Pawnbarian 9+

Chess Puzzle Roguelike

Jan Wojtecki

    • 4.2 • 228 Ratings
    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

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

The demo is ad-free. It 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!

What’s New

Version 1.2.11

Small changes to the infinite mode

Ratings and Reviews

4.2 out of 5
228 Ratings

228 Ratings

Munkeypunk ,

Clever Roguelike Chess Puzzler

Roguelike portrait with one thumb mechanics. Move your warrior around a small grid using cards based on chess pieces to land on enemies to destroy them. Knights let you jump around like L’s, Queen’s rule the board and pawns can only move forward. You’ll have three options every round (play a card and see it replaced) and you’ll need to either fight or flee. Board shows what each grid will do to you if you land there, while cards can be upgraded with defense, bonus moves or damage. It’s a clever game that takes some chess knowledge (not much though) to be successful at. Rounds last only a few minutes and entire runs can be less than 20. It’s not a builder though, in the sense you can remove pieces, or build synergies, but more along just upgrading as many cards as you can with bonuses and hope you get a good draw. I think this game it pretty neat, but it could use a little more content

OutLancer ,

Clever idea, great execution, amazing game!

I preordered this game a while back and, to be honest, totally forgot about it. But once I saw it on my phone I remembered about it and got pretty excited.
After the tutorial I figured out the basic rules, and the touch and hold feature to check out what things do was extremely helpful. The only thing I hadn’t quite figured out was how to win. I lost my first try in the goblin caves on room 6, but by the time I reached there again I had developed a better overall understanding and strategy.
Overall the game idea is original and entertaining, and the simple layout makes it easy to learn. It might take time to remember all the monster traits, but what game is mastered in an hour.
With all this being said, I feel as if the $6.99 price tag for only 2 more dungeons is a difficult price to justify. Even with all the other features in the full version, the fact that you only get 2 new groups of enemies is a deal breaker for me.
Regardless, it’s a wonderful game and I think the devs did a wonderful job.

V-MOs ,

Great game concept!

Although I have not yet bought the full game, I can already say that this game is great! I really love the concept and the simplistic art style. It’s a very good time killer and easy to play on the go!
With all that being said, there are some very minor things I think should be added. You can dismiss this part of the review as I have not fully bought the game which may affect my judgement. I believe there should be and indicator of the modifiers on the chess pieces on the board (like the X and +) and there should be written somewhere the amount of moves I have. Again very minor stuff that can be easily changed. I am still holding out buying the full game because I believe more things should be added. However I know that in future updates that will be changed. I have very high hopes for this game and everyone should give it a chance!

App Privacy

The developer, Jan Wojtecki, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supports

  • Family Sharing

    Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when Family Sharing is enabled.

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