Dark Chess
Tall Troll Games · 2023 · Chess, Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, Puzzle, Turn-Based Tactics
PC
Mostly Positive77% · 153
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About Dark Chess
THE GAME
THIS IS NOT YOUR STANDARD CHESS!Dark Chess takes the core rules of the world's most famous board game and throws them into the unknown. The Fog of War hides the enemy army. This is no longer a game of memorized openings; it's about stealth, tactical risk-taking and making educated guesses before stepping into the dark.
Note: If you are a chess purist looking for a perfectly balanced, zero luck simulator, this game will frustrate you. But if you love asymmetric puzzles, rule-bending mechanics and brain-teasing strategy, welcome to the dark.
FEATURES
- Fog of War: Analyze what you can see, predict what is hiding in the shadows.
- Story-Driven Campaign: A fully narrated adventure against legendary masters.
- Asymmetric Boss Battles: Enemies have unique abilities and cheat the rules. Outsmart them.
- Brain-Bending Puzzles: Levels designed to test your spatial logic and survival skills.
- Customization and Rewards: Earn achievements by solving difficult puzzles to unlock visual upgrades and customize your avatar.
ADVENTURE TIME
THE CAMPAIGN: ASYMMETRIC BOSS FIGHTS Step into a fully narrated, single-player story campaign where you fight Queens and Kings of the past. Do you dare to challenge Genghis Khan, outsmart King Solomon or terrify Ivan the Terrible?Be warned: they do not play by the rules. Historical leaders act as boss fights with unique and unfair abilities, from infinite piece respawns to randomized traps and poisoned boards. You cannot win by playing standard chess. Use whatever it takes to your advantage, slip past heavy defenses and assassinate the King or the Queen. Expect the unexpected after the very first move.
REWARDS & CUSTOMIZATION
Every hard-fought victory deserves a prize. Dark Chess actively rewards your tactical brilliance! For every complex puzzle you solve, difficult boss you defeat, or clever trap you set, you will earn achievements that unlock new visual upgrades. Build your collection and fully customize your in-game avatar to show off your progress.
Whether you are a board game enthusiast, a fan of tactical games or a puzzle-solver looking for a thrilling mental challenge, Dark Chess will test your ability to adapt and survive.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
5/10 + chess - fog of war can eat a full on bag of ♥♥♥♥♥. it just makes every game slower and longer with way more guess work - dont know what power enemy has until it procs the 1st time. good chance your not winning 1st fight. what do you mean you get a new free queen every time i kill your queen??? - just about every level is you get normal chess and enemy team gets random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. something like enemy team gets random piece every 7 turns. cool thats a free queen im dead or fog that blocks random spaces. and thats mate in 3 cause fog moved that way randomly and locked all the pieces i needed - you can move into check without knowing your moving into check and lose the game....thats some real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that makes me hate this game. same for the enemy. i feel like im just winning some games by luck and chance. + 13$ - AI voice acting for some reason, doesnt really add anything to the game - no undo3 found this helpful
*Dark Chess*, developed by Tall Troll Games and published by Tall Troll Games alongside Hawthorn Games, takes the rigid, perfectly transparent structure of traditional chess and deliberately breaks it apart to create something far more uncertain and experimental. Instead of refining the classic formula, it challenges its very foundation by removing complete information, introducing narrative-driven scenarios, and bending rules in ways that force players to rethink how they approach strategy altogether. The most transformative element is the introduction of fog of war, which obscures enemy pieces unless they fall within the range of your own units. This single mechanic reshapes the entire experience. In standard chess, success depends on calculation and foresight built on complete visibility, but here, players are forced to make decisions with incomplete knowledge. Every move becomes a calculated risk, and reading the opponent turns into a process of deduction rather than observation. This shift creates a constant sense of tension, as players must balance caution with initiative, often acting on intuition as much as logic. Beyond this core mechanic, the game builds a structured ca…2 found this helpful
- AI cheats - Basically just chess puzzles with unfair advantage - Worst game in chess Humble Bundle
The stuff they added to Chess (Dark Chess) isn't very good.
Playing chess with incomplete information is like pooping with an incomplete colon. Which is to say, it's the board game equivalent of a colostomy bag.
not that deep
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