Beyond The Board Turns Chess into a Mind-Bending Puzzle Adventure - Demo OUT NOW on Steam

THIS IS (NOT) A CHESS GAME

Every move is a step deeper into a world, where puzzles and shifting tiles reveal fractures within the game’s very foundations.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 26th May at 2pm BST

May 26, 2025 – Fragile Shapes Studio announces Beyond the Board, a minimalist puzzle adventure coming very soon to Steam. In this surreal, chess-inspired world, you’ll guide a lone Rook through a land of shifting tiles, searching for answers and the rest of your party as you solve puzzles within a game turned existential maze. Imagine Monument Valley meets Limbo in a checkered universe.

Unveiled during the OTK Games Expo with a first look at gameplay, Beyond the Board breaks the boundaries of the chessboard. Here, pieces defy the grid, puzzles twist perception, and the path forward is anything but linear. No chess knowledge required—just curiosity, and a willingness to lose yourself in the unknown.

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In Beyond The Board, players take control of a lone Rook, cast adrift after a bolt of lightning shatters a match mid-play and sends the board spiraling into a new dimension. As you pursue the enemy King through collapsing kingdoms and cursed lands, each step forward becomes a puzzle to solve — with shifting tiles, hidden pathways, enemy pieces, and powerful boss battles standing in your way.

Inspired by evocative puzzlers like Monument Valley and Limbo, Beyond The Board unfolds as a minimalist, immersive journey.

Its story is told not through dialogue, but through visual storytelling, atmosphere, and sound — inviting players to make sense of this surreal world piece by piece, through mood, movement, and the spaces in between.

Download the Press Kit

“This demo is just the beginning, a first look at the shifting landscapes, defying puzzles, and quiet mysteries that define our game.”
 Guilherme Gama, Programmer & Visual Artist

“Our design philosophy was to create a game that unfolds itself to you step by step, without saying a single word.”
 Bruno Mascarenhas, Game & Audio Designer

KEY FEATURES:
Explore fracture lands – Step into a quiet, surreal world, where each area carries echoes of something that’s come undone.
Solve puzzles with reimagined rules – Classic chess won’t be enough. Switches, moving tiles, and strange rules force you to rethink every move.
Face enemies and bosses – Enemy pieces follow rules, but not always yours. Learn their patterns through observation and find the cracks in their essence.
Unlock new paths and secrets – Return to past levels with new combinations to uncover hidden areas, strategies, and fragments of the story.
Demo Out Now:
The demo is now available on Steam, offering a first look at the journey ahead. 
Step into the world, share your discoveries, and wishlist Beyond The Board to follow its development.

For media inquiries, please contact: 
Thanos@criticalhitpr.com

About Fragile Shapes Studio
Fragile Shapes Studio is an independent game studio from Porto, Portugal, dedicated to crafting visually striking and immersive experiences. Composed of just two developers, Guilherme and Bruno, the studio focuses on blending art, sound, and design to create unique worlds.

Beyond the Board will be their debut project.