The Ouroboros King

Nice game and great idea. Very clear UI and graphics. I can however get through the first levels, it's too difficult for me even on easiest setting!

It can be quite challenging if you are not a chess player, and the "new" pieces can unexpectedly give you a checkmate. I think that on easier difficulty more rewinds should be available. I think a tutorial section can be useful, maybe with a custom selection of enemy pieces and obstacles.

I think this is an interesting concept, but it needs a lot of fleshing out. Speaking as an intermediate chess player, the balance is also a bit out of wack.

First of all, the map is way too short. Your ability to win is dependent mostly on the starting army giving you something that can defend against a Queen. To make every run feel more different (which is what you want when you're going for a roguelike game) you need to make a longer map, like in Slay the Spire, Peglin, or Inscryption. I think you also need more relics. Since there are so few and you get to pick from a selection, you often end up with the same relics every game.

Also, the Immortal is completely busted. If you ever get two of them it's pretty much an instant win since nothing can take them if they stick together. They also feel really bad to play against since no chess principles work against them. Technically you can pin them to the King but even that doesn't really do anything since you can't add attackers or remove defenders to capture it.

I also think the graphics could use a bit of work. The menu and map look a little bit flat, but some simple animations for mouse-over and clicking could bring it to life.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the other piece designs. The Cardinal is a natural upgrade to the Bishop, the Pegasus is a natural upgrade to the Knight, and the Viking and Berserker are fairly interesting additions. The Portal Mage is a pretty weak piece, but it enables cool tactics sometimes (I would remove it from the starting pool though). I also liked the Pawn buff to account for the terrain. My only real complaint is that the Turret feels relatively weak compared to the other upgradeable pieces.

The gameplay and design concept are pretty fun. I was expected to do a bishop/knight checkmate on level one, which is more suitable for people rated over 2000 I would think. I'm about 1500 peak strength. The design is slick and appealing, but a bit too plain for a commercial game. Overall, I would say it's definitely got some potential if marketed to Chess enthusiasts. I'm a visual art person, so I would tend to look for ways to create more eye candy, although this instinct could be totally wrong. I'm very new to game dev myself.

Really nice spin on the game of chess