Rust
Rust
Game
Game2023
Checkmate Showdown
Developer BadRez Games
Chess meets Fighting games. Crush your opponents in the arena and on the chessboard in this online multiplayer competitive tactical fighting game that mixes the strategic elegance of Chess with the fast-paced execution of fighting games. From the Steam store page
182 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 2, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
77
LovedLoved
130 positive · 39 negative
95% range 70–83%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 130 | 39 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
153 of 194 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 132 yes, 39 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 171 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (192 of 241 positive).
Players praise the innovative blend of chess and fighting game mechanics. [1][2][3] Some find the fighting game aspect shallow or lacking depth. [4][5][6] Technical issues like crashes and dead online play are noted. [7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
I wish I could recommend this because I love indie fighting games. However, as it is on launch, this is a chess game with a shallow misunderstanding of what fighting games are attached to it. Some things I do like, right out of the gate: the presentation, practice mode with frame data, the combo system, rollback netcode, and the overall idea of "action chess", of sorts. I kind of wish the pawns could also attack …
- [1]
An innovative take on fighting games where a background in chess/tactics can give you an edge. First, this is a fighting game, not a chess game - fighting game skills will determine wins and losses most of the time. But if you put two equally fighting game-skilled players against each other, the one with better chess tactics will be more likely to win. Each of the pieces are like traditional fighting game …
- [9]
Fun party fighting game to play with friends, characters and combos are easy to pickup and the novelty of fighting with chess pieces is a blast. If you've played the demo the main change here is you can play full games, which is perfect. Can recommend if you wanna beat up your FG friends and lose to your chess friends
- [2]
Honestly, an innovative game and a creative concept, it has its minor flaws but the core gameplay is enough to ignore it. If you enjoy chess or fighting games like Guilty Gear then this is def worth your money even if you are new to chess or fighting games.
- [3]
I used to play chess as a kid, but I'm not a fan of fighting games so I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this. However, the mix of the two works surprisingly well! For example, surrounding an adversary's piece on the board allows you to have a special tag-assist attack during the fight segments, which adds an extra layer of strategy to the chess segments. Also, pieces have a health bar that persists between battles, …
Summarised from 34 of the 184 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
77% of the 171 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Checkmate Showdown. The complaint that keeps coming up: fighting game mechanics feel shallow or incomplete. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 182 · most liked firstwait a minute, you're telling me i can suck at both chess AND fighting games at the same time now?? SIGN ME UP BABY!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bringing two of the most toxic communities together. The Chess and the Fighting game community. It's great.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I may be bad at chess but you still have to catch this 50/50 to win
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An innovative take on fighting games where a background in chess/tactics can give you an edge. First, this is a fighting game, not a chess game - fighting game skills will determine wins and losses most of the time. But if you put two equally fighting game-skilled players against each other, the one with better chess tactics will be more likely to win. Each of the pieces are like traditional fighting game characters: bishop, rook, knight, queen, king. Pieces have health divided into five 200…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish I could recommend this because I love indie fighting games. However, as it is on launch, this is a chess game with a shallow misunderstanding of what fighting games are attached to it. Some things I do like, right out of the gate: the presentation, practice mode with frame data, the combo system, rollback netcode, and the overall idea of "action chess", of sorts. I kind of wish the pawns could also attack because having a SamSho style Nicotine type character in this game would be very…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →En passant is pretty much a fuzzy guard break if you think about it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I may be bad at chess but you still have to catch this 50/50 to win
