I’ve recently begun playing Double Fine’s second Kickstarter game, Massive Chalice.  Massive Chalice is brought to us by Brad Muire, known for his part as the lead designer for the awesome (and well-regarded) Brütal Legend. The game came out of Early Access just recently on the 1st of June for PC, and it was also released on the Xbox One. The game reeks of the infectious charm every Double Fine game is known for. Unique classes, graphics, animations, and, best of all, a foundation that takes some of the best genres and mixes them into its own unique brand of gameplay.

If you’ve played XCOM: Enemy Unknown you’ll be familiar with the combat in Massive Chalice. You have a team of five that you will take into battle, known as your vanguard. This vanguard will gain power through both leveling up and research done in your base. However, there’s much more to the game than that. Your heroes will also learn new abilities to use in battle, creating fun, strategic combinations when utilizing various classes.

I thought the Alchemist class was bad, then I learned better.

The story drops you into a war that will last 300 years. During this time, you will be required to manage your heroes’ bloodlines through a system of arranged marriage and pairing. The children they create will inherit similar stats, traits, and abilities. They will also get their initial class training from their parents. Once they reach sixteen years of age, they are then deemed fit for combat and are put into your pool of eligible Vanguard, Trainers, or Scholars.

As the years pass, you will find yourself losing some of your favorite heroes, only to be replaced by their descendants. If one of those dying heroes performed well enough in battle, he or she will leave behind a family relic: a weapon of great power that gains it’s own levels. This relic can then be passed down to others of the same house. This weapon can eventually become a very powerful artifact that will tip the scales of battle in your favor.

When not doing battle, this is the screen you will use to make decisions.

In addition to managing your bloodlines, you will be asked to make decisions on how to spend your precious time. You may build new buildings in your territories, research new items, weapons, or armor, or you can even spend some time recruiting new heroes or adopting children to be future heroes in order to fill out your roster. As the game time is finite, it is crucial to plan ahead and have a goal to strive for. Keeps are nice, but if you build one without a potential bloodline to propagate, that keep will go unused.

One of my favorite parts of Massive Chalice is the fun and witty narration. There are two narrating characters, and their commentary and banter in the background as you wage this 300-year war creates a sense of the world you are defending.

You can find Massive Chalice on PC and Xbox One.

Introducing Brad Muir, the mind behind Massive Chalice.