LogFAQs > #976801380

Currently Playing: Questy Chess

What Is It? The end result of an evil scientist crossbreeding chess and a strategy RPG.

Gameplay Overview: You start as a simple pawn and you move like a pawn does. You move one space at a tie, and can attack diagonally. Levels aren't necessarily a simple chessboard and there's all sorts of stuff in your way. You also can get attacked by other chess pieces, and you're basically just trying to get to the end of the level although you do earn points for completing under a certain move limit or killing all the enemies. You can replay levels, but they're left the way you leave them. So if you kill all the enemies, they won't respawn.

Eventually you can unlock more pieces and you can swap out which piece you're playing as on the fly (taking the spot on the board your previous piece was at). It is sort of a movement puzzler, although I can see it being classified as a very basic sort of strategy RPG. There are items you pick up (restore health, wipe the board of enemies, keys to unlock doors, etc). You won't be able to clear everything your first time through, and there are some levels I had to return to after unlocking the right piece.

Thoughts:
-Questy Chess is a fun sounding name for a game.
-Its tagline is Role Playing Chess Simulator and I have to admit, Im interested in whatever the hell that means.
-Deep in an ever advancing computer, forgotten and unchanged remains chess program v1. Well every ever advancing computer has to start somewhere, I guess.
-I update to V2. Who wants to play Chess V1 when you can play Chess v2?
-Chess V1 is being updated until a final pawn is left. RUN ROGUE PAWN YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE.
-ERROR! CANNOT OVERWRITE PAWN! ABORTING! Aw yeah good job pawn v1. Way to show that overwrite whos boss.
-That pawn is you. All around you is chaos. Everything is stuck in upgrade limbo. Ugh that happens to my phone sometimes and I hate it.
-Embark on your quest to remove all traces of chess v2 and restore peace. Haha well I have to give the game credit for having a weird and interesting setup, at least.
-I move my adorable little chess piece and I can now select from one of four zones. I go with forest because that sounds the most introduction-y.
-So you basically move like a pawn and you can attack only in the ways a pawn attacks. It is more of a puzzle game than an RPG, but you do have HP and can pick stuff up.
-You also have goals at the end of each segment. Kill enemies, open chests, etc. You're scored out of 100, and I have no idea what that does but my completionist tendencies are going to force me to 100% every level. Im going to replay 1-1 because I can do better, dang it.
-There are squares here where you can terraform and use the crank to move the next column of squares youd walk on up or down. It help create paths or move enemies. Interesting set up, so far.
-I see a knight in the second level, but I cant get to him. I try to replay the level but since I killed the pawns I was using to move into different columns, I have no legal moves and the game crashes. I feel like maybe Ill unlock more pieces and can come back at some point. I hope at least.
-AHA! I do unlock the knight. Fun. Now I can go back and do fun things, I think.
-Oh this is a little annoying. The other chess pieces are usable items. So if I swap back to the pawn because I need to use different movement, the knight disappears from my inventory. To get it back, I need to go back and replay the level I picked them up at. This is going to be annoying and a waste of time, I think.
-I get through the forest zone pretty easily. There is a boss fight where I battle against a king piece and I have to hit it twice. I basically just move around the board until the king moves into a dumb spot and I can beat him up. TAKE THAT FALSE KING.
-I level up, which gives me an extra HP. Nice.
-I like the sort of movement puzzle/RPG thing this game has going on. I might do something weird here and keep playing this when I should go to sleep because Im interested.
-You unlock the rook in the second area. Thank God. Movement is way less annoying now and it is much easier to capture pieces instead of trying to dance around with the knight.
-I go back and 100% a couple more levels. It itches that caveman part of my brain that likes to see completion numbers go up.
-Hm. For the first boss you need to capture 1 piece (king). But, for whatever reason, you don't capture it. You attack it once (has two HP), and then if you start a turn from an attacking position it is automatically check mate and you don't get to nab it. No clue what to do so I'll come back later.
-There are a couple of other levels I'm stuck on, including the one I need to beat to get to the second area boss. I think I need to find a bishop for these, so I might have to explore the third world first.
-I'm calling it for tonight. I definitely like this, as basic as it is. I feel like there is only so much they're going to be able to do and it is likely to be another 2 hour or so game, but it is weird and unique and kinda fun, so I'm on board.
-There are a bunch of weird annoyances though. Pieces as usable items, for one. I spent five minutes grinding the level you find the rook in so I'll never have to come back, but it is a tremendous waste of time.
-I also don't know what all the items do. Once says for long range attacks, and then i use it and it doesn't seem to actually do anything. The game as a whole is bad at explaining mechanics, which is a complaint I have about a lot of Playdate games.
-Oh, here's another thing I thought of that sucks. There are parts in certain levels where you "terraform". Stand on a square and you can adjust a column somewhere in the level. It is used to move obstacles so your pieces can move into the squares you need. But it is also a limited use item for some reason. You run out of it and can get stuck, which I kept doing in levels because I didn't know which way the crank would move the column (up or down).
-It also doesn't even need to use the crank and they definitely did it because nothing else in the game uses the crank and they felt bad.
-Overall: still enjoying it. Weird design choices that make things unnecessarily frustrating and very simple overall but there's something kinda cool here.

Time Played: Probably an hour. I spent a lot of time going back and replaying levels though and grinding for pieces.
High Score: N/A
Beaten? Nope. Maybe about halfway.
Grade: I'm going to guess a 6 based out of what I've seen so far.
Favorite Part So Far: The premise here is a lot of fun by itself, so I'm going to pick that. And, strangely enough, this isn't even the best chess themed strategy RPG thing I've played before.