Disclaimer

I was sent the Chess of the Hidden Gates demo to review for my blog. I am very grateful and understand that the game isn’t finished. That said, this will be my honest first impressions.

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Table of Contents

What is Chess of the Hidden Gates?

Chess of the Hidden Gates is a unique deckbuilding roguelike that you play on a chess board. The game releases sometime in the fourth quarter, but there is a demo you should try. The game does use AI, but I didn’t catch it before playing. Do with that as you may. I’ll do better research next time.

Hook

You are playing an impossible game that has had no winner for thousands of years. You take control of one of the unique pieces (horse master, pawn commander, cannon adept), and fight your way through waves of enemies in board game style turn-based strategy. Only the horse master is available in the demo, which means you’re jumping around throwing spears at everything. Players must use their skills, abilities, and board control to win the game. Do you have what it takes to finally end this thousand year game, or will you be another lost pawn?

Gameplay

Chess of the Hidden Gates uses deck building mechanics to create a unique, tabletop war game experience. All players start with a basic deck of skills and abilities that they edit throughout their run. Card are found at random across the journey, and the randomness promises unique decks for each run. You will restarting a lot (unless you’re actually good at these kinds of games).

Combat in this game is turn based strategy where players cast cards to use abilities. Players have a finite amount of skill points that they can use per turn to cast spells, move, or perform attacks. Enemy attacks are telegraphed, so use that to gain the strategic advantage. The level ends when all enemies are defeated, or the player dies.

Impressions

I got this game because it reminded me of the board game, Onitama. I love that game but have no one to play with. This was meant to be the solo version of Onitama, but the result was unremarkable. Chess of the Hidden Gates plays fine, but it doesn’t have a clear identity. Demeo, a game that also emulates the tabletop experience, just does it better. Whether you like strategy games or are looking for a new deck builder, you have better options.

Aesthetic

There is a disclaimer about how the game uses AI to create its assets. It does not pay off. None of the art is memorable, and all the dull browns make it hard to sit for. The pieces don’t look good, as polished as they may seem. For as much lore as the game pretends to have, the world feels generic. Don’t get me wrong. While I do appreciate games with good art, and even pick games for their art, I give all games the same chance. If the gameplay is fun, it really doesn’t matter what the game looks like. Unfortunately, the game isn’t very fun. It makes it harder to love when I just came from Dog in the Machine, which had terrific art and better gameplay.

Gameplay

Here’s the thing. Chess of the Hidden Gates run smoothly without any adjustments. The game is native windowed mode, and clicking out minimizes, but I never hit a game breaking bug during my playthrough. The problem is, the combat isn’t anything special, especially when you compare it something like Demeo. I like how it emulates boardgames, but there is nothing to set this game apart from the rest of the genre.

On one hand, there is enough strategy to keep things somewhat engaging. On the other, you could be playing Dog in the Machine or Deified instead. I understand the game is still in development, and maybe it will get better, but in its current state, it just feels like a cash grab. I would skip this one.

Conclusion

Chess of the Hidden Gates may have a few interesting ideas, but the execution isn’t great. The world is ugly, without any memorable piece of art (it all feels like AI) to create those tangible connections to keep us playing. The gameplay is fine, especially if you’re a fan of board games, but you have better options. Go check out something like Demeo or Dark Quest 4 instead. Maybe I’ll try the full version when it releases, but I’ll probably forget I played the demo by then.

Trailer