I won't claim to be a tactical genius, but when it comes to beating roguelikes, I've played more than my fair share. These days, it rarely takes me long to mash enough synergies together to secure wins in pretty much any game thrown my way.

Today, however, I have finally met my nemesis. I am absolutely terrible at Gambonanza, and frankly, it is embarrassing.

The High Stakes of Chess-Based Combat

On the surface, Gambonanza is a very simple concept. Each round, you deploy a small number of chess pieces on a tiny board—initially just three—with the goal of capturing all enemy pieces before losing your own. Every piece follows traditional chess movement rules: pawns move and capture diagonally forward, bishops move along diagonals, and so on.

In practice, this simplicity creates incredibly tight puzzles. You must constantly weigh every threatened square while maneuvering your pieces to capture the enemy without leaving yourself vulnerable to a counter-attack. It is enough to wrap your brain in knots.

The pressure is intensified by the game's effective permadeath mechanics. Any piece of yours that is captured is gone forever. While you can purchase randomized replacements from the shop between rounds, it is costly; one bad round is often enough to put you in a hole that is impossible to dig out of.

Mastering Synergies and Gambits

Normally, I would rely on cheap synergies to save my bacon, but finding a winning strategy in Gambonanza is difficult. Because the concepts are so abstract, it is hard to know what will be most effective. You might try stacking your bench with specific pieces, but you are left wondering: is a board full of knights actually a good strategy?

The next layer of depth involves buying gambits to grant yourself permanent bonuses. This is where the true roguelike strategy comes in. Some of these potential upgrades include:

  • Earning free pawns whenever your queen is in check.
  • Allowing bishops to move with the power of kings.

While I can see how these could form game-breaking combos, surviving long enough to execute them is another question entirely.

Facing Eldritch Bosses

Whenever I do manage to muddle through a few rounds, my reward is facing one of the game's surprisingly eldritch bosses. These creatures feature disturbing appearances and impose special powers that make the tactical puzzle even harder.

These boss effects can include:

  • Making squares of the board fall away into a void.
  • Preventing you from seeing enemy deployment during the planning stage.
  • Introducing elite pieces that are uncapturable until they are the last ones left.

It is a brilliant use of simplicity wielded as a weapon, creating intricate puzzles out of 1,500-year-old rules. If you want to test your own skills, you can download the Gambonanza demo on Steam for free right now. The full release is scheduled for May 1 this year.