Zen Chess: Mate in Two Reviews

As others have mentioned, there are often multiple solutions for some of these puzzles but you can only solve them in the way the game wants. So it is often a case of trial-and-error/brute forcing solutions. Also, I often find the first move of the two to often be illogical where you will often put your piece in clear danger and sacrifice it to facilitate the next move. As a standalone game it is okay but I think any chess fans will be disappointed with this offering.

I enjoyed Zen Chess: Mate in One so I figured I'd pick this one up too but it's not nearly as good. Some puzzles have multiple solutions but they only accept the one they want to accept. Also, there's a handful of puzzles where the opponent makes a move that doesn't make any sense. Those particular puzzles get very frustrating. You find yourself just guessing turns to see what the game wants you to do in some of these puzzles and it takes away from them being actual puzzles. Zen Chess: Mate in One is definitely worth your time, this one is not.

The game loads fast and is to the point. The puzzles are interesting for me. I wish Zen Chess would be one platform instead of different games, so we can do a complicated puzzle then a few easy ones as palate cleanser.

It's exactly what it says. A very pleasant and calming chess tactics game. There are some minor customization options with the pieces and colors. My only gripe is usually with tactics puzzles we get to see the move prior from the opponent, which this does not do, but it certainly isn't a gamebreaker and maybe even helps with the minimalistic idea more. If you know how to play chess and/or like chess then this is a nice little relaxing way to do tactics from your computer.

Some improvements on the first one have been made. E.g. a volume slider De-selecting pieces by attempting illegal moves or allowing more than one predetermined way to solve a puzzle are still missing. The issues of visibilty when it comes to white pieces on white squares still persist. Still fun and very affordable.

This isn't the Mona Lisa. But can you imagine the price of the Mona Lisa? This is a very nice, small investment. Good for practice. Some rather beautiful positions, most of which I have not seen before. And I've seen far too many.

This is not quite as well-built as [i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/748970/Zen_Chess_Mate_in_One/]Zen Chess: Mate in One[/url][/i], but it's OK for an afternoon if you're into chess.

Some puzzles have some serious set-up issues. 90, for example, has multiple pieces in single square and has two solutions, but only accepts one. Ever puzzle after 90 has a white rook on f8 for some reason and you cannot interact with it. Game still allows illegal moves and does not show why your moves are incorrect. Music is still really loud and has no way to control in-game. Can't recommend the game as a chess tool. But if you know a bit about the game and feel like getting a few quick achievements, it's decent.

Not a true "mate in two" game, I wouldn't recommend this to chess lovers. The opponent makes illogical moves on some levels that make zero sense, but there is no other way to beat the level, so you have to roll with it. There are also multiple solutions on some levels, but the game only ever accepts one specific set of moves. So you end up clicking around like an idiot trying to figure out which one it is. Another problem with the game is that if you make the "wrong" move, the board just resets. It's just not very intuitive to your average chess lover, IMO. For 60 cents it's probably worth the cost, but the dev didn't seem to know how to properly build a "mate in two" game. Maybe "mate in one" is better, since it wouldn't allow for these stupid scenarios from popping up

Some of their puzzles have multiple solutions and they only accept one as "correct".