Viking Chess: Hnefatafl
Diamond Sky Games · 2020 · Strategy, Indie, Board Game, Multiplayer, Historical
PC
Very Positive88% · 58
Compare prices in Official Stores
Compare prices in Keyshops
Keyshops are third-party marketplaces — keys are resold and can be region-locked or a different edition. Check the listing's region & edition before buying.
Some store links are affiliate links — playze may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the price you pay, and the cheapest option is always shown in the Best price box above.
Screenshots
About Viking Chess: Hnefatafl
Play the ancient game of "Hnefatafl" in style on your PC, in Singleplayer mode against the AI or Multiplayer over the internet.
"Hnefatafl" is a strategic, chess-like boardgame with assumed origins all the way back to the Viking era.
Put on your viking helmet, grab a horn of honeymead and get ready to crush your opponent in a mighty clash of wits and skill.
Game Features:
Game Mechanics:
"Hnefatafl" is a strategic, chess-like boardgame with assumed origins all the way back to the Viking era.
Put on your viking helmet, grab a horn of honeymead and get ready to crush your opponent in a mighty clash of wits and skill.
Game Features:
- Ruleset:
Viking Chess: Hnefatafl uses the popular ruleset for Hnefatafl; "Copenhagen Ruleset", based on the ruleset "Fetlar Hnefatafl". - Singleplayer versus AI
- Multiplayer for 2 players over the internet
- Local Multiplayer for 2 players
- Interactive tutorial
Read less, play more! Learn the game mechanics in an interactive, step-by-step tutorial! - Sweet 3D-graphics!
Handcrafted with love and attention to detail, to excite your eyes as well as your strategic skills! - Unlockables!
Adorn your player profile name with unlockable prefix titles, showcasing your skill!
Can you collect them all?
Game Mechanics:
- Two-player, turnbased game
- Asynchronous boardgame:
Play as the Attacker faction counting 24 pieces or the Defender faction counting 13 pieces including 1 King - Different win-conditions:
As the Defenders, move your King to one of the four corner tiles to escape and win the game, or protect your King in an "Edge Fort".
As the Attackers, capture the King by surrounding him on four adjacent sides, or enclosing all escape routes. - Movement mechanics:
All pieces move vertically or horizontally like Rooks in Chess - Capture mechanics:
Many exciting ways to capture opposing pieces! Do flanking moves, trap your opponent in a "Shieldwall" move, or send your opponent back to his viking boat in tears with a "Multi-capture" move!
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Viking Chess: Hnefatafl is a respectful and carefully crafted digital adaptation of an ancient Scandinavian strategy game, bringing a piece of Viking-era tabletop history into a modern, accessible format. Developed by Diamond Sky Games and published by Rain Games, the title focuses on faithfully translating the rules, tension, and asymmetrical depth of Hnefatafl into a form that works smoothly on PC, without overcomplicating or modernizing it beyond recognition. Rather than trying to reinvent the genre, the game succeeds by preserving the purity and intellectual challenge that made Hnefatafl endure for centuries. At the heart of the experience is the asymmetric structure that sets Hnefatafl apart from more familiar board games like chess. One side commands a king and a smaller group of defenders positioned at the center of the board, while the opposing side controls a larger attacking force that surrounds them from the edges. Victory conditions differ dramatically: defenders must escort the king to one of the corner squares, while attackers aim to capture the king by trapping him. This imbalance creates a fascinating strategic dynamic where each side must think differently, adapti…1 found this helpful
This is a great app for playing Hnefatafl, a few notes though: -The game never shows you how to play as the defender against AI, it took me a few hours to find this, but you can click on the AI Defender when setting the difficulty in order to play as Defender. -No other notes really, I've found that playing as defender against any difficulty of AI results in your victory, it seems the AI attacker is very bad, even in nightmare mode. While the AI defender is pretty good, even in Easy mode, but can certainly be defeated.
Fun game. Just wish it remembered my view settings. Better AI would be nice too, with more difference between the easy & hard modes.
👍
Yeah, it's fun!
Hnefatafl for the win! I've only played two games so far, but they were smooth, challenging enough, visually appealing, and - to be honest - I'm just really happy to have a Steam version to play solo when I can't find anyone to play my physical version with. The only drawback, as everyone else said: there is zero online activity, but as I bought it to play solo, I'm ok with that.
Community reviews
—
0 reviews
Sign in to write a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this game.
