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Passant: A Chess Roguelike — patch notes and updates

Stored observation / content update:

Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.

UpdateDateExcerpt / source
Passant is now Steam Deck Verified!2026-09-28I've been working to get Passant Steam Deck Verified for a while now, and I'm happy to announce it now is! The latest version contains a number of UI improvements for smaller screens, performance gains and the functionality to make pre-moves has been added.This work has been done alongside work on the android version of the game, which is also out today :)~Marc
Patch 1.1.32026-03-12Quick hotfix for a couple of issues with patch 1.1 Controllers can now correctly navigate between curses Controllers now correctly show the selected item when transitioning to the skip round rewards screen for the first time The Go Long Dad badge no longer produces errors (a reference used by this badge was broken and is now fixed)
Patch 1.12026-03-11Hi All,Patch 1.1 is here! This content update adds 7 new badges, 2 new challenge modes and adds cursed bosses to endless mode.7 new badgescursed bosses in endless mode2 new challenge modesactive challenges now show in the bottom rightFixed a bug where capturing the opponent's last piece when that piece is standing on a "Push the button" square softlocks the gameFixed a bug where undoing the promotion of a piece that was demoted to a pawn, did not return the piece to the pre-promotion typeQuite a few other bugs from the discord, but it's been a whileThe patch has been in beta testing for a couple of weeks over on discord, so I don't expect man
Upcoming Patch2026-01-26Hi all! Apologies for the radio silence on Steam. I've still been intermitently active over on discord, but for the most part real life stuff has taken up most of my time. I've been fighting wrist issues, I quit my day job, and my son was born in November last year! Which has also unfortunately meant I've had less time to work on Passant, but I've been making progress all the same. I've also been working on a mobile version of the game, which is still on track to launch in the first half of 2026 and I should have further details on this over on discord hopefully soon™.I want to say thank you to everyone that's played the game, talked about it
Patch v1.192025-09-25Apologies for the long gap between patches - It's mostly bug fixes and laying the groundwork for future patches. Made the game work for 4:3 resolutions If the player gets stalemated, but they have coins, it no longer counts as a stalemate and the coins are highlighted to show the player they can be used If the player gets checkmated, but they can remove checkmate with a coin, then it no longer counts as a checkmate and highlights the coin/s that can be used When a badge that in some way gives a piece a modifier is hovered, the explanation of the modifier is shown in the piece description box so the player can see what the effect does before p
Hotfix for menu Issue2025-08-30Pushed a quick hotfix for a menu bug - Where if you encountered an error starting a game you couldn't then load an existing or start a new game.
Patch 1.182025-08-30The Camel piece has a new model to make it more distinct from a knight Undeserved Modifiers now triggers off of 2 for 1 spawns No Slot Empty now works with Undeserved Modifiers Rocks are no longer included in the list of pieces that can be revived by the revive square Rocks dying no longer trigger the medic badge Rocks dying no longer changes your current score (you could win rounds with rocktopus and hidden bomb as rocks gave 4 score when killed) If your opponent finds a way to get a duck... It now appears as an enemy duck instead of a black spot Rocks no longer spawn for your opponent if taken in necromancy chess I'll take 2 can no longer a
Patch 1.172025-08-28The pieces shown on the stats pages now have the correct secondary colour Poison had a bug where a unit would die to poison even if you had taken them the turn before. Which wouldn't be an issue unless you undo that move... Optimised the AI some more. When moves take longer than 4 seconds for the AI, the depth of the search decreases. It should only do this in endless mode really when there are a lot of Amazons + poison. Fixed an issue where clicking on the start button more than once could load in the starting badges more than once. Added an pawn to setup 2 (the atomic setup). I agree with feedback that this was too difficult for beginners a
Patch 1.162025-08-26Just a small one with some QOL changes and bug fixes. The next patch or two should be a bit bigger unless any new bugs come up. Reflecting bishops didn't die with the atomic badge active, if they made a reflecting take (they now do) Units that usually originate from badges (such as the vampire), but are not attached to a badge (i.e. they were cloned by another badge), now correctly show that they can be sold Added a check to ensure the resolution saved in the settings is still available (The monitor used may have changed for example, which could lead to issues) The game now runs in the background. There were previously issues where alt-tabbin
Patch 1.15 - Hotfix for Steamdecks2025-08-22The previous patch enabled a screenreader that should only have activated if you use a screenreader - On steamdeck this activated regarless of whether you use one or not. I've now fixed this.
