One of the most visually compelling tabletop games on the market has made its way to Steam and Xbox One. Ripstone’s Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition launched recently for Microsoft’s home console and on PC, featuring some of the best looking visuals you’ll see outside of a marble chess table sitting in Central Park.
Ripstone hasn’t had the best of feedback from PC gamers for the original Pure Chess due to the fact that a lot of people have complained about the game’s lacking AI and poor difficulty scaling. This issue seems to have caused the game to received a mixed rating on Steam. With the Pure Chess Grandmaster Edition I’m presuming that the AI will have been addressed and the options made more in-depth.
The Grandmaster Edition features eight-player online play, three different tournaments, six different locations and nine different chess sets. The graphics are astounding, there’s no doubt about it. The launch trailer for the PC and Xbox One version of the game can be viewed below and you can see just how uncanny the visuals are.
The detailing in the wood pieces, the matte lighting on the marble pieces, the polished finish on the metal, and even the intricate chiseling of each piece – there’s just a lot put into the look and prestige of the presentation of Pure Chess that has always impressed me.
While this game may have its setbacks, I can only imagine how relaxing and engrossing a game of chess would be on a large, flat-screen television going against a friend on a sunny Saturday afternoon; a brightly lit den and a pitcher of lemonade to round out the experience would really help bring the zen factors of Pure Chess to life.
There are additional modes in the game, such as three different tournaments to play through, 100 different bonus chess puzzles to complete and there’s even a thorough tutorial to help you learn to master chess like a grandmaster.
Pure Chess: Grandmaster Edition is available for $12.99. You can pick up a digital copy from the Steam store or the Xbox Store.