- 1.2.14 - Maintenance Update - 26 March 2026
Hello, long time no hear in this news section! In particular to the new players from the Spring Sale, as well as from the current Checkmate! Humble Bundle.This is a maintenance fix that addresses issues with Steam Deck compatibility and achievements not triggering. Any missed achievements should be awarded retroactively when you launch the game.On surface, that should be it. Under the hood, the engine version and various dependencies have been updated by like a trillion versions forward, so weird issues that I didn't catch can potentially crop up. Please let me know and I'll get on it ASAP.Have a nice spring! Or a pleasant autumn, for those of you in the southern hemisphere.Cheers,Jan
- Attention Steam Deck / Linux Players - Force Proton! - 4 June 2025
Hey everyone, It appears a recent Steam Deck update broke the native build of Pawnbarian - the game launches, but isn't playable. I can't check right now, but I assume the same is true for Linux on regular PCs. I'm figuring out a maintenance fix, but until then, you can get the game to work by forcing the use of Proton: ⚙ icon / right click → Properties → Compatibility → Force → choose Proton instead of Steam Linux Runtime, e.g. Proton 9.0-4 Apologies for the inconvenience. Thanks for dropping by to play Pawnbarian! Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.11 - 27 February 2023
new: Latin-American Spanish localization (thanks Diego Hernández!) new: Ukrainian localization (thanks Lacki23!) change: small update to the French localization (thanks Wok!) change: small update to the Finnish localization (thanks Minilammas!) On another note, Pawnbarian is now available at a discount in the Chess-like Rogue-like Bundle alongside The Ouroboros King, which released today. It's a very interesting take on the genre, and I'd say it has a bigger focus on the "chess" part than Pawnbarian - you get to feel more like a strategist guiding an army, and planning multiple moves ahead plays a bigger role. Check it out here. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30724/Chesslike_Roguelike_Bundle/ Visit j4nw.com for my twitter, discord, newsletter, and so on Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.10 - 16 November 2022
Yo! The demo version is available again. It didn't sit right with me that the game's mobile version has a free demo available and the Steam one doesn't, so I spent some time tweaking the game to create an updated demo without any of the mobile-specific stuff. Other than that, there are two minor gameplay changes in this version. One is a small tweak that removes pointless randomness, and the other is there for those of you who enjoy digging deep into the Gauntlet, especially as the Capyzerker. change: The Golem Fortress boss now alternates between the two different spawns, instead of picking at random change; there's now a full heal after each Gauntlet floor, instead of single heart heal Visit j4nw.com for my twitter, discord, newsletter, and so on Cheers, Jan
- Pawnbarian is one year old - 26 September 2022
...and I'm holding a record low 50% off sale to celebrate! I have no surprise patches prepared, but as a small treat, check out this lovely piece I comissioned from my buddy SquareAnon. It's sized exactly to potentially serve as a 16:9 4K wallpaper. open full size Pawnbarian matured and expanded a lot over the past year, got localized into 15 languages thanks to your generous contributions, and goes a long way towards letting me and my co-creators support ourselves and letting us pursue new creative endeavors. As always - thank you! As I've consistently said, there are no more major content updates planned, but I'm never saying never. In the meantime, I hope Pawnbarian will continue to make you launch one more run™ once in a while, and be enjoyed by some new arrivals as well. It's a game I'm immensely proud of. I'm slowly working towards some new turn-based, boardgame-inspired thingy, p…
- 1.2.9 - Housekeeping - 31 August 2022
change: updated JP localization (thanks Lunalia!) change: adjusted compression settings for some assets, let me know if anything looks funny fix: Nomad shot now properly affected by SFX volume settings Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.8 - Getting too hard to word this blurb differently than the image - 28 June 2022
The game has a brand new Finnish localization by Minilammas. Thank you! Again, there were some mobile-specific QoL tweaks that should be invisible on desktop, but let me know if anything behaves weirdly. new: Finnish localization change: other tiny localization updates change: main menu homepage button replacing the gaudier mobile-specific ones fix: End Turn and Shogun action keyboard shortcuts no longer broken (oops) Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related Join my Discord to talk with me and other players Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff Subscribe to my newsletter likewise for a very rare message about substantial stuff only Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.7 - Language stuff as usual - 14 June 2022
