Battle Chess: Game of Kings, a remake for the 1988 classic, is out now on Steam Early Access. You can buy into what developer Olde Sküül is calling a “late alpha” now for $10, or wait for the full version to go live and pay $20.
This late alpha version already includes basic single-player and multiplayer, and will soon add ladders, rankings, skill-based matchmaking, and skill challenges.
To those who aren't familiar with Battle Chess, it's just regular chess, only when one piece captures another it plays a unique animation, which was real novelty a couple of decades ago.
This Battle Chess remake started out with developer Subdued Software, which transferred development to Olde Sküül after the project failed to meet its Kickstarter goal . Olde Sküül was formed by EA, Interplay, Westwood, and SSI veterans, and is headed by Rebecca Hineman, who worked on the original Battle Chess. Olde Sküül did not say when it will release the full version of the game.