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the concept and the presentation. But in practice its just really, eh. Feels very shallow. As someone who plays both chess and fighting games both sides seem kinda lacking. The fighting game is very one note and I'm not very interested in engaging with it. The lack of interlocking more advanced systems makes it feel alot less interesting to think about and control outside of buttonmashing and playing rock paper scissors. No blockstrings, neutral, mixups, combos, etc. Doesnt feel…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun party fighting game to play with friends, characters and combos are easy to pickup and the novelty of fighting with chess pieces is a blast. If you've played the demo the main change here is you can play full games, which is perfect. Can recommend if you wanna beat up your FG friends and lose to your chess friends
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Incredibly fun to play, sadly my friend and I tried to play three times and still never managed to actually finish a game due to random crashes regardless of who hosted. :( Can't recommend in its current state but would likely be an enjoyable experience if the technical issues are ever solved.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very cool concept, with cool character design and artstyle but fails at the very aspect its made for: being a good fighting game. There is no blocking in air, high blocking, low blocking. Foward and Air dash is terrible compared to back dash, etc. I could list a million bad issues with the core gameplay, but its more than just that. keeping health on pieces isnt a bad idea, but by having every piece have the same HP, it makes king feel no stronger than a rook. Not to mention my main complaint…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the update chess needed for centuries, it's finally playable, 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i'm sure the devs are cool folks. what's here is lovingly made, but i just can't recommend very cool idea. not enough options for solo play, which sucks because online is dead even a difficulty slider would do wonders as it stands, i played a handful of solo games and crushed the NPC every time with my 400 ELO chess and bronze-tier FGC skills. without a solid playerbase or other options for solo play, i've literally seen every piece of content available to me in this game would really love…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My friend and i are pretty much the only players on this game most days, but it's always a damn good game to end the night on. I'm better at chess and he's better at fighting games, there's a lot of fun in bridging that gap I B-line for his king and he wipes my pieces one by one but i'll be damned if it isn't a hell of a lot of fun! the score is 21-14 in his favor, but i'm getting there only downside i would say is that a lot of the moves are almost somewhat hidden ? i could swear we've…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Lets reinvent the wheel as a square!", said checkmate showdown not having high/low block and not making pawns playable in the fights
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted so badly to like this game because it's such an interesting concept. It has no player base and all of the achievements have online matchmaking requirements. The fighting feels really clunky and the moves on the chessboard feel kind of slow and overall irrelevant. There's no debuffs to attacked chess pieces either so chess skills mean nothing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Moves on the chessboard feel irrelevant. Doesn't force you to move out of check, which is weird. The fighting part against the ai Doesn't feel satisfactory. Online game is dead, literally zero opponents online. If you've finished one game, you've seen the whole game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly, an innovative game and a creative concept, it has its minor flaws but the core gameplay is enough to ignore it. If you enjoy chess or fighting games like Guilty Gear then this is def worth your money even if you are new to chess or fighting games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The hardest part of this game is finding friends willing to play against me I've never been pandered too harder in my life
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3. Checkmate Showdown Chess but you engage in a fighting game if any major pieces (not Pawns) meet. I haven't actually played it but the whole battle chess concept could be fun. The movement and combos are sorta anime. store.steampowered.com/app/1803410/...
neutral · AI labelView post →I thought it was a fun game. All my friends disagreed and don't want to play with me anymore :(
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When i first played fps chess i was hoping for something like this to come out, and even better they made the chess part actually matter. the decision to make the pawns kill instantly and the king to be stronger depending on ur remaining pawns was a great way to blend the 2 polar opposite game styles. amazing work
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#Combotober Day 27: Combo that does not physically touch your opponent (Checkmate Showdown) I'm not great at chess but luckily I'm also not great at fighting games. It was tough to try and find a game for this prompt, but as soon as I remembered abt Knight I knew what I had to do.
