AHP Rating: 8.5/10 Platform Played: Xbox One MSRP: $19.99
Studio: Double Fine
Massive Chalice is a Free for Gold game during the writing of this post. I have to say this is by far one of the best games in my humble opinion to hit the free scene on the Xbox One yet. This game is a turned based strategy game that I'm sure by now you have either played or seen played, don't let anyone make your opinion on this game without you playing it for yourself.
Massive Chalice starts with a small cinematic that reflects a art style that I enjoyed quite a bit and continues through out the game in game-play. You play a King/Queen born to a nation under periodic attack from monsters referred to as Cadence and your task is to keep this corruption from taking the land. To do this you need a few tools.
First: Heroes
The three main classes are Caberjack, Hunter, and Alchemist. Oddly enough though classes aren't the most important part of the heroes it is the bloodlines. You will either spend most of your time looking for heroes or maintaining bloodlines and making sure your heroes produce more heroes. In this game you must pick and choose which heroes are allowed to breed to produce the strongest heroes, multiple things possibly affect this including Personality, Traits, and Status. These can affect combat or future generations of heroes which is possibly one of my favorite aspects of this game. Through research you build various buildings one of which is a Keep which you assign a House to and a partner to in order to produce new heroes those heroes will pass on Personality and Traits to the next generations some of which are good and some bad (which seems to be more often than not) and those can affect how strong or weak a Hero can be. Status is a little different as those tend to be varied on where the age of your hero is. Your heroes die slowly sometimes and faster than others this mechanic keeps you from overspending those heroes when you assign them to different task through out the land which as you will find stack up quickly. Combining different classes in the same Keep will produce different classes which I would list but it's more fun to experiment with a few different combos and see a surprise or two.
Second: Research.
Everything and anything that you will need to beat out the Cadence is available here however it takes time to research anything and as you progress it takes longer and longer to finish your research. Weapons, Armor, and even new Heroes are found this way the game has a mechanic in it to make sure you have the tools that are needed to lessen the research time and at first it doesn't seem to effect but as you gain more heroes to throw into your Siege Guild the less time you have to spend on research and considering every 8 to 12 years you can expect an attack managing your research is a big part of the strategy of the game. The smallest choice in what you research in year 54 could make a large impact in year 185. This game spans 300 years and while that seems to sound like a long time it makes for a window, none the less and in this window you have very limited time in which to maintain heroes, houses, and upgrades to keep the Cadence at bay. Research can also affect the land as it is corrupted, keeping a Keep on the outskirts gives you a chance not to see that random corruption of that land. I have noticed that once you get up to 2 out of 3 marks of corruption it seems the land can go into 3 out of 3 all on its own but when you have a keep on the land you get more opportunity to defend it.
Third: Land Management/Combat
In Massive Chalice combat is land management, if you win you keep the corruption down or you lessen the corruption that is already there. If you lose the land gains corruption and after three strikes the Cadence claims the land and you lose a little more of a foot hold. Establishing the inner circle and defending the outer seems to be a good way to go about this but this mechanic truly adds to the relevance of defense. Two attacks will always come at you and it is up to you to decide which one to take. Most battles give you a reward for winning bonus experience, an extra hero, or the satisfaction of a job well done. Combat is based right off of the table top games many of us love and some would compare to XCOM (another suggested title by the way) this really just completes the system of the game rather than hinge the system on combat. The fun I saw in this game is really preparing your team and land for the future. While I enjoyed the combat aspect I expected this game to be a truly combat based game and was glad it wasn't. Speaking of combat the tides of battle and the build of your team hinges on what the Cadence is sending after the land to corrupt it.
Lastly: The Cadence
Massive Chalice has a total of 7 enemies to combat Seeds, Ruptures, Lapses, Cradles, Wrinklers, Twitchers, and Bulwarks. Each has unique attacks and a strategy all there own which in itself will force you to change up your tactics time and time again depending on what the Cadence throws your way. Seeds like to attack in a group and steal life to heal themselves but are low on HP that get up close and personal. Ruptures like to get up to your hero and explode in a mass of acid so ranged is always the way to go. Lapses keep a distance from the party and zap experience along with the damage they deliver. Cradles shoot seeds or even bombs at the party and have a large amount of HP so focusing on these guys is a primary concern when fighting. Wrinklers while melee based have a decent amount of health and with every hit age you five years and considering your heroes can die of old age can be quite the problem. Twitchers can zap you from a distance to switch places with you throwing your heros and formation all over the map making you truly have to think on the fly and adjust your tactic. Bulwarks are strictly a ranged Cadence whose blast can pierce through multiple heroes with each attack and once damaged produces a shell that reduces damage taken to 1. These can make some wicked combinations on the battlefield, they can make choosing who you want on your team and who you don't a challenge.
