Chess Knights: Viking Lands

I wonder why Minimol Games don't find themselves a more apt name, like Maniacs of Chess :) They keep on releasing chess-inspired, but not-quite chess games - and even more interestingly, although some of these games look super weird from a chess player's perspective, they actually feature perfectly valid puzzle mechanics. In Chess Knights: Viking Lands, the valiant Knights need to rescue their brethren from the mighty Norsemen (or Norsepieces?), moving strictly in L-shaped jumps. Upon this mechanic the game builds about 60 puzzles, some of them very simple, and a few are satisfyingly tough... or they would be, weren't for some of the usual shortcomings of the developer's games. One is that Minimol repeatedly uses 3D-navigable boards as an excuse to not set up a proper camera angle for the levels. As usual, their pieces are difficult to tell apart from some angles, so sometimes it's quite annoying to find the right view to contemplate the task at hand. The other is the undo. CK:VL uses a one-step undo feature, something I find rather pointless (the one-step part) but acceptable, as even one step solves 80% of the issues caused by a total lack of undo. Problem is, if you die with your last knight (often towards the end of a long level), the undo doesn't work. And finally, the number of knights per level. Sometimes you need to sacrifice some of your knights to be able to pass the level. Now, if you always sacrifice all but one knights, then 80% of the levels can be completed on autopilot. In several levels, you can keep all your knights, if you're savvy - but there are levels where you must sacrifice at least one, or even more. Then, most levels can be completed with 1 knight sacrificed. So, is this some kind of DIY difficulty setting? If it is, then please at least provide a PAR number for each level... I generally enjoyed the game, but the mentioned issues (especially the last one) made the experience more than a bit confusing, and sometimes annoying. The 4.8 hours of playtime included a full lunch when I left the game running (cca. 40 mins), and a properly working undo would have shaved off another hour or so, while making the overall experience much sweeter. At around 2 EUR, these games are absolutely worth their price - however I still wish they had a bit more polish.

Beschiss.

基础模式非常简单无脑过 进阶模式实在过于烧脑 好评没商量

Cool themed chess puzzle game. Finished the main campaign in 2.5h.

Great, challenging and relaxing!

Excelente juego de estrategia y graficos bonitos Excelente videojuego 10/10 ⭐