Every couple of years I decide I’m going to learn to play chess, because it feels like the kind of thing a well-rounded adult knows how to do. Usually, I can mostly remember how all the pieces move, but I’ve never been great at thinking enough moves ahead to really play the game. So I’m not that good at Below the Crown, but, like regular chess, I keep throwing myself at it anyway.
Below the Crown is an upcoming early access game by Misfits Attic, the folks behind 2016’s Duskers. It’s a combination of a roguelike dungeon crawler and chess: Your characters are chess pieces, who follow the rules of the traditional game, but the board is a dungeon, full of walls and hazards. You have to get your king to a door to the next room of the dungeon, using them and other pieces you play via cards to capture the enemy pieces or put the enemy king in check.
It’s not just chess on a weird board: as you progress, you get spell cards or can upgrade your pieces to have new abilities. I’ve used a spell to freeze troublesome opponents, transformed one of my pieces into a bishop to knock out a diagonal enemy, and upgraded a piece to be able to wrap around the board and have more movement options. The game also has a lot of tools to help you out–you can undo a limited number of moves, get a hint for the best move to make, and show unsafe spaces to help you plan.
The chess of it all comes from the thinking ahead, remembering how pieces move and imagining all the possible outcomes. At the same time, pieces’ upgrades and abilities mean you also have to think like a fantasy dungeon crawler or turn-based video game. These two genres work together to create a game that moves slowly and thoughtfully, but also has moments of action and clever strategy. The combination of traditional dungeon design and a sort of cyberpunk overlay and art style heighten the feeling that you’re playing something super weird, but also really cool. It hasn't made me any better at chess, which at this point in my life I don't think anything will, but it lets me feel like I'm playing chess while also playing kinds of games I'm a bit less hopeless at.
Below the Crown has a Steam demo out now, and comes to early access November 10.