In Closing.....
This game has what any gamer needs, action, thought, and a very time consuming achievement list that will keep those replays fun and exciting. The free price tag till June 30th makes it a shame not to look into this game and to give it the chance it deserves. Great monsters, combat mechanics, resource and land management makes for a great game.
Thanks for reading.
The three main classes are Caberjack, Hunter, and Alchemist. Oddly enough though classes aren't the most important part of the heroes it is the bloodlines. You will either spend most of your time looking for heroes or maintaining bloodlines and making sure your heroes produce more heroes. In this game you must pick and choose which heroes are allowed to breed to produce the strongest heroes, multiple things possibly affect this including Personality, Traits, and Status. These can affect combat or future generations of heroes which is possibly one of my favorite aspects of this game. Through research you build various buildings one of which is a Keep which you assign a House to and a partner to in order to produce new heroes those heroes will pass on Personality and Traits to the next generations some of which are good and some bad (which seems to be more often than not) and those can affect how strong or weak a Hero can be. Status is a little different as those tend to be varied on where the age of your hero is. Your heroes die slowly sometimes and faster than others this mechanic keeps you from overspending those heroes when you assign them to different task through out the land which as you will find stack up quickly. Combining different classes in the same Keep will produce different classes which I would list but it's more fun to experiment with a few different combos and see a surprise or two.
Second: Research.
Everything and anything that you will need to beat out the Cadence is available here however it takes time to research anything and as you progress it takes longer and longer to finish your research. Weapons, Armor, and even new Heroes are found this way the game has a mechanic in it to make sure you have the tools that are needed to lessen the research time and at first it doesn't seem to effect but as you gain more heroes to throw into your Siege Guild the less time you have to spend on research and considering every 8 to 12 years you can expect an attack managing your research is a big part of the strategy of the game. The smallest choice in what you research in year 54 could make a large impact in year 185. This game spans 300 years and while that seems to sound like a long time it makes for a window, none the less and in this window you have very limited time in which to maintain heroes, houses, and upgrades to keep the Cadence at bay. Research can also affect the land as it is corrupted, keeping a Keep on the outskirts gives you a chance not to see that random corruption of that land. I have noticed that once you get up to 2 out of 3 marks of corruption it seems the land can go into 3 out of 3 all on its own but when you have a keep on the land you get more opportunity to defend it.
Third: Land Management/Combat
In Massive Chalice combat is land management, if you win you keep the corruption down or you lessen the corruption that is already there. If you lose the land gains corruption and after three strikes the Cadence claims the land and you lose a little more of a foot hold. Establishing the inner circle and defending the outer seems to be a good way to go about this but this mechanic truly adds to the relevance of defense. Two attacks will always come at you and it is up to you to decide which one to take. Most battles give you a reward for winning bonus experience, an extra hero, or the satisfaction of a job well done. Combat is based right off of the table top games many of us love and some would compare to XCOM (another suggested title by the way) this really just completes the system of the game rather than hinge the system on combat. The fun I saw in this game is really preparing your team and land for the future. While I enjoyed the combat aspect I expected this game to be a truly combat based game and was glad it wasn't. Speaking of combat the tides of battle and the build of your team hinges on what the Cadence is sending after the land to corrupt it.
Lastly: The Cadence
Massive Chalice has a total of 7 enemies to combat Seeds, Ruptures, Lapses, Cradles, Wrinklers, Twitchers, and Bulwarks. Each has unique attacks and a strategy all there own which in itself will force you to change up your tactics time and time again depending on what the Cadence throws your way. Seeds like to attack in a group and steal life to heal themselves but are low on HP that get up close and personal. Ruptures like to get up to your hero and explode in a mass of acid so ranged is always the way to go. Lapses keep a distance from the party and zap experience along with the damage they deliver. Cradles shoot seeds or even bombs at the party and have a large amount of HP so focusing on these guys is a primary concern when fighting. Wrinklers while melee based have a decent amount of health and with every hit age you five years and considering your heroes can die of old age can be quite the problem. Twitchers can zap you from a distance to switch places with you throwing your heros and formation all over the map making you truly have to think on the fly and adjust your tactic. Bulwarks are strictly a ranged Cadence whose blast can pierce through multiple heroes with each attack and once damaged produces a shell that reduces damage taken to 1. These can make some wicked combinations on the battlefield, they can make choosing who you want on your team and who you don't a challenge.
In Closing.....
This game has what any gamer needs, action, thought, and a very time consuming achievement list that will keep those replays fun and exciting. The free price tag till June 30th makes it a shame not to look into this game and to give it the chance it deserves. Great monsters, combat mechanics, resource and land management makes for a great game.
Thanks for reading.
