indiegame.fan
rook header art

rook

rook is a chess deckbuilding roguelike. cover your board in stickers and stack spare tiles to supercharge the cascading chaos and watch your scores go exponential, maybe then you might just survive the gauntlet.

Steam Page
Publisher
Release
Coming Soon
Steam Reviews
No reviews yet

Does this feel indie?

Vote based on whether this game feels indie to you. You can change your vote at any time. Results earn an IGF score after 10 accepted votes.
No votes yet
Vote on More Games
Game contextLatest: IGF Team
ContextThe evidence factors used to assess whether this game belongs on IndieGame.Fan.Status
Notes
Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes
Search Google: Who developed rook?Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer.
Search Google: Who published rook?Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher.
Search Google: Is rook self-published or published by updog?Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified.
Search Google: How is rook and updog funded?FundingThe known source of funding behind the game.
Search Google: Who controls the creative direction and IP for rook and gregory hodson?Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game.
Search Google: What is the release status of rook?Release statusWhether and how the game has been released.

Media

5 items

About the Game

rook is a chess roguelike where captures score points, pieces get permanent upgrades, and sticker and spare tiles combos spiral into the thousands.

Captures trigger calculations:

→ Base material from the piece

→ Stickers on the board add bonuses and multipliers

→ Spare tiles trigger passive effects

→ Everything cascades

Land a bishop on a tile with a sticker that rewards +50 material and x2 mult? That's 160 points. Add a spare tile that gives +3 mult per sticker triggered? Now it's 400. Stack more multipliers? The mayhem begins.

THE SHOP IS YOUR WORKSHOP

Between rounds, spend gold on permanent upgrades:

STICKERS - Attach to board tiles. When pieces land there, they trigger. Additive bonuses, multipliers, conditional effects, cascading chains. Place them where your pieces move most.

SPARE TILES - Passive abilities that trigger during scoring. Stack up to 5. They fire in order, so sequencing matters. Some scale with each other.

PIECE MUTATIONS - Upgrade your army. Gilded pieces give +50 material. Prismatic pieces add +10 mult. Inverted pieces multiply your final score by 1.5x. Choose wisely, you can't undo it.

BOOSTER PACKS - Randomized bundles of stickers, tiles, or pieces. High risk, high reward. Sometimes you get exactly what your build needs. Sometimes you get three Anchors.

TWELVE ROUNDS. FOUR BRACKETS AND THE INFINITE GAUNTLET IF YOU'RE FEELING LUCKY.

Beat all twelve rounds and unlock The Gauntlet, an endless mode where score targets scale 15% per round forever. This is where optimized builds find their breaking point.

The game doesn't explain optimal strategy because there isn't one. Sticker placement matters. Spare tile order matters. Knowing when to upgrade your queen versus saving credits for a pack, matters. You learn by failing, then running it back with a better plan.

FEATURES THAT ACTUALLY MATTER

✓ Unique stickers with conditional triggers and synergies

✓ Spare tiles that combo with each other

✓ Piece variants (gilded/prismatic/inverted) that change your approach

✓ Booster packs with different rarity distributions

✓ Upgraded pieces unlock scanning mechanics that reward careful positioning

✓ Minigame triggering tiles (dice, slots, puzzles)

✓ The Gauntlet endless mode for broken builds

✓ Full controller support

✓ No timers, no grinding, no gacha currencies

THE BOARD IS WAITING.