neutral · AI labelView post →Where do I start? You like fighting games & like chess? This Game is for you You like fighting games but dislike chess? This game is for you You dislike fighting games but like chess? This Game is for you You dislike fighting games & dislike chess? Why did you even click on that page to begin with ? All the pieces are extremely fun to play and for more advanced players, fun to optimise. I recommend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Now I can outchess my friends and get my ass kicked Really do wish the cpu wasn't as threatening as an afk player though
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →peak fighting game (i cant play chess or fighting games)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think the game has a great concept, but just poor execution. Here are some positives that I have for this game: 1: I think the idea of a game that has chess combined with 2D is a really cool idea. I do like the the fighting style of things because it's so cool to see your character just beat up the other one. If you can get a really good combo and execute it perfectly, it could one shot your opponent, which isn't the best feature, or the worst feature at the same time. 2: I absolutely,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →better than tekken 8
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Chess/fighting + graphics + multiplayer = An unusual unique blend of brains and brawn. Each piece has slightly different moves and stats. Rooks are a bit slower but have more damage for example. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35180752-3-point-play/] Follow our curator for similar games
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →About as unhinged as you'd expect given the premise. Blundering a piece only to schmix your opponent so hard that you uno-reverse their attempts to punish you is a wild feeling. Highly recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →better made than fps chess
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good Concept, Dog water fighting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I used to play chess as a kid, but I'm not a fan of fighting games so I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this. However, the mix of the two works surprisingly well! For example, surrounding an adversary's piece on the board allows you to have a special tag-assist attack during the fight segments, which adds an extra layer of strategy to the chess segments. Also, pieces have a health bar that persists between battles, which means you can't keep using the same one again and again. All of this means…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine a fun concept with a metric ♥♥♥♥ ton of strategy and effort put into it only to be ruined by 2 things. Thing #1- Le pawn. Why the ♥♥♥♥ can the pawn isnta obliterate everything in the entire game without a fight? It hardly seems fair that all of the supposed powerful pieces have to show up and fight each other and can get ♥♥♥♥♥ slapped by a pawn and die immediately. Should have had pawn fights at least. Thing #2- Le broken rook. Imagine giving a character everything. Unreal speed,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →" Who needs strategy when you're the [best fighting game player] in the west"- Sheriff Todd Hayseed
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game works. as expected the fighting is kinda weird. but it gets the job done. this game is fun along the lines of KUNG POW first of fury movie being funny, as in its dumb but still a good movie. i am debating about refunding, mainly cuz im worried about player count. not to many people are going to spend 20 bucks on this game when theres much more polished games at this price point. i think they are pullin that price cuz theres not to many games like this and people that happen to like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Checkmate Showdown is a hybrid Chess Fighting-Game, not unlike the MK minigame, Chess Kombat. Players play normal chess until one is ready to capture a piece, at which point it becomes a footsie-based 2D FG, albeit a rather simple one - you also get assists if there are pieces in adjacent squares.
neutral · AI labelView post →Phenomenal gimmick game; extremely creative concept, executed very well I'm not good at chess or 2d fighters, but dang this game is just too funny not to play ... My friend beat me up irl with Rook Potemkin, 10/10 game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly the game is kinda alright but not worth 20 dollars for what it offers. It's literally chess but with fighting game mechanics. I think the animations are way too choppy. Watching the pieces walk up and smack each other is so stupid looking lol. The color and shading look really strange. I think black and white would look way better over orange and blue. I also think the game should create custom pieces or add pieces from other games like shogi. It'll add more flavor and strategy. In…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Neat game but at a $20 price point it just doesn't do chess or fighting games well enough to be a good representation of either. Would be an instant recommendation if free or even base $10 but it's just not good enough.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a really good fighting game; I'm all for indie fighting games. But, something about it just doesn't feel finished? Granted it's very early in release for me to say much but I think it lacks impact. Could use some new, more "hype" hit sounds rather than the ones currently in the game. It sounds like I'm just hitting a sack of sand which is a bit lackluster for landing hits. Take Street Fighter 6, for example, and that's a good sound direction the game could head to. Speaking of, the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Note: I have more than 20 hours if you add all the betas. The Good: 1. The concept is fresh. 2. The graphics are pretty clean. 