Battle Chess: Game of Kings, a remake for the 1988 classic, is out now on Steam Early Access. You can buy into what developer Olde Sküül is calling a “late alpha” now for $10, or wait for the full version to go live and pay $20.
"Battle Chess: Game of Kings is the return of the classic Battle Chess. We are bringing it back and into the modern day. Full 3D, a better chess algorithm and more features for online play that we couldn't do with the original,” Olde Sküül said. “Back then we were lucky to have 320x200, 16 colors and a 1200 baud modem at best.“
This late alpha version already includes basic single-player and multiplayer, and will soon add ladders, rankings, skill-based matchmaking, and skill challenges.
To those who aren't familiar with Battle Chess, it's just regular chess, only when one piece captures another it plays a unique animation, which was real novelty a couple of decades ago.
This Battle Chess remake started out with developer Subdued Software, which transferred development to Olde Sküül after the project failed to meet its Kickstarter goal . Olde Sküül was formed by EA, Interplay, Westwood, and SSI veterans, and is headed by Rebecca Hineman, who worked on the original Battle Chess. Olde Sküül did not say when it will release the full version of the game.
