don't want to take this yet. Instead, walk around the outer path to 14, where there is another portal. This one brings you down to the center area, at 6. There are traps to the right and below you, but you have to walk onto one of them. I suggest stepping on 7, because this just costs you 150 hp. Then, enter the exact center on 12 and you'll be warped back to floor 21. Remember how this floor had a few fields left? You start at 0 and should go to 1 to fight a boss battle. A key is dropped for your victory. Then step on 2 to be warped ... to floor 22, the boss floor. Great. You start at 0 this time and have to beat one of the bosses again. Return to the portal on field 20 and now walk around the outer path to 4 to be warped to floor 24.

Dungeon Floor 24

You start at 14. This floor is very dangerous. It consists only of a single path with lava all around it. The lava is instant kill. From 14, up to 9 and 4 is safe, but it's just a dead end. Instead, walk down to 19 and then to 24, then left twice to 22, then up twice to 12, where you'll use your key, then up twice to 2, left twice to 0, and down twice to 10. Prepare yourself, then go down to 15, where the chapter boss is located. It drops the golden key you need. Finally, step on 20 to be warped all the way back up to 19, the undead encampment. Prepare yourself, then use the key at 17. Up once more, at 12, is a strange enemy (possessed chest). It has a not too strong attack, only one stamina, and huuuge amounts of hp. This enemy is an exercise in patience, but it drops great stuff. Finally, go up to 7 and a portal brings you to the path of fate, on floor 25.