The polish on display is super impressive. Evidently not your first rodeo.
(The way the board ripples is a super neat detail.)
I initially really didn't expect that I'd actually have to know how to play chess for this. I was very confident that simply knowing how to move the pieces would be enough.
I think the only way I got as far as I did is because I went all in on stealing my opponent's pieces.
I feel like I can't quite appreciate how much being able to modify your pieces shakes up strategy and meta. Would love to watch someone who knows what they're doing play this.
I do think I ran into a couple trinkets and pieces that don't appear to be working as described. Despite repeated attempts and experimenting, the modified rook didn't appear to bring any new adventages to the table and just ended up gimping me every time. Not sure what I might have overlooked.
I think the romance mini game is a bit lacking and messing up your timing feels overly punishing.
That part didn't quite come together for me.
Dialogue is well written though.
All in all I rank this very near the top of everything I've played during this jam.