Planned Release Date: January 2026

About This Game

Once upon a time in a square world far, far away a retired White King was enjoying his life... UNTIL THE LORD OF DARKNESS DISTURBS THE PEACE... AGAIN!!


In A Game of Chaess, you embark on a heroic and ridiculous quest to stop the forces of evil for once and for all. Each level throws a new wave of Black chess pieces at you. Survive the onslaught, level up, advance to the next kingdom, and push back the Darkness one board at a time.

A Game of Chaess features asymmetrical play: white plays standard chess, one move at a time. Black's pieces move in a fixed order and movement pattern and Black moves all of it's pieces, every turn. Also they must capture if they can.
Black's goal is to capture the White King. White's goal is to capture all pieces to advance to next level.
Capturing pieces grants the player experience. When you level up, you can deploy reinforcements that join the quest.

• Tutorial - learn the game rules quickly by playing levels with a teacher

• Story Mode - progress through the levels and kingdom

• Survival - survive endless waves and set a record on 4 different difficulty settings

• Game concept, story and general projectlead by Klaas Jongsma.

• Development by the talented Yohan Fabre from the Gamezel Collective.

• Pixelart by Rista Gema (@riestagema on Instagram)

- Do I need to know chess in order to play this game?
Not really, although it does come in useful. The game helps you by showing what movement options the piece has when it's selected. 

- Who is the Lord of Darkness?
Nobody knows for sure. We know he is a Grandmaster in the noble game of Chaess but aside from this his identity remains cloaked in darkness.

- Were any knights harmed in the making of this game?
Yes, many.

- Is the Chaessboard procedurally generated or something?
Not in the slightest.

- How does Chaess differ from standard Chess?
The game is played on a 10x8 board. On the 9th and 10th preview rank we can see the next wave incoming, but the pieces only move on the 8x8 board. Black's pieces move according to a fixed move order and pattern and they MUST capture if they can. Certain characters in the game may share similarities with real individuals from the world of chess, but any such resemblance is coincidental.