Patch 1.142025-08-22Added an animation speed option which has the options 1x, 2x and 3x. If you find any bugs with this let me know. This is just badge activations, movement, unit spawns and buying and selling things. Reduced the size of the man to be no bigger than a knight or bishop (but bigger than it originally was) Added compatibility with screen readers. I'm looking for feedback here as I know it isn't perfect. If you do have a screenreader, please let me have feedback on discord. If you don't have a screenreader, but this mode activates then please let me know as it definitely shouldn't Increased the wait time for the enemy AI when using archers. Sometime
Patch 1.122025-08-20Poison and necromancy chess when used together, made the AI do weird things. It now does not do this. Fixed a bug that happened when your plague doctor is stolen in necromancy chess Some checkmates did not show as a checkmate if you had a duck. I've made duck moves in check only show if you have check, not if you have checkmate that can be removed by moving the duck and then another piece. If you want to do this then you can disable move restrictions in the settings. Updated the princess piece to make it more distinct. Please let me have feedback on Discord if you don't like it. Updated the dragon bishop to have bigger horns. Made the Man big
Patch 1.122025-08-19Hopefully this is the last daily patch and the next one will be more QOL features :) Improved chess arrows so that circles always appear beneath arrows Removed the cream secondary colour, replacing it with cyan Added secondary colours for enemy pieces in the settings menu - This looks much better than changing your own Fixed the Winning Bet badge so it only triggers for pieces at the same or less value Improved the winning bet badge so it gives $2 for each piece taken (of the same or less value) Kings spawned by your opponent, using two kings or four kings boss badges, reset the highlight of the piece so it actually works Changed the check fu
Patch 1.112025-08-18The four kings badge can't be purchased unless you have 2 free squares on your setup board The zombie rook badge no longer activates when you castle locked badges can no longer be sold in a match When poison is added to a square a piece is already occupying, they are now correctly poisoned The "Shelf Life" challenge cannot remove a "No King" badge if there's no space for the king The Archduke special ability being undone sometimes deleted the Archduke if the Archduke was taken in a square a pawn spawned on and slippy chess caused the attacking piece to slip (Sorry IWantCheckmate) A "Clear all" button has been added for custom matches, for bot
Patch 1.102025-08-17I do intend to stop doing daily patches now I believe most of the bugs have been ironed out. I'll be working on improving visibility and some more QOL features next in hopefully a bigger patch, unless some smaller issues are found first. Hunters mark now returns $2 per marked piece taken Fixed an issue where undoing a move to a square created by "Lazy Present" did not return the piece to their original square correctly if you had a full inventory Fixed an issue where undoing a move that created a new modifier square with "Square Again", did not remove the modified square created Increased longbowmen to 10 value Fixed an issue where longbowmen
Patch 1.092025-08-16Empress moved to 8 value fire pawns promoting via a take, now correctly promote before taking Some extra fixes to stop invisible pieces appearing (especially slippy and unstable pieces) + other weird behaviour undeserved modifiers now works with reinforcements Mine now will not trigger multiple times if the move is undone
Patch 1.082025-08-15Rocks, in the scenario where they're placed on your setup board, can no longer be upgraded to an amazon... The 4th scenario, now places rocks in the coins section correctly Added the correct game icon (instead of the unity icon) Changed the princess to 7 value and dragon bishop to 6 value Chess arrows are now enabled by default. Press right click (or b on controllers) to place a circle, or press and hold it to draw arrows Left click now clears drawn arrows on the board, regardless of whether a piece is being picked up or not When loading a challenge level, it now shows the correct level (previously it would say the number of challenges active
Patch 1.072025-08-14Fixed the medic badge, so if any pieces are taken at game start (2 for 1) the game doesn't break Allowed the enemy king to be directly taken when you're in check if it's possible to do so Camels can no longer spawn on the second rank with the chef setup Fixed a bug where exiting a match while the archduke or zombie animation was playing would lead to an immediate victory moving the duck no longer progresses the zombie badges units lost and taken successfully clears after exiting to main menu The recycle button ui is correct when loading a custom match Fixed an issue where the Russian language version was missing the name for the 6th setup, ma
Patch 1.062025-08-13Added a popup for en passant. So players unfamiliar with en passant hopefully realise the game didn't break... Fixed "Undeserved Modifiers" so it works with badges that spawn pieces at round start Made the zombie knight and zombie rook badges work with knight men and rook men Made the zombie pawn badge work with the unlockable pawns Changed the ice badge unlock condition to freezing 120 pieces (down from 200) Badges now properly unlock in custom matches Increased the text box size for score so it doesn't overflow Added $6 to the amount earned in a run (shown on the victory screen) to account for the $6 you start with Fixed some translation is
Patch 1.052025-08-13Fixed an issue where "Trap Card" gave broken pieces Fixed an issue where if you managed to get a non pawn/man piece to the second rank of your setupboard with the second challenge mode, then the game can still load from save Added a number of protections against corrupted save files Fixed the longbowman tooltip diagram Made sellable rocks sellable when you have exact change
Patch 1.042025-08-12Fixed a bug where opening the stats page increased your progress towards unlocking some badges. Added a check on game start, so if your achievements didn't go through, the code will be re-run. Increased the score target you need to hit if you own a cannon, or if you have the atomic badge. Improved the AI for push chess. Previously the AI (if it saw you had checkmate by push in a few turns) would be re-run without the knowledge of push chess (otherwise you wouldn't get the satisfaction of pushing their king off). This still happens, but first the AI is run at a lower depth with knowledge of push chess. Fixed an issue when "Go Long Dad" pushed
Patch v1.032025-08-12Ducks can no longer slip Ducks are excluded from badges that randomly upgrade (they can still be upgraded if forced to, for example the "Right Place" badge or the upgrade square) Knight men and rook men now promote the same way as regular knights or rooks (if you have a badge that allows those promotions) The line showing the dragon kings position on the setup board no longer shows when hovering the badge in a match Badges bought and sold during a run no longer get a crown on the stats page when you beat a run. You must have them in your possession still. Fixed an issue where "Coin Exchange" wasn't triggering at match start Bullet chess chang
Passant Patch 1.022025-08-11Potential bug fix for memory issue with some Linux devices. If you have this issue please let me know on Discord as it's proving difficult to bugfix. "Line goes up" now has a limit of $10 "Fisher Random" no longer causes issues if there are more than 16 opposing pieces "Midas touch" can now only target non-gold pieces The "Rocktopus" rocks are now less bass-y (thanks RTGame) Other misc fixes
Passant Hotfix 1.012025-08-11Thanks to all who have bought the game so far! Here's the first patch to fix day 1 issues. - Fixed an issue where the tutorial select screen didn't work on ultra wide monitors - Made it so choosing no tutorial at the start of the game no longer shows the mini tutorials in the shop and stage select - Added explicit garabage collection calls when the board is cleared due to a potential memory issue when playing on Linux using Proton (still investigating)
Passant is out now!2025-08-11I really hope you enjoy the game, I've worked hard to make the game as good as it can be and I hope you see that too. If you do enjoy the game please remember to leave a review as it really helps the game reach a wider audience.What's new?The game expands on the demo with the following:Stages 4 & 5Endless Mode8 different setups8 different scenarios (setups with unique rules or constraints)125 badges (including 8 unlockable badges)6 challenge modes for each setupa custom match and setup mode47 Steam achievementsI believe the newer badges are some of the best (especially the unlockable badges) and lead to much better builds than before.What abo
Passant is launching in 4 days!2025-08-07Just a quick update that Passant is launching on August 11th (in 4 days)! I'll tease more content over on Discord, but I just want to highlight some of the most recent changes to the game which addresses a lot of the feedback I was getting from the demo.First of all, here's a sneak peak of the beginning of the new trailer which shows some new badges and effects:Beginner Mode and AI ImprovementsThere's now a beginner mode for the AI, that will play unoptimal moves (up to a point). It's probably one of the most fun ways to play if you're just looking to play quick games without too much thought.I've also made a lot of improvements to the AI ove
Demo Updates and Steam Next Fest2025-05-18It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update here, but for the last 4 months since the demo launched I’ve been consistently patching it with bug-fixes and content updates. More detailed patch notes are usually posted on Discord, but I want to take some time to point out the high level changes. I also want to mention that the game will be part of June's next fest and will be launching shortly after this in August, though the exact date is still to be confirmed. I've been working to make sure the demo is great, but also to make sure there's a lot of additional content when the game launches, and I can't wait for people to get their hands on th
Demo Update 15/02/20252025-02-15Firstly, I want to say thank you to everyone that has been playing the game and also to everyone reporting bugs on the discord channel, it's really helping to improve the game. With that said here are the patch notes for the most recent update to the demo. There are smaller patches I've released to fix game breaking bugs (which I've not been posting about here but have posted on Discord), but seeing as this is quite a large one I've posted the patch notes below. Changed/Added content Reworked the AI entirely - A custom solution is now used which fixes edge cases. For example the AI now correctly understands the courtesan and reflecting bishop
Demo Patch 31/01/20252025-01-31First of all I'd like to say a sincere thank you to everyone that has played the game so far, and everyone who's reported bugs. It really helps me improve the quality of the game. I'll continue to update the demo with bug fixes and will likely do a bit of a content refresh/ update for steam next fest, so stay tuned! Known issues: 1 turn checkmates with buffalo and camels AI issues recognising the courtesan issues where you are able to move out of an enemy dragon king's check Issues with the chess ai level not saving properly between games/ play sessions The stats page may have issues correctly showing the badges you've used the atomic badge n
The demo is now live!2025-01-28Hi All, The demo for Passant is now live! The demo is a shorter experience, with fewer difficulty modes and fewer starting setups, but it should give a good impression of what the final game will be! I've included all the badges (game modifiers) that I've made currently, which is around 60, but I plan to have 100+ in the final game. Please let me know what you think over on the Discord, I'm always happy to hear feedback, suggestions or bug reports. You can also leave a review of the demo on the demo page on steam, which should help with visibility. All the best, Marc