The game Chess 2 is very enjoyable; the application Chess 2 is a mess. It feels like very little work was done to port this from Ouya. There are zero options: you cannot adjust resolution, quality, you can't even adjust the volume or turn off the music! The menu's don't seem to like being controlled by mice, you can only click on the deepest "slice" of a menu, even if the other menu options are on the screen.

Online play also has zero options. You search for a game and pick an army, but have no control over who you play or extra rules like the time each player gets. There is no rating system for players, no chat system, no friends system, no ability to start a game with a specific person (!), nothing. This application is missing SO MUCH that paying $20 for it makes me feel ripped off. This is not $20 of quality. This is like $4 of quality. Maybe. I'd pay $5 if I could turn off the terrible music.

In other words: don't expect much.

Chess 2 was clearly developed with the intent of making Chess new and fresh again, and it succeeds completely at this prospect. One of the most intimidating aspects of Chess 1: The Original is just the wealth of pre-established metagame that's been developed over the many long years it's been around. With six (count em, SIX!) unique factions instead of just one, all the old material is completely thrown out the window and you have to learn Chess all over again, and that, I feel, is wonderful. No longer is it about memorizing countless openings or having a wealth of unfathomable experience. Instead, you play it like you would play a modern strategy game - thoughtfully pondering your own decisions and creatively coming up with your own solutions. The midline rule also keeps the action tense throughout and prevents the more boring, drawn-out endgames of Chess 1; it feels like the way Chess was always meant to be played.

If you have ever been intimidated about picking up Chess before, now's the time to join Chess 2. The sooner the better - joining in while the game is young will be an exciting opportunity to see it evolve, and to help shape the metagame and history of the game yourself!

EDIT: There are no more future updates (afaik) planned for the game, and IMO its a great game but wasn't fully fleshed out with all the basic features. The population has bottomed out, so if you're buying it for multiplayer then you may be out of luck in finding games. This isn't really the developers fault, as indie games have a hard time in capturing a big multiplayer player pool. It was an interesting take for a chess variant, and I hope more tactics games similar to it come out. I am always looking for that next pvp tactical game.

To Chess Players:

If you're more of a tactics player (short term captures and plans), you'll enjoy this game. Chess 2 (C2) is a much more fast-paced and unpredictable game than traditional Chess. C2 has 6 armies to choose from (there is the classic Chess army, but also new armies with unique units & movesets), and you can face any of them from your opponent, so games will have very diverse matchups each time. There are also 2 ways to win: Getting your king past midline and checkmate. This ensures games are faster and have less draws. But with the midline invasion rule, it is very "race-to-win"; there are less quiet moves, less subtle improving moves to a better position, less strategic play. Rather, its more just a string of tactical plays IMO.

Knowledge of Chess can help you in C2, but it will only help you so far. You can throw most chess rule-of-thumbs out the window, as there are new pieces with new rules. Controlling the center is good, but controlling the sides is also important as the king usually tries to flank to one side to invade midline instead of going into the center where he'll be mated. Castling early and often is actually a bad move. Fianchetto is waste of tempo, as bishops are on a better diagonal from their starting position. Knights are usually better in C2 because its usually semi-closed or closed positions. And because of that, rooks are usually worse pieces because the position is closed, but also because you castle less often providing less exits for your king rook. However, pawn majority in center is still important (if not even more important), and also the knight on the rim is still grim :-)

If you liked Chess because of same teams and starting off on even foot, you might dislike the 6 different teams. They are balanced, but are balanced in a bubble (as in they are balanced with respect to Classic Chess army, but some have advantage/disadvantage versus each other). It's a case of Perfect Imbalance (Two Kings army>Reaper>Nemesis>Two Kings). So you might dislike the fact that your army performs better/worse versus the enemy team, but it is is only slight advantage. But this provides opportunity for each game and opening to be very unique. Another factor in the game is the duel system (betting system). Whenever a piece is captured, you can bet against your opponent for the fate of the unit doing the capturing (that unit will also be removed if you lose the bet). This duel system was implemented for mind games, but it is only wild guessing IMO. It is like rock paper scissors, the player that picks his weapon by thinking 7 moves ahead is just as good as the player thinking only 4 moves ahead or 1 move ahead. Although there are limits to the betting system (you only gain betting stones by destroying an enemy pawn), and it is more complicated than I give it credit for, it is still for the most part an arbitrary system.

Overall, I would recommend C2 to chess players, because of its familiarity to Chess but also because it brings new life and something refreshing to it. The less you think of it as chess + new elements, but rather just a new board game with chess elements, the more you will enjoy the game for what it really is :) GL HF.

If you do like chess and agree to pay 25 bucks just for an upgraded chess game buy it. But only for the game... Chess 2 does not have a UI that reflects the price. Moreover it's lack of in-game chat between players, the missing rating and post-game stats and the slow-pace (The graphics seem sloppy, it makes me think twice if I'm clicking the right spot) don't help...

They new rules are indeed genius but it needs much more to get to its actual price. The game just feels incomplete. I really hope they put work on it but in the state it actually is... I do not recommend the game.

I came into this as someone who was initially interested in playing traditional chess, but didn't find it to be very fun due to the emphasis on memorization. I think it's more fun to think more "on your toes" instead of having to invest time up-front to memorize chess openings in order to enjoy the intricacies of higher-level play (just like how some people don't like having to memorize long combos in fighting games in order to really enjoy the game at even a novice level). Chess 2 really nails this issue, as well as fixing other issues that make it much more fun to play.

It's not really feasible to have an "opening theory" due to the many different possible matchups, so you actually have to think about the strength of different moves right from the start.

