Massive Chalice is a very ambitious game. It features turned based battle, stretched over centuries of history. You’re not fighting a small battle in history, you’re writing history. In a world led by a massive talking chalice. Yes it’s a Double Fine production so expect a lot of jokes. Aside of the jokes, this Indie takes things very serious!
Great storytelling
The moment you stat up the game, a massive Chalice, explaining the story to you, will welcome you. You’re in a world that is endangered by enemies. The Chalice is able to defeat them but needs to restore its power first. In order to give the Chalice it needed time, five heroes are selected over several centuries to defend to land. It’s you, a faceless ruler who decides the outcome of the battles.
Throughout the game, the Chalice tells the story. To make things more interesting, the Chalice consist out of a woman and a men… As voices that is. The narrative is a constant dialogue between those two and it’s an understatement to say that it’s fun to hear. The first thing the duo tells you is that this is a very hard game and they’re right. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to remember.
Combat
The first big part of the game is the turned based combat. It works the same way as Fire Emblem games. This means you can select your units and move them over a grid. The grid is limited based on the class you’re playing with. The game features three classes. First we have the hunters, equipped with bow and arrow. Those units are great to use for long-range combat. Second is the Caberjack, an up-close fighter that can push away enemies. Pushing them against walls will stun them during the next turn, push them on other enemies and they’ll both get stunned. The third one is the Alchemist who can use bombs, inflicting damage to multiple enemies. At first sight three classes might sound disappointing but thanks to the different strategies you can use, they stay interesting throughout the complete campaign.
As said before, you’ll enter the field with a total of five random heroes. The game randomly generates your first wave of heroes so you’ll need a little luck with that. Later on, you can ‘create’ your own heroes. Important to know is the fact that you’ll lose your hero forever if he/she falls in combat It’s in interesting detail and it ensures that you take care of your heroes and think about your moves. Creating other heroes is the other major part of the game.
Breeding the perfect hero
Massive Chalice is far more than just a turned based game, besides the battles, you’ll also need to built keeps. In here you can breed new heroes. This can be done by appointing two of your heroes as rulers of the keep. When time moves ahead, those two will be able to give birth to a child. A child that can become a new hero at the age of fifteen. By selecting the right parents, you can create the best possible hero. It sounds easy but you need to take a lot into consideration, asthmatic parents could lead to a hero that can’t move far on the grid.
So this breeding of heroes is very important and rather complex. It’s a hard decision to make, to you want to keep your best hero in the field, or place him in a keep for generations of new heroes? It’s a completely other level of strategic decisions. Keeps are also important to control a certain piece of the map. Enemies can invade your territory and even corrupt it. It’s up to you to prevent them from doing this.
Important decisions
Everything you do, impacts the outcome of the game. You raise the heroes and you decide what you do with them. Aside of this you can also research a lot of things. Those researches can lead to improved weapons, new buildings or even new heroes. There’s only one problem, every research takes time. You’ll be able to speed up the time, which is necessary since the game takes generations to finish, but you’ll have to make a lot of important decisions. Enemies always attack two regions at the time but you can only defend one. Choose wisely and make sure your capital stays out of danger.
If you fall in a mission, the game will simply continue since defeat is also part of life. Dealing with defeat is hard sometimes but really shows you what you’re capable of. Massive Chalice is a very deep strategic game with a lot of layers and a lot of important decisions. This results in the satisfying feeling that you and your actions really matter. You’re not doing this to save some random princess; you’re doing this to save entire generations. The battles you play are just fragments of history and all part of the bigger picture.
| The good: | The bad: |
| + Great turn based combat | – A lot to master |
| + Brilliant narrative | – Random hero creator |
| + A lot of variation |
Massive Chalice isn’t just a standard turn based strategy game; it’s way more than just that. Battling is just a small piece of the game, managing a kingdom is the other major piece. Combining battles with delicate decisions is what makes this game unique. It may be a little too complex for some and the creation of heroes is a bit random but that doesn’t change the fact that the game does incredibly well. It offers something new and worth figuring out. Once you get a grip on the different mechanics and strategies, you’ll definitely enjoy your time in the game.
