Once a Pawn a King is a roguelike, turn-based strategy game with party-building mechanics, where chess meets chaos. Venture into the ever-shifting castle of the evil White King on a quest to rescue the beloved Black King, who was recently taken by the tyrant.
Gameplay | Early Access Trailer
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Early Access Game

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Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“We are a small Indie dev team that took a chance making our first Steam release.

Part of entering Early access is checking if players enjoy what we have to offer in an earlier stage of the production. We're hoping community feedbak mid-development will help us deliver a better, more polished product.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

Once a Pawn a King is planned to stay in Early Access for about 6 months.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“In the full release of the game we plan on adding 2 more floors and bosses in a run, actively doubling the content of the Early access release.
Additionally, we will expand the pool of existent power-ups, consumables, challanges and more.

We are also planing to implement the full narrative and dialogue for a more complete and satisfying experience.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“This version of Once a Pawn a King offers an Early Access roguelike experience with around 30 different power-ups (Blessings & Curses), 16 consumable potions, 13 meta-upgrades (Figures), 2 complete floors, 2 bosses, and 2 minibosses.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The price may gradually increase as the game grows in content and features.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We are planning to actively communicate with players and gather their feedback and bug reports as we continue improving Once a Pawn a King.

Our Discord server is linked in the main menu of the game. We're looking forward to hear from you!”
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About This Game

Once a Pawn a King is a roguelike, turn-based strategy game with party-building mechanics, where chess meets chaos. Venture into the ever-shifting castle of the evil White King on a quest to rescue the beloved Black King, who was recently taken by the tyrant.

The white king has changed the rules - chess is no longer the symmetrical and structured game it once was. Broken boards, strange tiles, soulless duplicates of pieces, asymmetrical action economy, and most importantly - there is no black king.

Assemble a party from chess pieces and enhance their strength with unique power-ups and ability upgrades. Search for the missing members of the original Black King’s army and work to rebuild it

Where is the black king? Why did the world start to crumble? Why do you keep reviving? With the aid of quirky characters and various talkative chess pieces, uncover the secrets of this realm and fight to restore its balance.

With each new run, the layouts of both the map and the rooms change, as the White King continuously alters his designs. Choose different paths, face different encounters, and make different decisions regarding piece enhancements. Complete quests and unlock boons to become permanently stronger, making each run a little easier than the last

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10\11
    • Processor: AMD Athlon X4 \ Intel Core i5 4460
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia GTX 950 \ AMD R7 370
    • DirectX: Version 10
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

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