Primacy — a chess roguelike by Lars Jacquemetton

Boards that mutate

Fight on 4×4 pocket charters, seven-rank holy corridors, and full 8×8 courts — each variant a different opponent with its own law.

Grow your roster

Open packs, upgrade pawns into rooks and exotic fairy pieces, and bind gold and prismatic traits that bend the rules in your favor.

A court that remembers

Courtiers, commendations, and a chronicle of every match. The pieces you keep alive speak back — your Knights, your Rooks, your dominion.

In motion

Moving through a run

Closing out a match

Screenshots

Intro cutscene: a lone white pawn at the edge of a dark land — “A pawn stands at the edge of a dark land…”

A 4x4 Lone Scout battle with a countdown clock — The Lone Scout — a four-wide pocket charter

A full 8x8 game against The Classic — The Classic — the old law, six castes

Full board with highlighted moves and a named opening, the French Defense — Named openings, tracked in your Compendium

A narrow seven-rank board, the Holy Corridor, with gold pieces — The Holy Corridor — seven ranks deep

Inspecting an Archbishop fairy piece on the board — Fairy pieces — the Archbishop, bishop and knight in one

The Pawn Shop interface with upgrades, packs, traits and potions — Between battles: upgrades, packs, traits, potions

Equipping a courtier in the Rook's Bastille shop — Recruit courtiers to your court

A narrative commendation from Your Knights — “The stables stand ready. We ride at your side.”

A narrative commendation from Your Rooks — “Brick by brick, your dominion endures.”

About the project

Primacy is a 3D chess roguelike built in Godot, powered by a custom Fairy-Stockfish integration. It's a solo project in closed alpha — a single designer-engineer's experiment in letting a centuries-old rule set tell a story.

Engine: Godot 4 · AI: Fairy-Stockfish · Built by Lars Jacquemetton