Yo! The game has a brand new Bulgarian localization by Christiyan Zhechev. The Japanese localization was overhauled by Lunalia. Thank you so much! There were also some quality of life tweaks, but they mostly relate to other platforms and should be invisible on desktop. new: Bulgarian localization change: Japanese localization updated change: some other small localization tweaks, thanks to everyone who contributed! sorry, I lost my list this time around change: another new button in the main menu, I wonder where it goes Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related Join my Discord to talk with me and other players Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.6 - Language updates - 15 May 2022
Yo! Just a few changes for a few languages this time around. - change: updated PL localization (thanks Agata & fri!) - change: updated IT localization (thanks BRino!) - change: updated PT-BR localization (thanks ivanilos!) Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.5 - ...and more! - 10 May 2022
Yo! The three weaker characters are getting buffed. The Pawnbarian is getting a pretty significant buff of two extra upgrades in his starting deck. He wasn't necessarily the weakest of the bunch, but he's the face of and the introduction to the game, so the power level was less than ideal - especially given that you need to win with him to unlock all the other fun stuff. The Knight Templar is getting a single extra upgrade. The Capyzerker is getting a smaller nudge - his two Knights are retired and replaced with the strictly better Bears. There was something else... it felt important, but I seem to have forgotten. Something to do with... humanoid robots? Huh? No idea. change: a new button in the main menu, I wonder what it does change: Pawnbarian starts with an extra Cardinal Splash on a Pawn change: Pawnbarian starts with an extra Shield on a Pawn change: Knight Templar starts with an…
- 1.2.4 - Language cornucopia - 6 May 2022
Yo! You know the drill by now. Danish by Thomas Brøcker. Tak! Hungarian by Roland Kalászi and Richard Nagy. Kösz! Korean by Kim Pilra. Gamsahaeyo! Russian by kivy0. Spasibo! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Danish localization new: Hungarian localization new: Korean localization new: Russian localization change: changed localization font location (see thread) change: CJK font is now pre-baked, which means a 50MB smaller game size (but: see thread) change: Spark Imp now has a persistent sparking particle to remind you that it does scary stuff change: updated minor stuff in some languages change/fix: game now runs in background again change/fix: Goblin Tinkerer now shoots a lighting bolt... again? I feel like I've changed this before Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up…
- 1.2.3 - Even more languages - 30 April 2022
Yo! Pawnbarian has been translated into Japanese by my wonderful girlfriend Agata Stasiak, and into Italian by a wonderful community member Robin Bernardinis. Thank you so much! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Japanese localization new: Italian localization new: social buttons in the main menu change: Traditional Chinese localization slightly updated change: Simplified Chinese localization slightly updated change: globally scaled down the font used for Japanese and Chinese by a bit to fix some typographical issues change: lots of little optimizations and tweaks that should be mostly invisible, but let me know if something breaks Work on the mobile port is nearing completion and the Android version should be out very soon! Cheers, Jan
- 1.2.2 - Degrindification - 25 April 2022
Progressing through Chains might've been a bit too grindy to begin with, but definitely became so with the new characters introduced in 1.2.0. This has been completely reworked. The chains still require unlocking, but it can now happen much faster. The highest unlocked Chain is now shared between all characters, and the required dungeons can be conquered by different characters. To be clear, the difficulty itself is unchanged, and actually conquering the chains is still separate for each character (same for the achievements), but you can skip a bunch if you feel up to the challenge. Conquering a chain counts as conquering all the lower ones as well. change: reworked chain progression, as explained above change: player gets fully healed before entering the Gauntlet change: menus have new crown icons that correspond to dungeons conquered for the currently selected character and chain chan…
- 1.2.1 - Small balance tweaks + French, Spanish, Swedish - 5 April 2022
