Battle the Grim Reaper for your soul in PS VR with Chess Ultra, out 21st June

Chess is far and away one of the most popular games on the planet. 600 million people worldwide regularly immerse themselves in the profoundly deep tactics and multi-layered strategies of the noble board and sixteen pieces. They know that the pure joy of plotting multiple moves ahead to defeat an intimidating foe is as good as it gets in any game. For 1500 years we have played, and in doing so learned one of the most important lessons in life…

Every. Move. Matters.

We love chess at Ripstone. And on 21st June we’re delighted to be releasing Chess Ultra on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Pro and PlayStation VR, with pre-orders ready tomorrow, 7th June, featuring discounts and bonuses.

Check out the launch trailer below and hopefully you’ll agree that our new internal development team has put together a stunning-looking simulation. We’ve poured everything we can into making the environments, boards, pieces and materials as beautifully realistic as possible, all in 4k resolution. From the wood grain and varnish on the antique mahogany board in the library, to the luxury felt on the bottom of each piece, you’ve simply not seen a board game this gorgeous.

Under the hood, our AI is also world-beating. We’ve developed 10 distinct artificial intelligence levels in collaboration with real Grandmasters, and they have also approved a seriously intense set of challenges for you to master.

If you are new to chess you’re in good hands though. We want to introduce this amazing game to as many people as we can, and we’ve made sure that the tutorials can teach the basics to anyone as clearly as possible.

You can pre-order Chess Ultra from 7th June, and those who do can get a PlayStation Plus discount as well as a Chess Ultra PlayStation 4 Theme to download.

Oh, and there’s something else you might spot in the trailer. We wanted our PS VR mode to offer an experience that simply isn’t possible in real life, so now you can play against of the most iconic foes in chess history: Death himself, the Grim Reaper.

In a Chess Ultra match exclusive for PS VR, you’ll try to beat Death in the pits of Gomorrah, your mortal soul in the balance. If you’re playing well you’ll anger him, his eyes burning with rage and the lava will flow ferociously around you. But if you lose, you really lose, as he’ll reach over and take your soul. To add to the experience we’ve built a ‘Fire and Brimstone’ chess set that literally burns. In VR, you can physically reach out and hold the pieces using Move controllers before playing them.

Perhaps the most requested feature from fans of digital chess is robust multiplayer, and we believe we’ve nailed it. We’ve got online multiplayer against VR and non-VR players, making it easy to play against the ultimate opponent – real players – wherever you are. You can also play against PC players (or choose to be matched against other PS4 players only).  All the multiplayer modes are intuitive and slick, and one of the things we’re most proud of.

We’re going to hold a series of official Ripstone tournaments after we launch and we’re really hoping you’ll join us on 21st June to try the first game from Ripstone Developments, 1500 years in the making.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter for more news and behind-the-scenes updates and pictures.

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