Pawnbarian: a Puzzle Roguelike

j4nw

About this game

Chess-inspired puzzle roguelike. Demo - single IAP unlocks full game.

The ad-free demo contains a single character and dungeon.

Pawnbarian is a turn-based puzzle roguelike with bite-sized, but challenging sessions. Play cards to control your hero like a chess piece on a tiny dungeon board, outmaneuver enemies with their assortment of tricky abilities, and become the mightiest warrior of the Chesslands!

Features
- Use a deck of chess pieces to hack and slash through hordes of monsters.
- Pick up the basics instantly if you're familiar with chess, or learn in minutes if you aren't.
- Carefully plan your moves to navigate challenging, emergent tactical situations.
- Spend treasure to upgrade your cards with additional powers.
- Blitz through quick 15-30 minute runs - or die trying.
- Take on the infinite post-run Gauntlet to see how long you can survive.
- Pick from 6 characters to conquer 3 dungeons, all requiring an unique approach.
- Progress through Chains, a series of extra difficulty modifiers.

Not Features
- No permanent upgrades, and not much that needs unlocking. The progress and satisfaction come from your growing mastery of the game's elegant systems!
- No complex and varied builds. The shops provide a few key decisions, but the bulk of the roguelike depth lies in how you approach the emergent combat puzzles!

Ratings and reviews

This is a great game to fit quick runs in waiting moments. This has immediate gratification as a game but also long-lasting mental stimulation as a puzzle. If you like chess, the play patterns will feel familiar, but chess knowledge is not necessary. The demo is really fun to try for a while, but the full version is sooooo worth the $5. I am halfway through the chain difficulties with every hero, and I don't see myself getting tired of the game any time soon.

Wasnt planning to buy the full game, but I do enjoy chess. It honestly surprised me both in how polished it is as well as it's simplicity. IMO it's gratuitous calling it a roguelike with dungeons, implying there is exploration to be had. I would like to see more content, I think it would be fun with a "checkers" style character. All in all, very not bad

This is one of the highest quality and most unique mobile games I've ever encountered. This was apparent after playing the demo, so buying the full game was a no-brainer. Easy 5 stars. Nice work dev! There's plenty in the game to make it worth it already, but out of curiosity is there more development in progress and/or planned for the future? More characters, dungeons, etc?

What’s new

Maintenance engine and API version update