Yo! The new characters have been very well received overall, and exactly 0 bugs popped up. That being said, the Mystic turned out to be slightly overtuned. With 1.2.1, her starting deck no longer has Diagonal Splash on one of the Ghost pieces. She remains very strong at all levels of play, but early floors should no longer be such a heavy snowball. The Gauntlet now heals 1 damage after each floor, so you're able to keep going for much longer if you feel like it. Martin Alonso returned to update his Spanish localization for the new content, Alain & Nicolas Cordier stepped up to both fill out and clean up the French localization, and Bruno Krynicki Storskog provided a whole new Swedish localization. Thank you so much! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Swedish l…
- 1.2.0 - New heroes, DLC bling, and more! - 28 March 2022
Hello! Pawnbarian is almost exactly 6 months old today, and there's some fun stuff lined up for that. Most importantly, 1.2.0 is a major content update, bringing three new heroes into the game. The Nomad fights using her deadly aim with a bow instead of a melee weapon. The Capyzerker fuels his rage with pain, and enjoys improved healing to match. The Mystic relies on supernatural blessings to stay away from harm.Each has an unique ability and a whole new playstyle to explore and master. Their decks are based on international chess, but each brings a single fairy (non-standard) chess piece into the mix, which complements both the mechanics and the theme. https://i.imgur.com/WgJKOHn.png Releasing alongside the free content patch is the Support the Developers DLC, which gives all your heroes a gaudy snazzy gold coat of paint. This is purposefully a minor, purely cosmetic change. as I didn'…
- Stand with Ukraine Bundle + new stuff - 18 March 2022
Pawnbarian is part of the absolutely massive Stand with Ukraine Bundle, a charity bundle of games organized by Humble. 100% of the proceeds are going towards organizations dealing with the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a cause particularly close to me in a very literal sense - I live in Warsaw, Poland, mere hours of travel away from the atrocities commited by the Russian army, and minutes away from places where many of the millions of Ukrainians fleeing their country are currently living. Anyone reading this probably already has Pawnbarian, but the bundle should still be a pretty amazing deal. You can also spread the word about it, and most importantly, please consider helping in ways other than just getting some viddy games for cheap. You can get started here: https://linktr.ee/razomforukraine Here's to a free, independent, and peaceful…
- Pawnbarian is now Steam Deck Verified - 10 March 2022
That is all. Have a great day!
- 1.1.7 - Chinese & Spanish - 25 January 2022
Yo! The Lunar New Year is almost upon us, and that's a prime occasion to release the traditional and simplified Chinese localizations of the game, gracefully provided by AJiang. Just as great to have is the Spanish localization by chuky666. Thank you so much! This means roughly 1.5 billion more people can play Pawnbarian in their native language, and that's pretty bonkers. The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! new: Traditional Chinese localization new: Simplified Chinese localization new: Spanish localization change: changed the underlying CJK font support fix: improved some formatting issues for all languages cheers, Jan
- 1.1.6 - Serbian, gamepad hints, mouse tweaks - 5 January 2022
Thanks to community member Lazar Ljubenović, Pawnbarian is now available in Serbian in both Latin and Cyrillic script versions! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! There are now onscreen button hints when using a gamepad (on by default, but you can turn them off in the settings), and you can use the mouse scroll wheel to select cards. new: Serbian (Latin) localization new: Serbian (Cyryllic) localization new: scroll wheel selects cards (the same way gamepad shoulder buttons do) new: togglable gamepad button hints change: game font is now Libertinus instead of Linux Libertine (should be mostly invisible, but some things might look subtly nicer, and some issues for non-Latin glyphs were fixed) fix: Dragon Drop sfx no longer missing (has been since 1.1.4? oops!)…
- 1.1.5 - New languages & more - 2 January 2022
Happy New Year! Thanks to generous contributions by community members Supernova888 and ivanilos, French and Brazilian Portuguese localizations are now available. The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! Additionally, there is now a new Display settings menu, with several frame limiter options achievable via either VSync or a soft target rate cap. For most people there's no reason to ever touch this setting, but it can be helpful if the default VSync setting doesn't work for whatever reason and your GPU is getting melted, or you want to skip frames to reduce power consuption on battery-powered devices, especially ones with high refresh rates. new: Brazilian Portuguese localization new: French localization new: separate Display settings menu, with several frame limit…
