Chainmate
Chess as a roguelite on a 6x6 board: keep one ivory army from fight to fight, level pieces up, collect rule-bending relics and lose fallen pieces for good. Built by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code, the developer says.
Links go to the official store or developer page. Last verified Nov 8, 2026.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- View demo on itch.ioitch.ioDemo · Free demo of Act I (itch.io status: In development)Free
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
- View on the App StoreApp StoreReleasedFree-to-Play
Install from Apple's App Store on an iPhone or iPad.
Mobile · Apple App Store
About Chainmate
Chainmate is a 3D chess roguelite. The pieces move as they always have, but you lead one ivory army across a run of three acts, The Moss Ranks, The Sunken Files and The Back Rank, on a 6x6 board against an obsidian army that never retreats. Each turn you make one legal chess move; you win a fight by wiping out the enemy, or in boss fights by capturing its king. After each fight you choose the next from branching paths with recruit drafts, a merchant, events and rests, and each act ends with a boss that has a rule of its own. Pieces that fight gain experience and learn traits such as Momentum (move again after a quiet move), Chain Capture (capture again after a capture) or Ward (turn one capture aside); a piece that falls is gone for the rest of the run unless you bring it back at a rest or the merchant, and the run ends if your king is checkmated. Relics bend the rules and stand on the arena wall as small 3D objects that spring to life when they fire. Renown carries over between runs and unlocks relics, traits, armies and difficulties, and a daily run gives everyone the same seed. The enemy is a chess engine that searches ahead, with hints and several difficulties. The developer, posting as Reidq, says everything in the first public version, the game code, the 3D models (built from code rather than model files), the music and sound effects, the tests and the builds, was made by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code in Godot 4 from the prompt “build this game” and four reference images made in ChatGPT, and that they did not write or edit a single line. Act I is a free browser demo on itch.io; the iPhone and iPad version, released on 3 November 2026, is free with one in-app purchase that unlocks Acts II and III.
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe developer's post on r/ClaudeAI (24 Sep 2026, UTC), titled “I gave Opus 5.5 four reference images and "build this game". It built a full 3D chess roguelite in Godot by itself.”, says: “Everything in this was made by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code: the game code, the 3D models, the music and sound effects, the tests, and the builds.” There was no Blender and no asset files: every piece, arena and relic is generated by code the model wrote (a pawn is “a few cylinders and a sphere stacked up”, per a reply), and the audio was synthesised the same way. “I didn't write or edit a single line. My input was the first prompt, four reference images I made in ChatGPT for the art direction, and some short feedback on lighting.” The prompt was “build this game” with the reference images, followed by short feedback messages; “It's not strictly one prompt, but all of the code and content is the model's.”
The four reference images used for art direction were generated in ChatGPT by describing the game idea, per the developer's replies; they were not used in the game.
Godot 4, built by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code from one prompt and four ChatGPT reference images, followed by short feedback. The chess pieces, arenas and relics are built from shapes in code when the game loads rather than from model files, and in the first version the audio was synthesised in code too. The enemy is a chess engine that searches ahead, and balance was first tuned against a bot. The current App Store description credits music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) under CC BY 4.0, and the current web build contains three of his tracks; the developer has not said how the later versions were made.
- Engine / framework
- Godot 4
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- ~100% of shipped codeDeveloper ReportedReddit (u/Reidq)
“I didn't write or edit a single line.”Verification notes: AI use from the developer's post on r/ClaudeAI by u/Reidq (24 Sep 2026, 18:02 UTC) and the developer's replies, read from the Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 8 Nov 2026; the post links sneid1.itch.io/chainmate, then a browser build with a Windows download. The demo's contents, rating (5.0 from 2 ratings) and the App Store link from the itch.io page, updated 7 Nov 2026; the App Store listing (id6816803986: released 3 Nov 2026, version 0.2.0 of 7 Nov 2026, seller Reid Quekett, 4+, English, no ratings yet) from Apple's lookup data; both read on 8 Nov 2026. The developer's name is the App Store seller name of the app the developer's itch.io page links; on Reddit and itch.io the developer uses the handles Reidq and sneid1, so team size is not recorded. The AI statement (100%, “all of the code and content is the model's”) describes the version posted on 24 Sep 2026; the itch.io page and App Store now describe a larger game (21 traits, 33 to 36 relics, six armies) and the App Store credits music by Kevin MacLeod under CC BY 4.0, and how those later versions were made is not stated. The itch.io page no longer lists a Windows download, and mentions a Steam wishlist “coming soon”; no Steam page was found. The itch.io AI disclosure ticks AI Assisted, Code, Graphics, Sounds and Text. The chess opponent is a search-based engine; the web build's data was searched and contains no AI service addresses. The first-version post had a score of 306 on Arctic Shift (observed; not a metric). The game was not played.
Development history
The developer shares a playable browser build on itch.io, saying Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code made all of the code and content.
DeveloperReddit (u/Reidq)Released on the App Store, free with an in-app purchase for Acts II and III.
OfficialApple App Store
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
itch.io
Free browser demo with Act I, The Moss Ranks: five fights and a boss. Built for desktop browsers and tested in Chrome; the page says phones and tablets are untested. The full game adds Acts II and III.
Not publicly available: Downloads, Gross revenue.
App Store (iOS)
Free on iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later); Act I is free and a single in-app purchase unlocks Acts II and III and the rest of the daily run, with no ads and nothing else to buy, per the listing. Rated 4+. Version 0.2.0 (7 Nov 2026).
Not publicly available: Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| I gave Opus 5.5 four reference images and "build this game". It built a full 3D chess roguelite in Godot by itself. (r/ClaudeAI) Reddit (u/Reidq) | Social post | Sep 24, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Chainmate by sneid1 itch.io | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Chainmate on the App Store Apple App Store | Store page | Nov 3, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
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