Below the Crown

An interesting game. Built on the scaffolding of chess but with rules and objectives altered enough to require a new way of thinking about the pieces and how to utilize them. Queens have a handicap knocking them down to being about equal in value with rooks and bishops. Kings can move into check as long as the game will be won by doing so. The board is always changing in shape and layout. The pieces can have special abilities drastically changing their effectiveness. Overall it is a fun and worthwhile experience. There is some room for improvement to the interface ( special abilities don't have unique icons on the pieces requiring a hover to see what they do - and often these drastically change how they should be used ) and a couple inconsistencies in pieces that add for confusion. ( like the queen losing her handicap but only when she is your chosen king ) But what I found was that all of these changes in behavior and rules provides a challenging strategy game where you will find yourself thinking carefully on what your best move/action combo is going to be at every turn. Sometimes the choices are obvious and the round is simplistic. Other times it takes careful thought the whole way through. But it will seldom be a situation of doing the same thing you did last time.

I suck at chess. ive tried to get good at it....and i still miss obvious moves. this game IS chess...but its also not. it has allot of twists and spins with piece transformation and modification, a board that can be changed, and stupidly hard bosses that take allot of logic that i dont have to play properly. In misfits attic fassion, the styling is a crunchy retro digitalized monitor sort of asthetic...classic from the old duskers days. i absolutely love this athetic. definately worth a shot if you wanna play some interesting chess...though i havent gone far in this game myself.

Well, chess battle advanced

Chess on steroids, awesome game. If you are a person who loves to strategize, contemplate and analyse in games or otherwise, but find chess boring (like me), then search no further. This game enhanced the ancient queen of games to a modern dungeon crawler rogulite that is so refreshing and enjoying, yet it still keeps its depth and beauty of hundreds of years old game of chess.

Bite-sized chess with per-run upgrades and debuffs, over-game progression, varied boards (rooms), and a mechanism to keep games brief. I play chess-likes, but not really played chess since I was a kid. I imagine AI could probably be better - quite slow when toggled to enhanced and then becomes difficult to outmanoeuvre by brute force, but careful use of piece deployment, upgrades and powers stack the deck in your favour. One of the better mini chess-likes I've played, and the kind of pacing and challenge that can be addictive.

Great game with some interesting ideas and I love to see what will still come in the future! As a former chess team player, the game is the right mix between normal chess thinking and tactics and gameplay. I can use my muscle memory but I have to think in new ways, too! I just played the game for a short time, will return to it later, but what I saw so far is an easy recommend. If you like chess or find it interesting, give this game a try!

Thanks Misfits Attic, knocking it out of the park again.

It's cool, but limited. I love chess, so want to love it but find this a little repetitive. It's super fun for a couple rounds, but I'm done. Not seeing a crazy challenge or any real unlocks of interest.

music, artstyle and visual effects -> 10/10 nice ideas and atmosphere

A fantastic game for lovers of chess and (other) strategy games. The game is turn-based and offers fun upgrades for your chess pieces and your King wizard. Special obstacles and new board layouts make each game unique, but the strategy and tactics you may have already learned from chess still apply, although it is not necessary to know how to play chess.