Massive Chalice Reviews

Massive Chalice is ranked in the 60th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
6 / 10
Aug 20, 2015

Chaotically fun in doses, but lacking in vitality

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Dan Stapleton
Top Critic
6.7 / 10.0
Jul 8, 2015

Massive Chalice's aggressive tactical combat would be stronger without so many opportunities to lose due to bad luck.

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Jul 3, 2015

Massive Chalice's personality and ingenuity ultimately win out over its shortcomings, and it's certainly worth a try for strategy fans who don't want anything too ponderous or serious. But its cup does not, as they say, runneth over.

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8.1 / 10.0
Jun 11, 2015

Massive Chalice is lots of fun and highly addictive. Yes a lot of the best things about it come from it being highly influenced by XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but it not only captures a lot of the spirit of our Game of the Year 2012 but Double Fine also manages to provide their own unique spin on it with the Game of Thrones-style setup.

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7.5 / 10.0
Jun 11, 2015

Double Fine's unusual, generation-themed turn-based strategy epic forces players to learn to let go of their favourite champions.

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Jun 10, 2015

Double Fine's new strategy game isn't likely to disappoint anyone who's been keeping tabs on Massive Chalice over the last few years.

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Jun 10, 2015

Double Fine has produced a good tactical strategy game with 'Massive Chalice'. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but also brings some of its own ideas to the table. It's not without its faults, but if you can look past those, you may find an engaging strategy experience.

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Luke Plunkett
Top Critic
Yes
Jun 10, 2015

A smart, fun exploration of turn-based tactics in a fantasy setting.

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Jun 9, 2015

If you're a fan of strategy games, there's a lot to enjoy in Massive Chalice. The combat demands you play smartly, which doesn't always mean conservatively. It's visually appealing and carries with it the charm that all Double Fine games have been known for. It's also not as difficult as other similar strategy titles which can make it more accessible, though the menus and new concepts are still rather daunting if you aren't a genre veteran. The Bloodline system never fully achieves what it set out to do, which, as its selling point, is its biggest disappointment. While it lacks the depth it initially promises, the system still plays a crucial role in the outcome of your centuries long war. Decisions you make early on will impact the tide of war decades later. It's just too bad all those people growing up under your command ultimately die without their story ever really being told. This is by no means a must-play if you aren't a strategy fan, but those who do frequent the genre should consider Massive Chalice a flawed but worthwhile addition to their Keep.

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Jun 9, 2015

Functional, but often uninspired, Massive Chalice may please strategy enthusiasts but will likely bore anyone else.

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Unscored
Jun 9, 2015

There's bound to be some disconnect with the mortal world when you live forever, but I could have used a reminder why this war is worth spending 300 years to win.

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70 / 100
Jun 8, 2015

Games like Massive Chalice live or die on the emergent narratives they create, which makes designing death as an inevitability for your cast of heroes an admirable risk. They're trusting that, as the wheel of time turns, players will glimpse a larger shape coming into view. The stories that stand out are family epics, like the Buendias of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude. By following the tangled paths of lineage, we're left with tales too large to be understood in terms of the lone hero.

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8 / 10.0
Jun 8, 2015

Massive Chalice is about time, about heroes, and most importantly, it's about taking that deep breath before the strike.

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6 / 10.0
Jun 8, 2015

I felt like middle management making the same position appointments that a computer could make more quickly and all I got for my click click clicking was combat with bigger numbers on the same handful of stages. There is some payoff with the bloodline idea at the end, but it is not worth the rote meat grinder to get there.

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GameSpot
Top Critic
6 / 10
Jun 7, 2015

Massive Chalice can create hilarious moments of eugenics disasters, but other elements leave a lot to be desired.

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7.5 / 10.0
Jun 6, 2015

As turn based strategy games go Massive Chalice has some nice innovations that make it well worth playing if you are a fan of the genre. With a distinctive art style and an interesting combination of story driven multiple choice decisions and roguelike mechanics there is nothing else really like it out there. The lack of multiplayer is a real shame though and the game loses a point because of that. But the games positives far outweigh its few negatives and considering Massive Chalices budget price it is a hard game not to recommend to both strategy and Double Fine fans alike.

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6 / 10.0
Jun 4, 2015

I really tried to like this game, i couldn't do it. I lost track of how many arrows my hunters fired into nothingness, while having the enemy at an arm's length. Thank god they were not nearsighted. I ran out of heroes many times because i could not generate any offspring via marriage or conquest. The combat system is far too simplistic, having to reveal enemies hidden in fog-of-war and moving characters in the grid system. Luckily, Double Fine's humor is always present in the interactions we have with the chalice and the different genetic traits of our heroes. Far from top tier games like Xcom or Final Fantasy Tactics, which is far far superior, and came out in 1997.

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Unscored
Jun 4, 2015

There are many good things within Massive Chalice, but they're frustratingly kept at arm's length from me.

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8 / 10.0
Jun 3, 2015

An isometric tactical fantasy that marries XCOM's strategy with Game of Thrones' epic death-toll.

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7 / 10
Jun 3, 2015

A strategy role-player that is filled with clever ideas and inspires great empathy with your characters, even if the battle system is a few steps behind XCOM.

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