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Shotgun King

Chess with a shotgun!

Ratings

Age

13+

Category

Puzzle

Languages

English

Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is a strategic roguelike that reimagines chess. You move like a king, but you attack with a shotgun. Every turn, you decide whether to move or shoot. Manage your ammo, choose your upgrades wisely, and take down the entire White army to reclaim your throne.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

91/100

Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is brilliant, chaotic, and deeply strategic. It takes everything you know about chess and throws a 12-gauge shotgun into the middle of it. The brilliance lies in the 'Soul' mechanic and the ammo management; you can't just blast everything, or you'll find yourself trapped by a Knight with an empty chamber.

Each run feels fresh because of the card-based upgrade system. Forcing yourself to take a debuff (like giving the white pieces shields) just to get a powerful shotgun spread is a great risk-reward loop. It’s one of the most creative roguelikes in years and translates perfectly to the mobile format.

Dinsun reviewed on: Fri Feb 27 2026

Features

1

Unique Hybrid Gameplay

2

Challenging Roguelike Loop

3

Retro Pixel Art Style

4

Deep Strategic Choices

Featured In

Hail to the King
Hail to the King
Charge across the chessboard in tense tactical gambits.
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Tips & Walkthrough

Gameplays

Screenshot

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Q&A

Basic knowledge of how pieces move helps, but the game is easy to pick up for newcomers.

Ratings & Reviews

Worth Every Penny
Tue Feb 24 2026 A Daily Dose Of Love

I play chess every day and randomly saw this pop up on pre orders in December 2025 so I screenshotted it so I wouldn’t forget. It came out today and I had to check it out. From the opening menu screen and brilliant old school sound design I knew I found a gem but was curious how a shotgun could fit into an already perfect strategy game like chess. Turns out…It always needed a 12 gauge. It’s got some of the funniest dialogue I’ve seen in a game and I’m weirdly invested in the story. Combat is super satisfying and it’s just a super well made strategy game. If you love chess and you’ve wanted to blow up a horse that’s threatening a checkmate but can’t…now you can. I’m gonna struggle to return to chess having experienced what it’s like to use a BOOM STICK on those pesky traitorous white pieces. FOR THE KING!!!!!!!

If you pay for a game, pay for this one
Fri Mar 13 2026 Anfytsg

The gameplay loop is so entertaining to me, so many little details I’m surprised this game is not more popular. However, I keep encountering a glitch where using right stick to aim while using the white shoes or the search orb causes the game to freeze completely. Works same as pc version otherwise

Great game but…
Mon Mar 02 2026 Ryan4268

Just starting by saying it’s a lot of fun I’ve got it on steam and saw it on phone and had to get it again. I would have given it 5 stars but I can’t Unfortunately, when trying to use the run n gun shoes(can’t remember the name) the game froze on me. Music stopped playing, pieces stopped wiggle I couldn’t move; had to quit the game and on return I lost my run. At this point unless that is fixed I can’t play again. Not exactly sure how the bug happened, but if it happened once I’m sure it’ll happen again so I hope it’s identified soon cause this game is so much fun. Until then 2 stars so this is noticed and addressed before it happens to others.

Stay away from the Royal Loafers
Sun Mar 15 2026 Alphawolf001

Great game! Experimental builds are rewarded with new shotguns, which is a fun incentive. Different game modes to switch things up if you need. I personally love the original Throne and climbing the ranks. Would be a 5 , but the game is currently bugged. The Royal Loafers, the one that makes you run and gun, crashes the game. If you’re curious , try the demo on Steam and see for you like it. That’s how I got into this. I prefer the ease of playing on my phone instead of being locked down on my PC. Seems very fitting to be a game you can play on the go.

The best chess roguelite finally comes to Mobile
Mon Mar 09 2026 carpe-dmt

Bought this game the SECOND I saw it on the App Store because I’ve played at least a dozen hours on steam and it’s been amazing, easily the best chess roguelite ever made and I can’t wait for it to take up hours and hours of time I would normally have spent doom scrolling.

Shotgun King
Mon Mar 02 2026 Q*bert goes boom

I don’t even like chess, but I love this game. The retro look and sound fits this game perfectly. TONS of cards. Each game is totally random, so you never play the same game twice. My first day I played the game 50+ times. Well worth my money. Well worth my time playing it. Excellent!

A perfect PC port
Wed Feb 25 2026 Megafitz

Shotgun king stands out from the existing chess rouge likes and was well ported from the PC version to mobile. One critic is that I wish it was easier to save mid run since this is a mobile game. However the gameplay and depth is exactly like the pc version.

Amazing Game, Critical Bugs (Crashes)
Sat Mar 07 2026 Mac2298

I love the game but the game crashes various points. The most regular crash seems to be when wearing the “shoes” and aiming. Some other crashes have occurred as well. Happens 25% of my runs which is frustrating.

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