3. Each piece feels "correct", move set-wise and design-wise. 4. Knight might be my favorite fighting character ever, unironically - making his move set "R-Shaped" is cool! 5. The netcode is nice. 6. The devs are very nice and responsive, and they listen to all feedback. The Bad: 1. The game feels barren - no arcade mode, tutorial, more than 1 music, no difficulty…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am super excited for this to be a very successful and polished game. I play both chess(1200) and fighting games (SF6 Plat4) I found it frustrating to lose to someone who disregarded the chess aspect and attacked with his/her queen. The queen seems to be a massively over tuned fighter. I understand that the queen is the most powerful piece on the chess board so it makes some sense for it to be the strongest fighter. But what that player was able to do to me with the queen, coupled with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is good, but are there even people playing? I got like one match in one hour...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you can DP the king with da bishop its nice
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very basic fighting game, and while its lax the combat feels clunky and a little unsatisfying
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was going to write a more in-depth review, but I didn't save it and the website I was writing it on refreshed so I lost all of what I was gonna say... I'll just summarise my thoughts here. 1. I don't like defense in this game, the lack of high/low blocking as well as strike/throw mix really bothers me. I understand guard breaks are supposed to balance this design decision, but I really feel like this game would benefit from a more traditional blocking system. Also the lack of proximity guard…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like the concept of chess boxing, this is the game for you! Checkmate showdown is fun, reactive and intense. The characters designs and animations are great. I like the swiftness of the cavalier, the brute force of the tower and the variety of moves in the bishop's skill set. I recommend buying this game to everyone who love chess but need a little bit more violence when they destroy their opponent chess piece.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best investment of my life, the placement of the pieces are not the same as in chess they have renewed strategies, I have a lot of ideas to refine the game if a dev goes through it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →And after a long hiatus, another one of my indie fighting game review articles is up on SuperCombo.gg! This time, about my experience with the open beta of Checkmate Showdown, an interesting mixture between chess and fighting games! #FGC supercombo.gg/2023/09/15/c...
positive · AI labelView post →most of the people on Bsky that follow me are here for yugioh but fuck you i wanna post about fighting games. finally got around to playing Checkmate Showdown (the chess fg) and this game fucks, it fucks so hard. ive finally been vindicated after years of saying a chess fg would rule
positive · AI labelView post →This game has a TON of potential. It's good as it is right now, but it could be SOOOO much better. I really hope the game blows up enough for the devs to want to continue it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I enjoy the simple fighting mechanics and the unique designs from what is obviously a small development team, I would not recommend this to anyone unless you meet all the following 3: - You LOVE fighting games - You like chess and are willing to compromise on gameplay for a unique mash of chess and fighting - You have someone else to play this with (small game means no one online, and the AI is unbelievably easy both in the chess and fighting aspect) Overall unless this is a game you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sadly dead game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't know a single thing about chess but bishop go brrrrrrr
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is greater than the sum of its parts. The chess is, well, chess. The fighting game is sufficiently deep despite its seemingly simple nature. First and foremost, I believe this game is skewed to the fighting game, but it still makes the chess important. The strength of the pieces are deliberately skewed to provide an incentive to use your stronger pieces. Attacking gives your character an ultimate that can hit once per match. It will recharge if you miss, so your attackers advantage…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's chess with slight differences in stradegy with awful fighting game segments. The controls are clunky, there's a lack of clarity in the animations, one button specials may be a turnoff, it's extremely over simplistic, basically having 3 attacks which are just auto combos. It feels like they looked at fps chess and quickly throw together a poorly understood interpretation of a fighting game. It has some cool mechanics, but overall it's pretty awful.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing game, combining chess and fighting games adds a ton of depth to both size. The game has a small character roster compared to current fighting game standards ; but the assist options, board states, ultimates, and health carrying over between fights, makes it so that matches don't feel repetitive at all!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been a fan of both chess and fighting games for a long time. This is the perfect blend of both. The devs put a lot of love into the game and are set to continue that drive for the foreseeable future. I highly highly recommend giving this game a try. :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very fun blend of chess and fighting game. Strong reccomend for anyone who likes strategy and fighting game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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