Check or Mate

The board does not forgive.

Check or Mate is a 2D survivor / bullet hell with a chess twist: hostile pawns, L-jumping knights, file-clearing rooks, diagonal bishops… and bosses that are the major pieces.

Pick your piece (Pawn, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Queen, or King), level up, unlock weapons and ultimates, and hold the line. Play as King and defeated mini/mid bosses can join your court — weaker, but still deadly.

Inspired by the pace of 20 Minutes Till Dawn, with telegraph patterns and piece progression that feel like a sudden-death match.

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What’s new (1.1)

• Look — CheckMate Display on menus, HUD, and damage numbers (including Russian). Lighting is a single readable survivor rig, with no quality picker.
• Combat — Player shots are chess darts instead of tiny pieces. Weapon slots on the HUD; pause, level-up, and results show your full build. Upgrade cards work with a gamepad.
• Audio — New score for the run and bosses, SFX tucked under the music so the bed stays audible, and the kill sting only on bosses.
• Fixes — Castling bosses, empty level-up crash, and the knight landing teleport.

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Features

• 6 playable pieces (Basic → Legendary progression)
• Waves, XP, level-ups, ultimates
• Mini / mid / final bosses (The King)
• Keyboard, gamepad, and touch controls
• Video / audio / gameplay settings
• ES · EN · PT · RU

Controls (PC)

WASD / left stick move · Shift / Y roll · Space / X ultimate · Esc / Start pause

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Pieces

All pieces move freely (WASD / stick). Attacks follow chess geometry.

• Pawn — Auto-aim shot. Promotes later. Ult: Queen's Gambit (brief Queen form).
• Rook — Cardinal cross fire. Ult: Battery (file charge + cross slam).
• Bishop — Diagonal X fire. Ult: Long Diagonal (X lasers).
• Knight — Fork spread. Ult: Outpost (L-leap).
• Queen — 8-way barrage. Ult: Absolute (orbit drones).
• King — Close nova. Ult: Royal Court (summons). Defeated mini/mid bosses join at 1/8 HP (3 min cooldown on death).

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Bosses

Mini at 3:30 and 10:30 · Mid at 7:00 · Final at 12:30. Playing King: defeated mini/mid bosses can join the court (not The King).

Mini

• Rolling Rook — Cardinal charges + plus-slam.
• Shadow Knight — L-leaps, forks, rain marks.
• Cardinal Bishop — Diagonal lasers + blinks.
• Lesser Queen — File/diagonal charges + bursts.
• Pawn Guard — Axis dashes, pawn walls/rings.

Mid

• Dual Knight — Faster chained L-leaps + mines.
• Greater Bishop — Stronger diagonal lasers, more volleys.
• Black Queen — Faster charges, heavier bursts.

Final

• The King — 3 phases: slams, royal burst, summons, short dashes, castling.

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Performance (tested)

Android — MediaTek Helio G85, 4 GB RAM
Mostly 40–60 FPS, with occasional dips to ~30. Please try other devices and report results.

PC — Intel Core i5-10210U · Intel UHD Graphics · ~16 GB RAM
Runs smoothly. Try other PCs and report.

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Donate

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USDT (TRC20)
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(Also in-game: Donate → Copy wallet.)