2019-06-01_PC_Gamer

It’s going to take some explaining

though, as it’s not very good at

actually telling you how to play it.

Pawnbarian is a roguelike where you

have to kill every enemy before you’re

allowed to advance to the next

procedurally jumbled

board. There are no

weapons to wield, or

treasures to loot, but

you have a variety of

attacks and movement

options at your

disposal, each based on

an iconic chess piece.

By activating the

pawn card, for example, you can

make your barbarian move forward

one piece, or attack and kill an enemy

diagonally. The knight card will have

them moving or attacking in an

L-shape, while the bishop causes

them to slide diagonally, until they

either hit an enemy or reach the

board edge. And so on for every chess

unit, from the king to the trusty rook.

O

ne of the best things about chess is the fact that John Chess

isn’t around to launch a copyright strike every time someone

dares tinker with his creation. No, he died thousands of

years ago, having spent his chess money on an extension for

his Saxon bungalow. The horribly named Pawnbarian is the

latest indie to meld the classic board game with procedural generation (see

also: the much more delightfully named Chogue), and it’s by far the best.

Those cards are doled out

randomly at the start of every turn, a

system that works well enough but

occasionally results in some bum

hands (such as four pawns) where

your available options are sorely

limited. However,

tilting the game in your

favour is your ability to

make two turns for

every one of the

enemy’s – turns you’ll

desperately need if

you’re to survive this

challenging game.

While your goal in

each stage is to defeat the enemies,

your most pressing concern will be to

evade the red target marks covering

much of the game board. These

marks indicate spaces where you’ll be

attacked during the next turn, if

you’re not savvy (or lucky) enough to

be able to move the barbarian away.

But every turn spent evading is one

you could have used to attack –

providing you have enough health to

survive your enemies. There are

several monster types, interestingly

not drawn from chess but from the

general fantasy milieu. So you’ll battle

orcs, ninjas, and annoying spore

clouds that spawn more monsters

upon defeat. Hell, there’s even an

end-game boss fight.

Pawn to king orc four

It’s a well-thought-out system that

already feels fairly robust,

considering the game was made in

just a week for a game jam, but even

so I’m pleased to hear that it’s being

extended into a bigger release. The

procedural generation is sometimes

lacking, leading to occasional unfair

dead ends later in the game.

Still, I highly recommend this

strategic mixture of chess and rogue,

two games that clash impressively

well here. Pawnbarian takes choice

parts of both, but feels thrillingly like

a new creation, and one that may one

daydevourhoursofyourfreetime.

NeedtoKNow

What is it?

A roguelike where you

obeytherulesofchess

EXPECttOPaY

Free

DEvElOPEr

j4nw

PublishEr

In-house

rEviEWEDOn

AMD [email protected],

6GB RAM, GeForce GT

610

MultiPlaYEr

None

link

bit.ly/Pawnbarian

82

A tactically rich dungeon

crawler, with a few

procedurally generated

kinks that could be

ironed out.

vErDiCt

Hardcore

Chess meets Rogue in the delightful PawNbariaN. By Tom Sykes

So you’ll

battle orcs,

ninjas, and

annoying

spore clouds

Pawnbarian

FrEE GaMEsrEviEW

These horrible cloud things create

extra enemies after death.