All Games > Strategy Games > Mortal Chess
Community Hub
Mortal Chess
Every piece is living on borrowed time. In Mortal Chess, each piece's life counts down with every move. Collect the coins from expired pieces, buy extra turns, deploy reinforcements, and earn the queen you don't start with. Play vs AI or local split-screen PvP. Checkmate isn't the only way to lose.

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Demo Available
Download Demo
Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔
French ✔
German ✔
Spanish - Spain ✔
Danish ✔
Finnish ✔
Simplified Chinese ✔
Norwegian ✔
Polish ✔
Portuguese - Brazil ✔
Portuguese - Portugal ✔
Russian ✔
Spanish - Latin America ✔
Swedish ✔
See all 14 supported languages
This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: Jan 19, 2027

This game plans to unlock in approximately 2 months

Interested?
Add to your wishlist and get notified when it becomes available.
 

About This Game

Every piece is living on borrowed time.


Mortal Chess is a chess variant you can play against the AI or in local split-screen PvP, where your pieces have a visible life countdown.



Winning takes more than finding checkmate. You must manage a dwindling army, harvest coins, extend the lives of key pieces, and deploy reinforcements at exactly the right moment.

Both sides begin with a lean army: one king, rook, knight, bishop, and four centered pawns. There are no starting queens. If you want one, you will have to earn it.

HOW TO PLAY


Chess pieces move as normal. Checkmate wins as normal, but mortality creates another way to finish the fight!



If a king is left alone, that side loses unless it can afford a legal LAST CHANCE deployment. Closing that final shop without buying accepts defeat.

If only the two kings remain, the game is a draw.

Choose from Easy, Normal, Hard, or Brutal countdown pressure, then adjust the Black AI from Quick to Maximum thinking effort.

Made as part of GMTK JAM 2026 for the theme COUNTDOWN.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

The store capsule artwork was created with AI assistance, using the game's own in-game art and screenshots as reference. All game content is made by KodingNights.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows
    • Processor: AMD Ryzen 7000 Series / Intel 13th Gen Core
    • Memory: 1 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GeForce RTX 30 / Radeon RX 7000M
    • Sound Card: Any