Massive Chalice - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

MASSIVE CHALICE is a tactical strategy game set on an epic timeline from Double Fine Productions. As the Immortal Ruler of the Nation, you'll take command of its heroes, forge marriages to strengthen your Bloodlines, and battle a mysterious enemy known as the Cadence in a war lasting hundreds of years.

Key Features

• Bloodline Genetics - MASSIVE CHALICE features an innovative Bloodline system that allows the player to marry heroes together to produce children. The Bloodline system uses a randomized genetic code for every hero. Their children can end up with the best (or worst!) gameplay-impacting traits of their parents.

• Permadeath - The heroes in MASSIVE CHALICE age over the course of the timeline and eventually pass away. This forces the player to engage in the beauty of permadeath and always juggle an imperfect party of heroes with which to do battle!
   
• Bloodline Relics - If a hero has fought valiantly enough when they inevitably pass away, their weapon has a chance to become a Bloodline Relic. This powerful Relic can be passed down to any character of the same house in order to carry on the legacy of the fallen hero!
   
• Long View Strategy - Because the war lasts 300 years, players need to take a long view of their strategy. Decisions have to be made dozens of years in advance and long-term planning is incredibly important. That 3-year-old toddler is going to grow up to be your most reliable melee fighter sooner than you think!

Previous Playtime

0 hours

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This Game

This purchase was after I played Brutal Legend, but before I played Broken Age and Double Fine had earned a lot of trust from me. The fact that it was a strategy-rpg with an intriguing new mechanic was just icing on the cake. 

Expectations and Prior Experience

Based on nothing in particular, I'm anticipating that Massive Chalice is going to be a lot like the Fire Emblem games - a turn-based, almost board-game-like strategy game with permanent character death. However, this knee-jerk comparison is really influencing my expectations to an unreasonable degree. Every Fire Emblem game I've played has been really hard and the characters have all been so precious that I wound up resetting the game rather than lose them. I have no reason to think that Massive Chalice will be the same.

Yet, absent that comparison, I have no idea how I feel about this game. I'm looking forward to the eugenics and infrastructure parts, but I'm worried I won't enjoy the battles. But those are just my baseline preferences. A lot depends on execution.

Still, there's nothing for it. I'm just going to have to jump into the game and let it become its own thing in time. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll like it.