Shinogi Chess Club
Shinogi Chess Club is a hybrid-genre experience that combines Visual Novel storytelling with free-roaming 3D exploration and a playable strategy game! Uncover the secrets of Yoshino High School, compete against various AI opponents in the Spring Championships, and join the Shinogi Chess Club!
In the far future, the world has been plunged into an economic depression. One prefecture in Japan has managed to stay afloat by investing in a new board game variant called Shinogi Chess. Companies, governments, and institutions have all shifted their focus towards getting their best representatives to play for public amusement.
Yoshino High School is one such institution. Their Shinogi Chess Club is on the verge of being able to compete in the Spring Championships, an annual competition bringing fame and fortune to the city’s best players.
In the midst of this huge event, an upcoming competitor, Himiko Masaki, attempts to improve her skill in the game in order to chase down leads and stop a dangerous organization that’s threatening the school. But when she acquires a mysterious supernatural ability, her sense of self is put to the test. With the help of the Shinogi Chess Club members, Himiko must navigate these challenges and discover just how far she is willing to go for the truth!
Acting as a successor to the acclaimed Burden of Proof, Shinogi Chess Club advances RobProductions’ iconic visual novel hybrid style. Free roam the 3D environment throughout the story as you explore Yoshino High School in third person!
- Discover vital clues as Himiko investigates a dangerous organization
- Explore the Shinogi Chess Club Room and other key locations around the school
- Compete with the best of the best in the Spring Championship tournament
In this world, the entertainment craze of the future is a brand new variant of traditional chess. One key difference is the addition of new objectives and new piece types, which add a whole new layer of strategy for each turn. But the main feature of Shinogi Chess is piece stacking. Place pieces on top of each other to create a stack, which allows you to move both pieces at the same time!
Face off against various opponents who are introduced through the story segments. Learn their strategy by studying their personalities in order to effectively counter their moves. Discover new features of the game by experimenting with different stack types, plan your approach with move highlighting & a full reference book, and employ mind games to psych out other players with Hidden Pieces!
- Full standalone story experience set in the world of Burden of Proof
- Meet the members of the Shinogi Chess Club & solve a series of mysteries at the school
- Battle a variety of opponents in fully playable Shinogi Chess segments
- Test your skills & play custom battles in the flexible Practice Mode
- Explore Yoshino High School using the 3rd person controls
- Challenge your friends to Shinogi Chess with local multiplayer via Practice Mode
- Adjust the AI difficulty to your liking or use the Story Mode setting to skip the challenges entirely
- Revamped visual novel interface with adjustable text size & autoplay
- 4k screen support & compatible with any framerate
- Native versions for Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux
- Support for common input hardware, including the Xbox & DualShock controllers
- Complete subtitle support and other common accessibility features
- Full original soundtrack & album release
Game Discussion
Steam User 6
I feel like I've only scratched the surface of this game, but I can already confidently recommend it. The writing is interesting, Shinogi chess itself is quite fun and strategic, and the whole experience is overall unlike any other game I've played.
There are a few presentation-related shortcomings, but that's all superficial and doesn't really detract from the experience too much. The game has enough style and personality to make up for the rough graphics (though honestly even that has grown on me over time)
Steam User 5
Shinogi Chess Club hits you with that bumping soundtrack and hard-hitting chess play. It can be rough around the edges at times in the animations and models, but it's dripping in personality. If you're a chess fan or even a visual novel fan, you'll love this game!
Steam User 3
Shout out to Visual Novelty for introducing this game to me.
Pros
Shinogi Chess club was such an amazing experience.
Makes chess more complex while also allowing us stack them into a super piece.
The story was compelling, humorous and so many plot twists.
The art and music are both very unique (in a good way)
Absolutely loved the breakdown scenes/Evil eyes
Props to the voice Actors/Actresses for their amazing work
Cons
Unfortunately some lines sounded like they were recorded on a damaged mic, this caused a few scenes to lose its momentum.
Overall loved it and can't wait for more.
SHINOGI CHECKMATE!!!
Steam User 6
nice
Steam User 4
It's been GREAT keeping up with development and testing the game this past year! Awesome job Matt c: I don't play chess much but it's been an interesting experience. Excited to play the rest!
Steam User 3
The creator of this game, Matt, kindly gifted me a copy of this game. I hadn't really known what to expect and didn't go in with the highest expectations, but honestly the game was amazing. The story had lots of unexpected twists, the rules for Shinogi Chess were interesting and fun, and the music was exceptional. I highly recommend this game and I can't wait for the next one to come out!
Steam User 1
An fun chess variation wrapped in a fun narrative. Very fun.