Souls-Like Chess Game Pawned Souls Is Free on Itch.io
Individual developer MikaDev released Pawned Souls, a chess-themed souls-like action game, for free on itch.io on August 29. The player controls a pawn on an 8x8 chessboard, moving one square in any of four directions and attacking only diagonally forward, with a stamina-based roll that covers several squares. Enemies are chess pieces that follow their real rules: 8 pawns, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 1 queen, and 1 king, some attacking from range and several appearing at once. Defeating enemies and landing parries earns souls, which buy stat upgrades or healing items from a menu, though upgrades reset on game over. Two modes are included: PATH TO QUEENDOM, which asks the player to defeat every piece up to the queen, and THE KING'S GAMBIT, which targets the fleeing king. The game runs on Windows and Linux, with a Mac version planned. It does not support Japanese as of writing.