{"id":617534,"date":"2026-10-09T15:40:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:40:43","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:40:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:40:43","slug":"what-if-into-the-breach-were-played-with-chinese-chess-moves-xiangqi-roguelike-chess-of-the-hidden-gates-brings-its-free-demo-to-steam-next-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olympiajournal.com\/news\/story\/617534\/what-if-into-the-breach-were-played-with-chinese-chess-moves-xiangqi-roguelike-chess-of-the-hidden-gates-brings-its-free-demo-to-steam-next-fest.html","title":{"rendered":"What If Into the Breach Were Played With Chinese Chess Moves? Xiangqi Roguelike Chess of the Hidden Gates Brings Its Free Demo to Steam Next Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chess of the Hidden Gates: the horse rides a xiangqi move across the river while the Ashen Wolf’s red zone marks where it will strike next.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A roguelike deckbuilder from Shanghai indie studio AgentGameLab where every card is a xiangqi (Chinese chess) move, and every enemy shows exactly where it will strike before it swings. The free demo is on Steam now and will be part of Steam Next Fest, October 19\u201326, 2026.<\/div>\n

Shanghai, China – October 09, 2026 –<\/strong> Independent studio AgentGameLab today invites players to try the free demo of Chess of the Hidden Gates<\/em>, a roguelike deckbuilder built on the footwork of xiangqi (Chinese chess). The demo has been free to play on Steam since August and will be part of Steam Next Fest (October 19–26, 2026). The full game is planned for Q4 2026.<\/p>\n

Fans of Slay the Spire<\/em> will recognize the deckbuilding. Fans of Into the Breach<\/em> will recognize the board: every enemy marks the square it is about to hit before it attacks. A player who steps out of that square sees the blow land on nothing; a player who stands in the wrong place ends up surrounded.<\/p>\n

The twist is that every card in the player’s hand is a chess move. The horse leaps, the cannon fires over a piece in its way, and the pawn crosses the river and never turns back. Even the strongest card, played from the wrong square, still loses. What wins here is position.<\/p>\n

Three pieces, three ways to play<\/strong><\/p>\n