ChessRogue is an unusual combination of Chess and Rogue.
You play the part of the White King, entering a multi-level dungeon teeming with Pawns, Bishops etc., your goal: Finding and defeating the Black King.
Each level is randomly generated and shown in a text-based top-down view. You start in the top left corner and have to reach the exit on the lower right corner, capturing as many pieces as possible along the way.
The different chess pieces are depicted using characters, like K for King or P for Pawn, and they all have different manners of moving, just as in chess: Bishops travel diagonally, Rooks vertically or horizontally, etc. The movement is not exactly chesslike to make the game more interesting. Just like in chess, once a piece is attacked, it’s gone, so any piece has one “hit point” as compared to other roguelikes.—you have to be extra careful, any error may be your last.
At the beginning, the White King can only travel and capture one square horizontally or vertically. Later on, when he has captured enough enemy pieces (increasing his “experience”), he will gain additional capabilities for moving or capturing, including jumping (ignoring terrain or pieces) or charging (moving several squares and capturing everything on your path) in certain directions.
Gameplay is turn-based. You have the option to stand still, while enemy pieces have to move if possible.
Finally, the game offers a simple save and restore function as well as a highscore table. Despite being very simple, the game can be quite addictive, due to its mind-teasing puzzles and funny setting.
