This game looks beautiful, but this is pretty much it. They focused on making it look as sexy as possible and left the AI to be broken as hell.

Looks lovely and does basic computer chess well.

Others have reported issues with piece selection and camera control. Personally I have had no issue with either - I simply drag to the camera position Iwant and let go, then it stays there whilst you play. Of course the pieces are so pretty that it's hard to resist flying around them all the time! Admittedly you don't have full 360 degree movement (you just swing around your half of the board), but in my opinion it does the job. I haven't had many issues with alt-tab either, though I do have to tap Tab twice in order to get out and occassionally it doesn't work at all.

This is not a serious chess programme: it doesn't import/export games, allow you to set up positions, rate your play, train you (beyond basic move rules), play FICS or any of that. And the online isn't up to the job (you just press 'auto challenge' and it sets you up with a random, if any are online). But you have got Lucas/Arena/Fritz/Jin and the rest if you need those things.

What it is, is a satisfying way to play a few games against a competent AI or a friend (locally or online). I've played a fair bit of chess and it's far better than I am. If could play properly then it may not be up to snuff, but for 90% of people I'd guess it was more than adequate. And because it's so damn pretty, I reckon it'll encourage me to play more.

I do hope that the developers will consider adding some tutorials, maybe classic games (preferably with commentary) and allow game import/export. With such an attractive set-up, it would be a great way to step through a recent game on FICS, for example.

Its a beautiful game. Really feels like the game of kings, unlike other comic-like chess games on steam. Feels like the devs take it serious. It's made of beautiful graphics and environments. Even tough it could have more rooms to choose from, they really know how to make a beautiful setting to play chess.

Games great in idea, However this game has a few issues, Recommed holding off till fixed.

Cons:
CTD in first 20 seconds after install (Mantis App Crashed)
Input issues when selecting chess pieces, Very annoying trying to select a piece, Wrong moves can happen when trying to select the pieces due to this issue.
Prompted to keep installing visual C++ runtimes every time trying to start the game until the redist folder was deleted manually from the games directory.

I manage to play 12 minutes in total most of the time was trying to get the game working, I wish them all the best and hope they improve and fix the game quickly.

Recommendation: Recommed holding off till fixed, You could be a luckyone and have only the input issues.

Simple chess but:

- The interface is poor.
- No borderless mode.
- Alt + Tab does not work.
- At first sight it might seem that there is a free camera but it is not.

This happened on expert level against the computer. 1. E2-E4 C7-C5 2. N-F3 E7-E6 3. D2-D4 C5XD4 4. NXD4 N-F6 5. B-D3 B-C5 6. N-B3 BXF2+ 7. KXF2. First move out of book by the computer is a catastrophic blunder. A piece just to deny castling? Ridiculous.

Don't buy. I requested a refund after eight minutes.

Oops. Left out the pair of moves 4...N-F6 and 5. B-D3. Now inserted. Actual sequence of moves is now correct. Apologies to Wig Bang as his analysis is now irrelevant. His comment, however, still applies. Expert level was the highest level available for the first play. The result was awful. The chess engine's evaluation function has serious weaknesses. It probably played 6...BXF2+ because the positional bonus for taking away castling and the positional bonus for giving check both added up to a value greater than the piece.

Black can try to set up a trap with 7...H7-H5, but that should not work against any player of decent strength.

Uhmm.....

The interface is pretty ugly.... The notation board is much to big and ugly and you cant change it in size and everything else .. And its counting in the wrong way.... Move 5...4...3...2...1.... thats really disturbing -_-
You cant even see the full notation after a game, only look the replay.... There should be a possibility to download a pgn file or at least the the full notation...

Finally, we have a nice, but affordable little chess game on Steam (without annoying advertisements, Simply Chess!), a necessity that was missing for a long time. I appreciate that I have the choice to play against humans, play against the AI or solve little problems with an increasing degree of difficulty. I feel a comfortable, relaxing and somehow noble atmosphere, brooding over my virtual board while listening to Mozart.

The controls are something one has to get used to, and the game does not do a good job explaining itself in this regard.
- Sometimes, it is hard to distinguish the different kinds of (glass-like half transparent) pieces from the default perspective; left-click and drag moves your camera though, and you can check wether this is a Queen or a Bishop...
- Moving your pieces with your mouse does not work well sometimes, because the hitboxes are not set right; you can however solve this with your arrow keys.
- Setting the volume of music and sound effects is explained ingame, but not in a helpful way; again, clicking the value and dragging the mouse (up or down) is the solution.
- Finally: Leaving the game temporarily with ALT-TAB is not possible; if you want to read tutorials or do something else without quitting the game, you have to choose "fullscreen off" in the launcher menu.
Such difficulties are more than unnecessary, and I hope the developer will fix them with patches!

Nevertheless, the game works as it is, and I love chess, therefore I give it a 6/10.

https://youtu.be/KfggzMl2chM
+ Visually this is certainly the best looking chess games I've ever played. Great lighting, reflections, shadows, and highly detailed chess pieces.
+ The gameplay is fantastic! Very easy to move the pieces around, and it even lights up the board to indicate possible movement locations. Everything just felt right!
+ A great variety of chess sets of all different types and materials. (I really liked the Roman and Halloween set)
+ You can play with friends or challenge random oppponents online. (or locally)
+ "Learn to Play" tutorials which can help new players learn how to play chess!
+ Various camera angles, including a top-down perspective
+ Relaxing music

- I believe there are 6 locations to play at, but some locations seem to be bound to certain chess sets which is odd and a bit disappointing. (I really wish there were more locations to choose from)

Finally a worthy chess-game, and sold for an awesome price on top!

This game features everything i could have wished for:
A beautiful presentation, including different chess pieces and tables, beautiful and relaxing music, a very extensive tutorial, ten different AI strenghts, ranging from Ape to Grandmaster, ELO ratings, a save option with six save states, asynchronous online play with a very active community, statistics, a replay function, and a lot of chess puzzles on top!


Absolutely recommended!