Five Elements Chess takes the purity of match-3 gameplay and applies elemental countering principles to make a fantastic, easy to learn and hard to master strategy game.
By this point I think that most people understand the interplay between Fire, Water and Grass, if not due to general understanding of the elements then certainly through Pokémon types. Five Elements Chess takes this formula, adds Iron and Earth, and builds it into an exceptional strategy game about building matches to use the elements for either offense or defence.
About to take a massive hit from your opponent? Fuse together Earth to create a hardened shell, or Iron to create a shield. Opponent wrapped in healing leaves? Burn them with fire to singe away the healing. Alternatively – and this is where Five Elements Chess surprises and delights – you can overcharge defences to deal damage to your opponent. Watering those healing roots will make them stronger, to a degree, but if you push them over the cap then they’ll grow so dense that they’ll damage the person they were previously healing.
I’ve found, through my many years of playing, than there’s nothing more exciting that switching somebody’s own defences against them – be that lining them up against their own turret, or swapping place with them in games like Heat Signature – and this fully captures that ‘Gotcha’ moment, especially when it nets you the win. I played through quite a large part of the campaign mode, and the included vs mode, while at New Game Plus earlier in the year, and excitedly await the release.
Five Elements Chess is expected to launch later this year for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, App Store and Google Play.
