Knight's Retreat Reviews

I'm not a chess player, but I found this game to somehow scratch that part of my brain that wishes I could be good at tactics. It has the right minimalistic but isometric style that allows you to envision the moves. I love that there is no counter stressing your brain. It's like a relaxing puzzle that can take me a few minutes or I can leave it unsolved for an hour and come back to it during the day. It also has the right sounds and camera viewpoints to see things from a different angle and move at your heart's content. Highly recommended for a relaxing puzzle to keep in the background. I love the traps and secret mechanisms that come in later.

Lovely, aesthetically pleasing puzzler with a gradually steepening difficulty curve. Just right, (k)nigh(t) perfect.

Get ready to retreat back to frustration with this. The levels get increasingly difficult and complicated as additional mechanics are introduced. Get ready to scratch your head and spend quite some time on this. Level 61 was the hardest for me, and also how can i forget level 19. Worth every penny for all chess enthusiasts out there. The best chess puzzle game out there, simple & fun.

Too many bugs when using the undo button, such as some tiles becoming inaccessible, and sometimes it seems to undo a few moves at once at once (I'm not certain of this, but I sometimes notice that a few of my knights have somehow moved backwards on their own, which I assume was caused by me while undoing a different move), and when you move a piece onto a tile with a button and then undo the move, the effect of the button is reversed but the piece remains on the button. This game only allows you to undo one move per turn, so you can imagine how frustrating it can be when the undo button is as wonky as it is. This isn't a problem for most levels, as this is a relatively easy puzzle game, but there is one particular level near the end that is significantly more complicated than the rest which I've been trying hard to solve, but the wonkiness of the undo button keeps forcing me to restart the whole level, which eventually led to me giving up on it. EDIT: Just want to add that I gave that level another go, and managed to beat it and the rest of the game afterwards! However, I stand by my negative review of the game as I didn't enjoy this game as much as I did the other chess puzzles by the same developer, not just because of the bugs, but also because I feel the rules for this game aren't as well-defined. I had to trial-and-error my way to see how things and work, and the buggy undo button just added unnecessary frustration.

Another minimalistic chess game from Minimol Games, bu--what's this? It's slightly less minimalisticalized. Is that a stream? A cactus? A campfire? The devil? Lava? [i]OH MY GOOOOOO[/i]-- [b][u]The Good[/u][/b]: [list] [*]Not so challenging that it's frustrating, but challenging enough to where it's gratifying to complete. [*]You can move the camera and zoom in/out. [*]It may be a retreat for knights, but there are other chess pieces in the game that you use. [*]Gimmicks: Different chess pieces, multiple knights/goals, 1-use squares, switches, tandem pieces. [*]While some of the environments are a bit derivative, each set of levels has its own. [*]The environments create a comfy atmosphere for the game...until you get to Hell. [*]Relaxing ambient music. [/list] [b][u]The Neutral[/u][/b]: [list] [*]80 levels. [*]Sometimes it's a bit difficult to tell what a piece is. [*]Some of the later levels are more on the easy side; especially when introducing new gimmicks. [/list] [b][u]The Bad[/u][/b]: [list] [*]The level select. Some levels are sort of obscured and you can't move the map around to see, only tilt it up and down. [/list] [b][u]Pro Tips[/u][/b]: [list] [*]If a space is 2-sided, keeping a piece on one side while preventing from dissolving when you put a piece on the other. [/list] [b]Knight's Retreat[/b] is both different and familiar at the same time. Minimol is known for their chess-based puzzle games and minimalistic approach. There are some elements here that are reminiscent of both [b]Unlock the King[/b] and [b]Knight Swap[/b], but it still manages to do its own thing. Worth it.

A completely different mechanic that was really cool, there are really different ways to make a game of chess, I loved this game. I recommend

Another amazing chess puzzle game by Minimol Games! I'm totally in love with the new beautiful graphics, and the new interesting and challenging mechanics! The soundtrack is as amazing as always, perfect for this game. I really recommend it if you are into a fun puzzle game, especially if you are a fan of chess games.

Great experience, I like games with chess moves, but I didn't expect to find one that was set in different scenarios; it has a fluidity of legal level that will entertain you with each new challenge. It's very cheap even though it is early access, a good opportunity to purchase a game that should grow!

Very nice game to play, it really feels like we are running away from something, very challenging and beautiful. To play it is enough to know the movements of the dressings, the puzzles are extremely interesting.

[i] Knight's Retreat [/i] is a low-to-mid-difficulty puzzle game aimed at players who are familiar with how chess pieces move. The goal of the game is to move at least one knight from its starting position to a final square. As the player gets deeper into the game, additional mechanics are introduced: other pieces, buttons which transform the map, and conjoined knights which move synchronously. Generally, these mechanics are shown organically and require little explanation. [b] [u] The Good: [/u] [/b] [list] [*]The intra-stage difficulty curve is generally well done. [*]The game is visually appealing, utilizing simplistic colour and shape palates, without distracting from the puzzles themselves. [*]The harder puzzles typically have multiple solutions. [/list] [b] [u] The Bad: [/u] [/b] [list] [*]Level [spoiler] 51 [/spoiler] took me longer than the rest of the game—not a good sign. [*]For many chess players, the double click system for piece placement is clunky and slow. [*]The camera zoom and rotation were restrictive. [*]The chess pieces are difficult to differentiate, particularly the bishop and queen. [*]The undo function should not be limited to one move. [*]The gimmicks were modular, rather than used synergistically. [*]There is no arrow-drawing function. [/list] Many of the negatives are due to poor UX, and have fairly simple fixes—the implementation of a function here, alternative piece sets there, etc. The poor UX did hamper player enjoyment, but it was not enough to ruin the game. For ~$3, expect to receive 1–4 hours of content, depending on your familiarity with chess and general puzzle-solving ability. For complete beginners, expect upwards of 6 hours of gameplay. That said, [i] Knight's Retreat [/i] is still early access. My recommendations for the developers would be to address UX issues by including additional functions such as arrow-drawing, manual zoom distance, and middle mouse rotation, along with offering alternative piece sets to help differentiate between piece types. Insofar as levels are concerned, there is a lot of potential for expansion through the use of additional gimmicks, gimmick combinations, and different end goals (like checkmating or winning material!). I think that a particularly useful, and simple gimmick would be utilizing "frozen" pieces, or pieces which may only move [i] x [/i] times before being frozen in place. Further places of polish would be the implementation of a medal system, for parameters such as total number of pieces moves, total number of knight moves, etc. [b] [u] The Bottom Line: [/u] [/b] I would recommend [i] Knight's Retreat [/i] to players looking for a casual puzzle game, have an interest in chess, and are not picky about UX restrictions. The content:dollar ratio may not be worth it for experienced puzzle players in the game's current state, as roughly half of the levels serve as tutorials.