There’s only so much you can do improve on chess, but you can at least make it a whole lot weirder. That simple fact led to the great Really Bad Chess in 2016, and now, a more recent spin on one of the most-played games in the world is available for free for a short time on the Epic Games Store for mobile. This time, it’s an even bigger deviation from its origins, turning chess into a turn-based roguelike strategy game that’s just as bizarre as it is captivating.
Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is the work of Punkcake Délicieux, a three-person development team with a huge and varied back catalog supported by monthly subscriptions. Earlier this year, the team distributed Nama Takashi’s fantastic puzzle game Öoo, but it’s Shotgun King that became the developer’s first big hit back in 2022.
