cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Chess Ultra - the very best VR chess game?

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

 

I read this nice article, and the author concluded that Chess Ultra is the best chess game in VR:

 

https://riftinfo.com/this-is-the-best-vr-chess-game-%F0%9F%98%B2-heres-why

 

I'm not disagreeing - and Chess Ultra is right now very cheap to get - and supports native Oculus drivers:

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/518060/Chess_Ultra/

 

Note that the game has been available in the Rift Store, but sadly you can no longer buy the game there, seems to have been deactivated sometime in 2021:

 

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/979107085532378/

 

Luckily the Steam version is still available - and as written it supports native Oculus drivers. And while super sampling does not work in SteamVR, super sampling works using native Oculus drivers - here are some shots using Rift CV1 ss 2.3 (did go for ss 2.5, but that was too much for 90 fps even for the RTX 3090):

 

OculusScreenshot1656263760.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656263836.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656264397.JPG

The detail is awesome - but of course more difficult to see due to the CV1 SDE when using the hmd. Now, some persons have no clue why super sampling is of such massive importance, and this game is perfect for showing the impact of super sampling. 

Super sampling does not work in this game with SteamVR, so the SteamVR res slider has no impact on the Index' image quality - I guess it's stuck at 100%. Let's try to compare Index SteamVR res 100% with Rift CV1 ss 2.3:

 

Index image quality (SteamVR res slider does not work)

download (2).jpg

 

Rift CV1 ss 2.3 (res does work due to native Oculus drivers) 

OculusScreenshot1656164366.JPG

 

- and another one:

 

Index - default res (cannot be changed)

download (1).jpg

 

Rift CV1 ss 2.3

OculusScreenshot1656263800.JPG

 

Compare the carpet and the cup in the two above images - and here're some flowers:

 

Index

download.jpg

 

Rift CV1 - ss 2.3

OculusScreenshot1656263781.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656263892.JPG

 

If you're not using an Oculus hmd, the game may be so blurry it's not enjoyable. Chess Ultra is an important reminder than one hmd is not enough - some games need a specific hmd to shine or work as intended. If I only had the Index, Chess Ultra would have no value to me (until devs get the res slider fixed) - but with the CV1 the game totally shines and has awesome value.

 

Btw, there are different environments:

 

OculusScreenshot1656264599.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656265645.JPG

 

The most awesome environment may be the one where you play against Death:

 

OculusScreenshot1656265774.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656266054.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656265794.JPG

OculusScreenshot1656266034.JPG

 

Playing against Death, suddenly chess feels like a very important game to win, lol. Also, check out the ground textures in the above shot - they look incredible. Chess Ultra is of course about chess, and I've only tested the game against the game's AI. So far I've been constantly spanked and beaten - but I have not played chess for about 30 years, lol.

 

I think that this game is 10/10 - and the music sounds awesome in the Rift CV1 headphones. Skill levels can be adjusted from novice to expert. You may need at least a GTX 1080 for 90 fps, and that's just for 90 fps using Rift CV1 ss 1.0 - according to the devs:

 

RECOMMENDED:

    • OS: Windows 10
    • Processor: 2.5+ GHz Quad core
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA Gerforce GTX 780 or 970
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 12 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070/1080 or AMD equivalent will be required to experience 90 FPS on a HTC VIVE or OCULUS RIFT  

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

0 REPLIES 0