Tempo: Chess Mate Roguelite

Most chess puzzle apps hand you an endless stream and a rating that goes up and down. Tempo gives you twelve mates, three lights, and one run. Find the forced mate. Get it wrong and it costs a light — and the wrong move is never played onto the board, because in a mate puzzle there is one answer and letting you build on a mistake would waste your time and then blame you for it. Run out of light and the run is over. THE LADDER Twelve puzzles: four mates in one, four in two, four in three. Every fourth is guarded by a warden that takes something away. The Blindfold turns off the legal-move dots. The Hourglass gives you ninety seconds. The Auditor charges two lights a mistake. The Veil turns their pieces into silhouettes until they move. THE WORKSHOP Solving pays coins. Between puzzles you can buy things you keep for the rest of the run: a free hint each puzzle, a steadier hand so one mistake does not break your streak, a stub of chalk that gives the move dots back no matter what the Blindfold says. PUZZLES THAT ARE ACTUALLY CORRECT Every position ships only after the app has proved it: exactly one first move forces mate, no faster mate exists by another route, and playing the whole line ends in checkmate. The move generator itself is verified against the standard published perft counts, which is the only test that reliably catches castling, en passant and pin errors. The defence plays the reply that holds out longest, not the first one it finds — so a mate in three really takes three. MADE TO BE PLAYED Tap a piece to see where it can go. Tap again to move. A hint costs a light, so it is a decision rather than a free answer. No account, nothing to unlock, no connection required.