Massive Chalice is the best turn-based strategy title of 2015 so far, and its unique simulation aspects make it especially intriguing. This isn’t going to be thought of as a title that can contend with XCOM on the back of its combat alone, but managing each hero’s genetic traits adds another level of depth to an already deep genre.
Large stretches of combat consist of aimless wandering
Expert reviews and ratings
If you want to understand Massive Chalice, you need to understand XCOM. I don't mean that lightly. Double Fine's Massive Chalice has been hugely influenced by Julian Gallop's seminal 1994 strategy game. It exists as its own game in as much as it has a...
In Massive Chalice, it’s not just random whether your hero will hit or miss, but whether your hero will die of old age or whether they’ll be born at all. As much as I enjoyed its aggressive brand of tactical combat and interesting enemy types, there are too many unpredictable variables outside your control, and too much happening to too many quickly aging, mortal characters for this tactical game to feel like decisions matter.
That's ultimately Massive Chalice's most unfortunate shortcoming. It’s a game with enough ambition and execution to spark the imagination, and enough organic entropy to let you suspend your disbelief about the families you help sire. But Massive Chalice extends you the invitation and then offers you a half-empty world in return.
Basically, the game asks a lot of you, and demands that you pay close attention to every decision you make. While that makes for a steep learning curve, requiring deep thought is hardly the worst sin a strategy game can commit. Slyly funny, satisfyingly deep and yet slick and simple to play, Massive Chalice is a huge return to form for a studio that is overdue a comeback.
Massive Chalice is the best turn-based strategy title of 2015 so far, and its unique simulation aspects make it especially intriguing. This isn’t going to be thought of as a title that can contend with XCOM on the back of its combat alone, but managing each hero’s genetic traits adds another level of depth to an already deep genre.
While Massive Chalice isn’t much to look at, I couldn’t wait to see this century-spanning adventure through to the end. Double Fine’s strategy simulation is rough around the edges, but hard to put down. With more polish, Massive Chalice could have been one for the ages.
If you want to understand Massive Chalice, you need to understand XCOM. I don't mean that lightly. Double Fine's Massive Chalice has been hugely influenced by Julian Gallop's seminal 1994 strategy game. It exists as its own game in as much as it has a...