The Game Census
Once a Pawn a King cover art

Once a Pawn a King

Clover Bite · indie.io · 2026-06-25

Steam

IndieStrategy

Modes: Single player

Releases: Aug 18, 2025 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Chess is broken. Gather the Black Army, build a party of chess pieces, and battle through fractured boards in this asymmetric turn-based roguelike. Empower your army, adapt your strategy each run, and unravel the mystery behind a world trapped in an endless match.

59%
positive of 56 reviews
Mixed
steam rating
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$7.79
steam price (US)

Health check

Quiet
  • · 23 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~3/week).
  • · Review velocity up 77% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 72% of 18,216 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 1.1k–2.5k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 56 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

lowest across shops (ITAD)$7.79-35%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $6.14 at GameBillet (2026-06-25)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $11.99 · on sale 27 of 54 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
111120252026Week of 2025-08-18: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-08-18: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-25: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-10-06: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-03: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-17: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-24: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-11-24: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-12-08: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-12-15: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-03-30: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-04-06: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-05-25: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-06-15: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-06-22: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-06-22: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-06-29: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-07-06: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-13: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-27: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$11.99$5.352025-08-182026-08-222025-08-18 — best price $9.592025-09-29 — best price $9.592025-12-18 — best price $9.592026-01-25 — best price $9.592026-03-09 — best price $8.992026-03-19 — best price $8.992026-03-30 — best price $11.992026-04-01 — best price $11.992026-04-03 — best price $11.992026-04-16 — best price $10.672026-04-24 — best price $10.662026-05-04 — best price $7.612026-05-17 — best price $7.792026-05-21 — best price $11.992026-05-31 — best price $11.992026-06-02 — best price $10.692026-06-15 — best price $6.232026-06-19 — best price $6.152026-06-25 — best price $6.142026-06-29 — best price $7.792026-07-22 — best price $11.992026-07-24 — best price $6.172026-08-01 — best price $8.982026-08-07 — best price $10.372026-08-10 — best price $8.632026-08-13 — best price $6.232026-08-20 — best price $8.632026-08-22 — best price $7.79
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerCustom Volume ControlsKeyboard Only OptionMouse Only OptionSubtitle OptionsFamily Sharing

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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