Chesster

This is my 1st review. I don't normally bother with them, but I just wanted to counter the negative reviews (most of which seem to have vanished now). There was an issue with steam upon release which apparently resulted in the game being erroneously free for a short period of time. It was never meant to be free, but some reviewers had given them a negative review simply because they felt shortchanged because they paid for a game that was free for a bit... they were saying it should be free to play, even though there are no in app purchases...Dev's gotta be supported somehow! I paid for it and I'm glad I did.
This is a fun little puzzle game. I'll put it simply, if you like puzzle games and want to try a bejeweled type game with a chess twist, give it a go. There are a few different game types, and it does seem to be tricky in some levels (especially the puzzle and challenge levels) and I'm still fairly early on in the game.
It's cheap, it is a tried and tested genre with a twist, and the dev seems to be active in the forums at this early stage, so I'd definitely recommend it if you like this type of game.

I'm not a fan of mindless Match-3 games, but I do enjoy new and innovative ideas that make you think. Chesster is a new twist on placement puzzles which will challenge your wits to plan ahead.
If you like strategy and logic games, give this one a try. It has an appropriate theme with three types of gameplay that will keep you up at night for just one more round. All this wrapped in a friendly price tag.

Only played this game for about a half hour. But enough to know, this game combines a wonderful blend of Chess and a weird Match3 rolled onto one game. Think you're good at Chess or Match 3....Guess again! This amazing game will give you hours of highly addictive fun and maybe a headache or two long the way, lol! Great game, Devs Thanks! Happy Gaming, Everyone!

Do you like match-3 and playing Chess?
Well if you do, then this is the biggest scientific break-through since sliced bread.
The gameplay is actually quite good and solid.
It does get quite challenging and orientated towards taking your time to plan your moves, it is not speed/time related at all. This is mainly because the tiles are signified as Chess pieces and they follow the Chess movement ruleset. The 'matching' follows the match-3 ruleset; Puzzle Quest (MPQ), Bejeweled style.
How it usually works is each of your 'turns' is broken into three moves. So, you get to plan/set three movements of three different tile pieces, and then they all move together at the same time 'completing' your turn.
You can make match 4, 5, etc 'L' and 'T' shapes, etc. If you match 5 tiles you get a special 'Queen' tile piece that you can make some special combo matches to get bonus points.
Each board will be of a certain gameplay type, including; normal mode (standard gameplay), puzzle mode (solve a trick match), challenge mode (clear a specific number of blocks).
On a normal/standard gameplay board each turn will have what is called a 'point requirement' which actually works like a 'tax'. Basically every turn after your 'matches' have triggered and you have accumulated points then the 'point requirement' is deducted from that turns points haul. If you gained more points than the 'point requirement' then your total score will increase by the difference, if you gained less points then the difference will be deducted from your total score instead. The major downside to this 'tax' is that each turns point haulage also must reach a certain amount to unlock the collectable treasure pieces, which unfortunately is after the 'tax' has been deducted.
Room for improvements:
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1) There is no tutorial, limited story telling, so it is difficult to workout what sequence you should play the boards in, etc. When I first started I didn't understand what the green, red, or blue 'nodes' stood for or what the 'green key' signified.
2) In the planning/setting of the 3x tile movements that make up my 'turn' why can we not have the ability to 'cancel'? If you change your mind about which pieces you want to move after you have already set one piece then you are screwed.
3) I am not sure yet, but I think if you want to collect all the treasure pieces you may have to play certain 'nodes' over and over as some of the treasure pieces will be quite hard to get. The real problem here though is that on the map the 'nodes' don't show you what treasure is at that location, so the only way to find out will be to enter and then play them. This will result in a huge amount of hunting through 'nodes' if you want to go back for missing treasure pieces in the future. Or, a huge amount of 'grinding' if you decide to only move forward on the map once you have collected all treasure pieces from each 'node'.
4) Would be nice if the game had achievements and more music tracks, I think the game only has one?
If you understand how to play Chess and like match-3 then I would recommend this game.

Chesster has some tactical and strategic elements to it, but the RNG can be unforgiving in later levels.

Like chess? Check.
Like match-three games (but find them a bit simplistic)? Check.
Like Chesster? Check mate!!
Slightly more seriously, there is one thing about this game that really, really bugs me.
And that's the fact that I didn't think of it first.
All the simplicity of match mechanics, but with some real thought required in places. A really inspired 'obvious' blend of genres. But only obvious once you've seen it. Like some of the puzzles in the game, really. Kudos.
The interface felt a bit lethargic at first; maybe some of the animations like score calculation and so on could be given a bit of a poke with a sharp stick? But once you have adjusted to the pace that's not really a problem.
I'm hoping that this is well enough supported that the dev decides to keep with it. Who knows; more levels? More game modes? I'd certainly be up for a Chesster2 or Chinese Chesster. Or even a Goster (which I can't quite get my head around; but it sounds kind of intriguing)..

If you like Chess, and you like puzzles, chances are you'll LOVE Chesster.
I write this on the morning I finally solved a level I'd been stuck on for a couple of years. Dancing and exaltation did occur. :)