Massive Chalice Review (PC)

Massive Chalice is a game in which loss and time destroy everything that the player builds, a commentary on the futility of our efforts to create order in a world where entropy will at one point dominate all existence.

It is also a very enjoyable mix of turn-based tactics, resource management and character development that allows players to choose their own path as they try to defend a fantasy world over the course of three centuries.

Double Fine has managed to create a good mix of classic and innovative elements, and the experience is challenging enough to keep fans engaged for a long time.

Story

Massive Chalice is in many ways a video game about the implacable nature of evil, the way even the staunchest of defenders dedicated to the cause of good will have a hard time actually succeeding against a sufficiently determined enemy.

The player is a powerful spiritual force that watches over a small but lovely fantasy kingdom and needs to wipe out a threat called The Cadence.

This can be accomplished using the chalice from the name of the Double Fine video game, but it will only become functional after 300 years, which means that until then gamers need to use knights in order to hold the line.

Massive Chalice trap

There are five of them, and as a campaign of Massive Chalice progresses, players will create neat little narratives around each of them, even if the end point for all of them is their death, which is permanent, in one of the best twists of the experience.

Each character in the title is the result of the genes of their parents and has a range of characteristics that will make them useful in combat against the unrelenting enemy.

As time passes, they will lose their edge and the player can choose new positions for them, which are permanent until they pass away.

Over the 300 years of Massive Chalice action, the player will have to carefully interact with each of them and decide how to best use their limited resources to ensure the safety of their population.

Gameplay

Massive Chalice is a game in which loss is inevitable, both when it comes to the characters that sacrifice themselves and to the kingdom that the player must guide through time.

The Cadence will attack two territories at one time, and for each region of the kingdom, a third undefended one means that it will fall to the darkness.

This means gamers will have to carefully balance their interests and the rewards associated with each battle when they decide how to use their knights.

In the long-term, losing buildings and resources is impossible to avoid and the game manages to show how stressful a siege can be, especially when the frequency of attacks is not too high.

There are three core character classes in the game, each suited for a battlefield role, but depending on the breeding strategies that a gamer chooses, hybrids can be created, and they often have a special place in combat.

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But it's entirely possible to play using only the core Caberjacks, Hunters and Alchemists, especially given that the effects of time and the actual combat tend to mean that no one can explore the entire skill tree.

Once the Cadence has gathered enough force to attack, and the player has decided where they want to defend, Massive Chalice moves to a turn-based battlefield that will be familiar to fans of the genre.

Each knight can move once and then attack or use another type of action, but players can also choose to force one to travel a longer distance as long as they are willing to sacrifice some tactical flexibility.

Line of sight is needed for direct ranged attacks, although flask throws can sometimes bypass obstacles, and most of the time players will search for enemy groups while also trying to make sure that they keep their own heroes in a solid formation that can quickly take out any type of enemy.

I tend to roll with two tank-like characters, trying to get them as close as possible to the ranged enemies that the Cadence fields as quickly as I can, while two hunters pick up lesser enemies and a flask thrower deals with groups and delivers most of the healing.

Massive Chalice does not allow players to always rely on the same ideas because their forces evolve, and the enemy itself becomes more capable as time passes.

XCOM fans will be right at home here, even if the complexity is not as high.

Outside of combat, players can research one project for their kingdom at a time, which also includes building work, and there are also events that need to be dealt with, even if their consequences are not huge.

“Massive Chalice asks gamers to deal with some limited resources in order to resist for the 300 year period, and there are moments when the carefully balanced mechanics tend to break down.”

I lost games not because I was unable to win the battles but because I failed to get enough keeps with solid fertility couples to gain the amount of recruits I needed.

Gamers who want to succeed need to consider each of their choices very carefully and to always consider how their resources will degrade in the future, something that is hard to do when the present is also teeming with threats.

Massive Chalice could have also benefited from a wider variety of maps and from an AI that does more than simply focus on the squad member who has the least hit points.

Graphics and audio

Massive Chalice uses a stylized and slightly cubits art style for both the main interface and the tactical battles and manages to use both shapes and colors to mask the fact that Double Fine has not prioritized the looks of the title.

The title does a great job of delivering the information that players need and it's great to just sit in the main screen, looking at time flowing away, with cute little icons showing when heroes are born and when they die.

When it comes to the sound of Massive Chalice, the voice acting for the huge piece of silverware itself is great, both funny and sad, and the music itself manages to underline the tense moments of combat and to illustrate the way time influences the world of the game.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion