Big Bia
BIG BIA is a pixel art style dungeon adventure game with some rogue elements. Players can form different strategies, collect different cards and even build their own exclusive dungeons to challenge.
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Pawnbarian on Steam
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Pawnbarian is a quick-playing, turn-based puzzle roguelike. Play cards to move your hero like a chess piece, and conquer challenging dungeons full of cunning monsters!
Pawnbarian is a turn-based combat, chess and card game game
developed by j4nw
and published by .
Released on September 24th 2021 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It has received 822 reviews of which 737 were positive and 85 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.4 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 8.19€ on Steam, but you can find it for 0.31€ on K4G.
The Steam community has classified Pawnbarian into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Pawnbarian through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows 7 SP1+
- Processor: SSE2 support
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 200 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS High Sierra 10.13
- Processor: SSE2 support
- Graphics: Metal capable (starting at late 2012 models)
- Storage: 200 MB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 18.04
- Processor: SSE2 support
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.2+, Vulkan capable
- Storage: 200 MB available space
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
" Pawnbarian is an extremely clever little game that really managed to get my brain whirring with the possibilities it offers. The presentation is slick and clean, allowing you to focus in on what matters: stomping out your foes before they stomp you. I did find myself getting a bit burnt out after around 10 hours of play, but it was mostly due to the challenges getting too great for me to surmount, rather than the game explicitly doing anything wrong. I certainly don’t regret the time I spent with Pawnbarian , and as a roguelite dungeon crawler, it’s practically tailor-made for jumping in and out periodically to try a run or two. And honestly, I'll happily take Pawnbarian up on that offer over an arduous game of chess any day of the week." Full review [url=https://olivigarden.ca/2026/09/29/pawnbarian-review/]here
This is a great game. I would describe it as a slightly more abstract version of Knights In Tight Spaces... but it definitely stands on its own as a unique concept. There is just enough personality and character here to make you want to keep playing and get to know your foes. I play a lot of tactical games and I love that this game makes me think. Winning is not easy. The only negative reviews I saw mention that there is some randomness or lack of information. Those folks are incorrect. Everything in this game is by the book and there are rules for each action executed by the enemies. If you study and understand your foes, you know will know exactly what each one will do and when. No surprises, so you can plan ahead like the tactical genius you know you are. I also like that there is a lot of progression built in. So you are always pushed to keep playing on a slighter higher difficulty level each time with a new unique class. The only weakness is the background noise/music. Other than that, this an awesome little game!
just feels really satisfying when you get it right and when you lose the guilt knowing it was entirely you fault and considering its not an easy game I think that the fact there always is some sneaky way to save the run is great and am surprised that happens but it shows its a well built game so I would highly recommend
Yet another short n small game riffing on general chess vibes and mechanics while still being its own wholly new thing and not really otherwise related to chess in any way. The whole chess thing is really just a starting point for player familiarity with a few game mechanics and I think that makes games that use the chess theme very approachable in a good way (we all know how bishops, rooks and knights move, after all, so when you see those pieces in a game you roughly know what they're going to do even if the context is different), but besides the thematic and moveset relationship to chess it really has nothing in common with its mother game, and I say that while being of the opinion it's very much a good thing! I mean when you think about it, nobody comes to Steam to actually play chess. So really I find that chess-inspired games are wonderful and a whole lot of fun, but games that try to re-invent chess itself tend to be complete garbage. I can very happily report that Pawnbarian is 100% in the camp of just chess-inspired or making use of chess-piece mechanics as a starting point of movesets for a TBT: all that is to say that the Devs have taken inspiration from chess to deliver a really solid little TBT/puzzle adventure experience that has otherwise nothing to do with chess; besides the thematic and piece-moveset overlap, they are two totally different experiences. I've seen more attempts to bring Chess to a more complicated game fail than succeed, so it's nice to see an example that has pulled it off so well. Again I think the reason they pulled it off is that they strictly looked at chess as a source of inspiration, and besides said inspiration they otherwise felt no compulsion or inclination whatsoever to be bound by the wider rules of chess itself. On that note, players shouldn't feel put off or encouraged to play this by virtue of their actual chess experience, if you're really good or bad at chess itself that fact will neither spoiil this game by making it trivial nor spoil it by leaving it too difficult, they're just totally separate things. Also by the way a little public service announcement that the game has very very mild roguelite elements but is absolutely not at all in any way a "roguelike": as always I have NO IDEA why people keep tragging like every random game as a roguelike, I'm convinced that 90% of people have no idea what the term roguelike even means. Anyway, suffice to say this is not in any way a roguelike but it's a very fun chess-inspired turn-based-tactical mini adventure and I can happily recommend it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Pawnbarian is currently priced at 8.19€ on Steam.
No, Pawnbarian is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 8.19€ on Steam.
Yes, Pawnbarian received 737 positive votes out of a total of 822 achieving a rating of 8.44.
😎
Pawnbarian was developed by j4nw.
Yes, Pawnbarian is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Yes, Pawnbarian is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
Yes, Pawnbarian is playable and fully supported on Linux.
This information about Pawnbarian is not available yet.
This information about Pawnbarian is not available yet.
No, Pawnbarian does not support VR.
Pawnbarian is a single-player game.
Yes, there are 2 DLCs available for Pawnbarian. Explore additional content available for Pawnbarian on Steam.
No, Pawnbarian does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Yes, Pawnbarian supports Remote Play on Phone, Remote Play on Tablet and Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Pawnbarian is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Pawnbarian.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 23 September 2026 22:03 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 24 October 2026 00:00 UTC |
| Steam price | 27 October 2026 14:34 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 19 October 2026 08:04 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Pawnbarian, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Pawnbarian
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Pawnbarian concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Pawnbarian compatibility
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Game modes
Features
Online players
2
Developer
j4nw
Release
24 Sep 2021
Platforms
Remote Play
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