for me hitting the escape key didn't seem to do anything, but I was playing in the web version and that may have been why ("esc to exit fullscreen" overriding "esc to do something ingame"? I'm not sure, I'm not a programmer ORZ)
Viewing post in Quest for the Teacup of Minor Sentimental Value comments
Have you tried hitting Escape while not in fullscreen? Sorry for all the questions - just trying to work out if this is a problem with the game itself or a problem with how it sits on the itch page. I’m almost positive I’ve backed out of the “special” menu myself when no moves are available, but it’s hard to confirm that’ll work nicely on every browser and every device.