The midline invasion rule really helps to keep the games from dragging on and making it easier to win without having to figure out how to checkmate or end up with a stalemate.

The "dueling" mechanic adds a fun challenge of trying to predict what your opponent will do.

Overall, the experience of playing and learning this game has been quite enjoyable, and this implementation gives you a nice way to find opponents to play against that are around your level (using an ELO system), so you don't have to worry about being thrown into match after match with people who are much more experienced than you.

This is "Chess" on steroids. It could use an options menu (I was unable to find one) so that I could adjust basics like screen resolution and audio volumes. I would have also liked the ability to choose a side and a difficulty when playing against the AI. Complaints aside, the new armies and the midline invasion rule really gives players a new way to play. A little pricey for the content it offers, in my opinion, but still fun nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g_isCkdBR8

I was fortunate enough to be part of the beta test, so maybe some bias here!

I could talk about the game's polish all day (hint: reaaaally good polish. I'm a particular fan of the music, but wow do the 3d pieces look amazing), but the most important thing is that it's just really, really fun. Playing around with the different armies, improvising new strategies, trying out openings-- it's really refreshing to have this level of freedom compared to chess.

It's surprising, too, because usually when a game is designed to be really well-balanced (which Chess 2 is), the designer takes out most of the exciting stuff and you're stuck with a game that's really well-balanced, but not all that fun. But in Chess 2 you have an army with teleporting pieces, an army with two kings, and an army where adjacent minor pieces share eachother's powers-- nothing is broken, but there's a ton of variety and a ton of experimentation you can do.

Midline invasion is a really underrated change, too. It makes games way faster and more exciting, and it makes kings less weak as a piece!

I want to like this game so much. The ideas behind Chess 2 seem so good. So far Chess 2 seems like a great Chess variant.

The problem is that this particular implementation just seems unfinished. You can play Chess 2 against a horribly weak AI. You can play live in 25 minutes a side games and you can play Correspondence games. Your rating goes up if you win and down if you lose (presumably based on your opponents rating).

The game looks nice and bar a few crashes, plays smoothly. But there is so much missing that you would normally take for granted.

No rankings ! You can see your opponents rating and yours in game. Out of game you see...nothing. No win/loss ratios. No breakdown of each armies win/loss. No leaderboards!!!!

You cannot challenge a friend. You play against random opponents only.

For a game that's supposed to be all about multiplayer this is just unforgivable.

There are no options. You window resize (unless you edit the game launch properties yourself). The music is nice but you cannot turn it down. You cannot even turn it OFF !

Your games are saved for replay. There's no chess notation. You cannot view your opponents or your own previous moves.

Even the Steam Achievements are just so boring. Again, just ... barely ... there.

Mind boggling. If this was early access I'd give it some slack as the core of the game is there and it is great. But in 2014 the total lack of any features is crazy. Especially when you consider the price.

Hopefully the game can get some much needed support and thrive but we will have to wait and see.

Right now... I would not recommend this to anyone.

I don't know whether to recommend this game or not. I bought it at the $10 price point, which isn't much I guess. The overall idea is OK, but personally I don't like the betting stones for pieces thing, and I just wish I could turn it off and play `a piece captures a piece` (along with the music- I'm forced to play with no volume).

The worst part is the AI. I read other reviews before purchasing and thought, OK the AI isn't great but it must be playable. Frankly, it isn't. Most games are won in very few moves and the AI is almost unresponsive to threats. Seriously, move a pawn out of the way and march your king/s across the midline, very minimal resistance will be offered, you will win.

So with no viable AI, you will always need an online player.

There's no 2 player option, so at the moment you can't play a friend or family member at home using the same computer. Why is this not an option? It seems like the basic option? Actually this is what tips me to not recommend it, because without this option, there's no viable way to play the game, which otherwise might be entertaining.

Below you'll find both a video and written impression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbTu7vaaIKE
Chess 2 takes the classic game of chess and adds in a bunch of new armies and it's own flavor of new rules. Chess players should feel right at home, as chess 2 still keeps true to it's heritage. Besides a selection of armies to play as, one of the most significant rule addition is the new median line. Any king that passes it wins, essentially adding a whole new win condition to the classic game of chess. Chess being an old as the hills game, the Sequel does a pretty good job at introducing new metas and strategies to really freshen up this ageless classic.

Visually the game goes with a realistic look. At first glance it may not have the visual impact of a more stylized game, but I think fans of chess will appreciate it's more sophisticated aesthetic. The pieces are well detailed with intricate trimmings and most importantly off all, the new pieces look like they belong in chess, and describe's it's characteristics well.

Though Chess 2's core is strong and enjoyable, it's not with out it's flaws. There are serious "quality of life" issues with the game. The lack of any sort of options, visual, audio, or even a menu is very odd. Even 8bit games have an options menu so I don't understand why Chess 2 doesn't. The game also focus on it's multiplayer. Though there is online play, there is no lobby system, no way to match with your friends currently. This is a huge over sight for a game like this. The devs did mention that they have an update planned for some sort of match making, which is great to hear, but it is missing on it's release so keep that in mind.

Overall Chess 2 is a wonderful game that will have veterans giggling like school girls, delighted at the discovery of new metas. For chess fans, this is an easy recommendation, but if you are just the regular gamer, curious to chess 2, with out more features or an options menu, it's always good to do more research.

Pros:
- Discovery of new metas
- Armies are interesting and unique
- Appropriate and detailed visuals
- New rules are enjoyable
- Still feels like chess, but new!

Cons:
- No options
- No Lobby
- Low on features