Master of Chess

Master of Chess launched in Early Access in June 2024 and officially graduated to its 1.0 full release on September 9, 2025, after more than three years of solo development by BRANE. In the days before launch, the developer was clear about what the release meant: a September 7, 2025 post described it as "more than 3 years of hard work coming to closure" and stated a plan to "focus most of my time on other projects." The full release post on September 9, 2025 reiterated that the developer intended to move on, mentioning only that they might "dive back in" some months later and had some DLC ideas — but these were framed explicitly as possibilities contingent on community interest and personal availability, not as committed plans. Since launch, all developer activity has been bug-fix and maintenance work. A January 4, 2026 update noted the longest gap in updates the game had ever seen and said the developer would return to Master of Chess after shipping another project (Confidential Killings). A May 26, 2026 beta branch patch tackled a persistent "game hanging" bug, and that same post mentioned plans to announce a new game entirely. The most recent post, August 22, 2026, delivered another round of bug fixes and engine upgrades. There is no unreleased DLC on the store, no announced roadmap, and no developer commitment to new content. The developer has continued to fix bugs — a sign of ongoing care for the product — but there is no indication of substantial new content being developed or planned.