Zen Chess: Mate in One
ಠ_ಠ A decent minimalist chess puzzler, but it has significant sticking points.
I picked up Zen Chess: Mate in One when its bundles went on sale. While I definitely got my 59 cents worth out of this game, I can’t recommend picking it up for full price after going fully through the experience. If you’re serious about learning, you’re probably better with lichess.org .
You’ll practice many of your chess skills to get through this game.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Addictive Minimalist Games.
75/100 Fun but lacks depth.
The game comprises 300 mate-in-one puzzles that I got through in 2.9 hours. They are nicely chosen/well constructed puzzles that would be a fantastic learning aid for someone newer to the game who is keen to improve their skills, and are a fun set of puzzles for more experienced players. I enjoyed it.
A few suggestions for improvement:
-firstly the music is really jarring, a volume control would be a great addition (there is just a mute button).
-secondly as soon as you solve, it immediately jumps to the next puzzle. It would be nice if there were an option for a mode where each puzzle pauses after you solve, to reflect on the puzzle and solution, eg displaying the unsolved puzzle, with the chess notation for the move now added on the side (with eg ability to press space to go to next puzzle).
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Frozen Synapse
I’ve bought this game three times now and I’d buy it again if I had more free time. I bought it first as a standalone Linux game. Later I picked up another copy in a bundle that gave me a Steam key for it (it was part of a bundle and there were other games in that bundle I liked, but having a copy of Frozen Synapse on Steam was the sweetener that sealed the deal for me) and I subsequently bought it for Android because I couldn’t get enough of it.
My biggest problem with this game is it plays to my own desire to optimize and speculate on what my opponent is going to do in a turn-based strategy game. The core mechanic tends to lead me to a decision-paralysis. And I love the game intensely for it.
– Real player with 601.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Addictive Strategy Games.
I love it when a plan comes together, and Frozen Synapse is my favourite turn-based game.
It’s similar to ground operations of X-COM, for example, but in a purer, simpler form. There’s no base management, inventory, RPG elements. All units of the same type have identical stats. And, unlike X-COM, RNG does not make much of an impact on outcomes of firefights, if any. The typical ‘chance to hit’ mechanic is replaced with ‘time to hit’. If enemy unit is in cover, your unit will need more time to hit him; if enemy units runs into your stationary unit, your unit will shoot first because he had a bonus to this timer, and the enemy had a penalty for running. Thus, if you can predict what your opponent is about to do, you can be 100% sure what will happen when they encounter one of your units. If.
– Real player with 93.5 hrs in game