Chase the King Launches on Steam, Taking On Chess Giants With a Game Where You Buy Your Army Mid-Match

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov 11, 2026. Independent studio Strategic Entertainment today released Chase the King on Steam for Windows PC at $5.99. The single-player chess variant gives each player one piece at the start of a match: the king. Everything else has to be earned and bought while the game is being played.

The largest chess platforms compete on scale. They offer more opponents, more puzzles, more lessons and more ways to analyze the same 32 pieces on the same 64 squares. Chase the King does not try to match any of that. It changes the question a player answers each turn, from "what is the best move?" to "do I move, or do I spend?"

A match opens with a lone king on the player's side of the board. There is no memorized opening and no opening theory to study, because there is no army to develop. Piece movement is standard chess, so anyone who knows how a knight moves can play in the first minute.

Ordinary moves earn coins. Captures and checks earn bonus coins. Aggressive play funds the next piece, and passive play leaves the treasury empty.

Coins buy reinforcements, and each purchase uses the player's turn.

New pieces deploy on the home ranks. Recruiting is unavailable while in check, so a player who waits too long to spend can lose with a full purse. Saving for a queen means surviving ten coins' worth of turns with whatever is already on the board.

Captured pieces can drop coins or extra pieces. A rare drop grants a second king, which works as an extra life for that match. To win, a player checkmates the rival while keeping at least one king safe.

The main mode is a 100-level climb against computer opposition. A win moves the player up one level. A loss costs one level through level 20 and five levels after that. At higher levels the rival starts with an extra piece.

"The big chess platforms have spent years perfecting the same game. We can't outspend them and we're not trying to. We changed one rule, that you start with a king and nothing else, and it changes every decision after it. That is something a small studio can do and a giant has no reason to risk."

Erik Reynolds, founder, Strategic Entertainment

• Five inked gothic settings across the climb: the Royal Court, the Catacombs, the Foundry, the Rain and the Throne of Ash, each drawn in black and white with a single spot color
• A traditional chess mode alongside the recruitment variant
• Court and isometric camera views, optional coordinates and move history
• The Royal Armory, an in-game store of cosmetic boards, piece sets and backgrounds that do not affect play
• Fully offline play with locally saved progress

Chase the King is available now on Steam for Windows PC at $5.99. A free demo includes levels 1 through 49, a separate level-80 challenge and traditional chess mode.

Strategic Entertainment is an independent games studio based in Charleston, South Carolina.

contact@studiostrategic.com