The strategy game Rulehouse is putting a unique spin on chess, drawing inspiration from the Game Boy Advance era with its presentation and incorporating a variety of unconventional mechanics. The game aims to make chess more 'funky,' moving away from traditional rules and piece movements. A demo covering the first act introduces players to increasingly complex scenarios and modifiers.
Initially, levels focus on basic pawn-only gameplay where the objective is to reach the other side of the board. Complexity escalates quickly, with challenges like a prison break where the player must guide their king to an exit while avoiding guards. Rulehouse largely eschews traditional chess pieces, introducing bishops and kings only near the end of the demo and humorously renaming knights to 'cows.'
The game features unique pawn variants such as 'ice pawns' that shatter when capturing, and 'poison pawns' that take down an opponent's piece with them when captured. The demo also includes upside-down pawns that move diagonally and capture pieces directly in front of them. Rulehouse appears to be building a library of modifiers and complications for the final game, reminiscent of how enemy variety increases in classic FPS campaigns.
Rulehouse's presentation directly evokes the Game Boy Advance, featuring vibrant, saturated colors and UI elements scaled for lower-resolution displays. This retro aesthetic is complemented by a juxtaposition of crisp pixel art with bitcrushed, noisy backgrounds, often derived from real photography. This stylistic choice, along with the synthy funk soundtrack, is described as reminiscent of titles like Wario Ware and Earthbound.
The game also injects humor through its narrative elements and surprise rule changes, aiming for a high 'Smiles Per Minute™' rate. Rulehouse is expected to launch in 2027, and a demo is available on Steam.