others games?

[Blitz4]

any other chess games that look proper, provide a simulated single-player chess experience and are worth recommending?

something to replace the old chessmaster 9000 games?

EDIT: Here are the unique features to chessmaster:
* 3D game board
* 3D game board where the player can spin the camera around with their mouse
* Has bots that you can play in a simulated tournament experience

I'm just looking for a game with those 3 features above. thanks

[marcdev6]

Hello, yes : Simply Chess and Free Chess on Steam, and of course Chess.com :)

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by marcdev6:

Hello, yes : Simply Chess and Free Chess on Steam, and of course Chess.com :)

simulated yes. but it doesn't provide a simulated tounament-type experience. like you working your way up the ranks as you would irl otb, that's what chessmaster could do, plus more.

what's the best game that has a good 3d view of the board and pieces that seem almost realistic?

[Anonymous Bosch]

In terms of visuals and sound there is still nothing in the same league as Chess Ultra. The VR experience is incomparable. I wish they would release a new version that just uses the Lichess API as a backend (there is a game called "Chess!" on steam that is trying to do that but it doesn't look as good and the UI is even worse, plus it has performance issues so I refunded it).

Chessmaster was a beautiful relic of the "multimedia" age. Lichess + Youtube (Josh Waitskin's videos are up there now, plus thousands of other creators) + an opensource database does most of what Chessmaster did and a lot more for free now. So there isn't much commercial demand to create something like Chessmaster again. Most straightforward chess games offer no value over the above combo and are clumsily executed. One project that might be close to Chessmaster by the looks of it is Progress Chess, which I have wishlisted but haven't played.

However, there are a lot of good chess themed games that do something completely different. The ones on steam that I think are particularly good:

Pretty much all of Minimol's chess games (most of which cost less 2 dollars); but their premier project is Chessarama, which is more like a full game. Deep Green Games makes a lot of tiny tactics puzzle games as well. You can do tactics anywhere but sometimes its fun to switch it up.

Master of Chess is a chess career simulator; it is in EA still and has some major things to iron out with the engine, but it has some really interesting features.

A little further afield are things like Chessaria, Chessplosion, Gigachess, Pawnbarian, and Chess Ultimate. These are all much further from vanilla chess, but happen to do what they do really well.

I've researched basically every chess game on steam, and bought and refunded a couple. These are the only ones that come to mind as really worthwhile.

[Blitz4]

i also wish they released a VR version. in that case they would finally be forced to unlock the camera and allow you to spin around the board.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Originally posted by Blitz4:

i also wish they released a VR version. in that case they would finally be forced to unlock the camera and allow you to spin around the board.

Wished who released a VR version? Chess Ultra IS VR.

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

Originally posted by Blitz4:

i also wish they released a VR version. in that case they would finally be forced to unlock the camera and allow you to spin around the board.

Wished who released a VR version? Chess Ultra IS VR.

but it's not. you only get 2 angles of the board

EDIT: unless in vr mode you can spin your head around to see the board at all angles as you would irl. in that case this game should have been released exclusively as VR

if it doesn't allow you todo that, it's not VR and it's just this weird thing

[Anonymous Bosch]

Originally posted by Blitz4:

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

Wished who released a VR version? Chess Ultra IS VR.

but it's not. you only get 2 angles of the board

If you are wearing a VR headset, you can move your head anywhere you want...

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

Originally posted by Blitz4:

but it's not. you only get 2 angles of the board

If you are wearing a VR headset, you can move your head anywhere you want...

ok. not in the non-vr game

so this game should be an exclusive vr game. not able to be played on kb&m

so my op remains unanswered as this game can't beat chessmaster. it would if the vr ability of spinning your head around existed on kb&m. i'll have to look into the other games you mentioned. but it doesn't sound like you have a suggestion you are sure of

[Anonymous Bosch]

If you just want a 3D chessboard to display on a 2D screen from any angle, there are a million free games and even web applications that will render in your browser to do that (google it). They just don't look as good as this game. Most everything Chessmaster did can be found for free on the web in various places now. Ultimately chess all happens in the mind anyway ;-p

Good luck!

[Blitz4]

also chessmaster isn't a relic. it's literally the only chess game out there that has 3d chessboard that lets you move the camera to spin around it that i found so far. no online site even does 3d properly. if you have a suggestion of a better 3D board than chessmaster pls i'm all ears

chessmaster isn't just about josh and larry christiansen's courses. it's about a simulated tournament against bots with personality. meaning it's more of a cult classic as it has features not found in any other game since. rn the only way to get that experience is by playing otb chess in a fide tournament. it's true.

if you have some 3d game where i can take my mouse and move the camera with a kb & m and also it has bots and a simulated tournament, i'm all ears

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

If you just want a 3D chessboard to display on a 2D screen from any angle, there are a million free games and even web applications that will render in your browser to do that (google it). They just don't look as good as this game. Most everything Chessmaster did can be found for free on the web in various places now. Ultimately chess all happens in the mind anyway ;-p

Good luck!

no there's not a million. there are a total of one. chessmaster.

