Chess 2: The Sequel gets a release date on Steam

Chess 2: The Sequel, the arguably improved version of the classic game, is coming to PC via Steam on 19th August.

Designed by master game designer David Sirlin - best known as the man who rebalanced the Street Fighter crew for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix - Chess 2 rearranges the ancient board game's essential components in a way that makes it less reliant on rote memorisation. It now features six different types of armies with their own unique bonuses. For example, the Empowered's bishops, knights, and rooks gain each other's movement powers when adjacent to one another, while the Reaper class is described as a "haunted army with teleportation and immortality."

Additionally, you can now win by getting the king across the midline. There's even economic-based combat where you can contest a loss by spending a certain number of limited resources called stones. Players each decide how many stones they'd like to spend, then reveal their hand at the same time. So it's basically battle by silent auction.

For more on How Chess 2 works, our Chris Donlan spoke to Sirlin at length about this new adaptation.

Donlan also referred to the Steam version of Chess 2 as its definitive version as it eschews the original Ouya game's microtransactions in lieu of a one time $25 price tag.

Also, the game is currently unavailable on Ouya following a Microsoft court order against the company that hosted its servers. Developer Ludeme's Zachary Burns told Eurogamer that "there is a new version in Ouya QA right now, and will support cross platform play with the Steam version once it passes certification."

One of the major new additions to this version of Chess 2 is that it features asynchronous play. "There's also twice as much music, improved graphics, a new ranking system with Steam achievements, rules updates from David Sirlin, and a lot of polish," Burns added. "There's a lot coming down the pike for Chess 2 Steam players as well, such as support for Steam notifications, challenging a friend to an unranked game, and even Steam Workshop support to give players the ability to create and share puzzles with each other."

An iPad version of Chess 2 is in the works, but Burns had nothing to share about that at this time.

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