Rooks Keep

About Rooks Keep

Rooks Keep is a single player and multiplayer strategy game with a violence theme. It was developed by RuneStorm and was released on December 5, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Descend into a brutal tournament where factions of sinister knights and grotesque beasts battle for domination in bloody arena matches and furious melee brawls. Crush opponents with hammers and shields, rend flesh with razor sharp claws and slice off heads with swords and axes. In Rooks Keep, players will maim their competitors in both a selection of deathmatch-arena game-modes such as 'Deathmatc…

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Play Modes

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Reviews

68%Audience ScoreBased on 66 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

story2 negative mentions

Unique blend of chess and third-person medieval fantasy melee combat with diverse game modes including classic chess, combat chess, and arena battles.
Fun and satisfying gore-filled combat mechanics that work well with a controller and include skill trees and character upgrades.
Good graphics and sound design, optimized to run smoothly on older systems, with mod support and a variety of maps and mutators for customization.

Multiplayer community and official servers are completely dead, making online play nearly impossible and limiting the game mostly to single-player or local friends.
The AI is decent but not challenging enough to fully replace multiplayer, resulting in limited long-term replayability for solo players.
Technical issues including frequent crashes, freezing, buggy installation causing serious system problems on some setups, and occasionally clunky or overly sensitive controls.

gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 19% negative mentions
The gameplay is primarily centered around fast-paced arena combat with fun melee mechanics and multiple game modes, appealing to both casual and competitive players. While it offers good balance and engaging fighting mechanics, it lacks depth in strategy, customization, and intelligent design, with some users finding it repetitive or limited compared to similar games. Overall, it delivers enjoyable action but may feel shallow or less refined for those seeking strategic complexity.
- “Fun gameplay, cool looking characters, heaps of maps, and a bunch of different game modes.”
- “A fun little game with pretty good melee combat mechanics.”
- “The fighting mechanics are well done and the system manages to keep up a good balance for attackers and defenders.”
- “Gameplay is an 'arena combat' centric gameplay style that prioritizes endless fighting over strategy, tactics, or storytelling.”
- “The gameplay is probably the worst part of this game - it mainly lacks intelligent design.”
- “Crappy controls, annoying sound, and boring gameplay.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
90% positive mentions, 10% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The graphics are consistently praised for being beautiful, top-notch, and seamlessly running even on modest hardware, featuring detailed visuals with a unique chess-inspired aesthetic. While visually impressive and contributing to fun, fast-paced gameplay, some users feel that the lack of content diminishes long-term appeal despite the strong presentation. Overall, the graphics effectively enhance the game's action and style.
- “Rooks Keep is a derivative form of chess that successfully combines action with beautiful graphical details, including plenty of gore as well.”
- “Graphics are top notch!”
- “There are a couple of game modes to keep you going and the graphics run seamlessly and look amazing on my fairly average laptop, so I can't complain.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The story aspect is minimal or absent, with the game focusing almost exclusively on arena-style combat rather than narrative depth or strategic storytelling.
- “Lacks a storyline.”
- “Gameplay is an 'arena combat' centric gameplay style that puts endless combat ahead of strategy, tactics, or storytelling.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
Reviews of the game's optimization are mixed, with some users praising its smooth performance and excellent netcode, while others report significant unoptimized issues affecting gameplay.
- “It's beautifully optimized, the netcode is amazing (UDK), the combat is so well thought out.”
- “It feels unoptimized with loads of issues.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The game's stability is compromised due to an outdated and buggy installation manifest, leading to potential issues during setup and gameplay.