Minimol's chess games - not controllable 3D, not simulated tournament
Master of Chess - not 3D

i don't know if you even played chessmaster like i did. i'll edit the op to be more clear of what it offered that i don't see any game do since. sorry

EDIT: i'm so confused how people believe this 3d board we find in lichess and chess.com is ok. there's real scientific evidence that states playing 3d games over 2d games makes you remember stuff better. yet nearly every chess game is in 2d, even this game, chess ultra, as you can't move the camera

[Anonymous Bosch]

I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to give you detailed constructive suggestions. I'm not here to have an argument, just to support fellow chess players in their hobby. Enjoy whatever programs you like! If you only want a program that is exactly like CM, then keep using CM! And yes I played CM when it first game out.

Originally posted by Blitz4:

if you have some 3d game where i can take my mouse and move the camera with a kb & m and also it has bots and a simulated tournament, i'm all ears

As I mentioned, by the looks of it Progress Chess has these features, I just haven't played it myself. Maybe you should check it out and tell us what you think.

Best wishes!

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to give you detailed constructive suggestions. I'm not here to have an argument, just to support fellow chess players in their hobby. Enjoy whatever programs you like! If you only want a program that is exactly like CM, then keep using CM! And yes I played CM when it first game out.

Originally posted by Blitz4:

if you have some 3d game where i can take my mouse and move the camera with a kb & m and also it has bots and a simulated tournament, i'm all ears

As I mentioned, by the looks of it Progress Chess has these features, I just haven't played it myself. Maybe you should check it out and tell us what you think.

Best wishes!

great mention. i missed that and looked at the games after. maybe a bullet list of each game would've made it more clear. i dunno. whatever. you can clearly see around the 6:55 point in this that the user pans the board left/right, and it's clear there's also zoom and tilt up/down. that's great. i have to imagine it's possible to mod in custom images for the personalities and bob's your uncle. thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Zg40kC9lQ


I have a thing against private profiles is all. I have a hard time trusting them due to how many treat steam forums as social media. it's at least 85/15 for the worse with private profiles due to a survey a couple years ago, so I typically play those odds.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Originally posted by Blitz4:

I have a thing against private profiles is all.

I have a private profile precisely because I hate social media. I value my privacy and have no interest in showing strangers everything I do.

Another game that might interest you: Chess Infinity

It was recently released by the same publisher (Ripstone) as Chess Ultra and is very similar, but it fixes some of the problems you had (camera control) with it. I don't think it has bot tournaments, per se, but it has a story mode progression with various bots and some other interesting features. I will probably skip it since they removed VR and I don't like the way they handle multiplayer. Also you need a fairly powerful PC to run it.

I picked up Progress Chess to check it out, but I may refund it. It has a lot going for it and could definitely improve, but to me it is too unpolished in its current state. Might revisit it later.

Hope you enjoy any of the games to decide to try.

Cheers.

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Anonymous Bosch:

Originally posted by Blitz4:

I have a thing against private profiles is all.

I have a private profile precisely because I hate social media. I value my privacy and have no interest in showing strangers everything I do.

Another game that might interest you: Chess Infinity

It was recently released by the same publisher (Ripstone) as Chess Ultra and is very similar, but it fixes some of the problems you had (camera control) with it. I don't think it has bot tournaments, per se, but it has a story mode progression with various bots and some other interesting features. I will probably skip it since they removed VR and I don't like the way they handle multiplayer. Also you need a fairly powerful PC to run it.

I picked up Progress Chess to check it out, but I may refund it. It has a lot going for it and could definitely improve, but to me it is too unpolished in its current state. Might revisit it later.

Hope you enjoy any of the games to decide to try.

Cheers.

Sadly, more people use the privacy as a shield to be evil than to protect themselves on Steam Forums, and very likely on other platforms too. To me Steam Forums are social media because the edgy comments get the views & comments and those comments bump the threads, so it's a game. For non-private profiles, it's a game for the OP to be just edgy enough to get people engaged, but not too much or what they want to discuss is lost. For private profiles, we found it's about 85% are here just to cause trouble. To me over time, those 85% infect the public profiles to make them focus on being destructive/negative. And what I mention, is just one side effect of all social media. Discord rn is the safest social media out there and it's where most are moving to. Issue being you can join 100 servers and I own over 100 games. Anyway if you really want to see what social media is doing to humanity, check out the doc called "The Social Dilemma"

Chess Infinity looks even better than Progress Chess as the portraits of the bots are realistic and not cartoonish. I see Chess Infinity is available on Console as well.

Personally I don't see this game Chess Ultra as being finished if the VR version allows panning the 3D board but when using KB & M it doesn't. Like I'm sure I can play this game in VR without a VR headset somehow to unlock that ability.

Really cool there's now 2 games that were inspired by Chessmaster. I see the 3D board as a faster way to learn chess, plus better your memory irl for other things. And the tournament structure of playing bots to put people in check and test their abilities, like many have a goal, I'm going to play online chess only until I hit rating x and then I'll start playing fide rated events otb to get a title. Then there's others that can't physically play otb for whatever reason, but can play computer chess. It's great to have games like these.