Turnabout Tactics

A chess puzzle game where you play both sides, no opponent, no checkmate. Each level sets its own objectives. Some pieces explode when captured, others freeze or shield the squares around them, and some move right through other pieces. Rewind freely until every objective is met at once.

Command the Chaos.

Bombs detonate when captured. Shields turn attacks away. Freezing auras lock down every square around them. Ghost pieces slide through anything in the way. Fragile squares may crumble when you move, and holes cut off the board entirely. Every level hands you a different set of these, and the solution is always hiding in how they combine.

You control both armies.

There's no opponent. You move white, then black, then white again, alternating sides every turn. Both colors are yours, so capturing your own pieces and making sacrifices no real game would allow is often the whole point.

No chess skill needed.

Pieces move by standard chess rules. There are no kings, no check, and no checkmate. This isn't a match to win, it's a position to solve.

Pick up a piece and every square it can reach lights up, so you never have to remember how a knight moves or which way a pawn takes. Switch the highlights off in the settings whenever you want the harder version.

Every level wants something different.

Some levels want the board cleared to a single piece. Others want a whole color wiped out, a specific pawn promoted, a chosen piece walked to a target square, or a vulnerable piece kept alive to the end. When a level sets several goals, you have to satisfy all of them at the same time.

You can't lose.

Rewind and redo any move instantly. Chase a bad idea, see where it breaks, and step back without penalty. If a position has no legal moves left, you simply rewind. The only way out of a puzzle is to actually solve it.

Features

One player, two armies. You move white, then black, then white.

Basic chess movement. No kings, no check, no checkmate.

Pieces that explode, shield, freeze, or move straight through other pieces.

Boards with fragile squares, holes, and portals.

Objectives that stack: clear the board, promote a pawn, walk a piece to a square, keep a piece alive, capture in a set order.

Rewind and redo as much as you like.

170 levels, all hand-crafted.