Saving the realm is a multigenerational family affair in Massive Chalice (hands-on preview)

Obsessive compulsiveness and long-term planning do not always go hand-in-hand, but Double Fine wants you to test those abilities in their tactical turn-based role-playing PC/Mac game, Massive Chalice. It spans a timeline lasting 250 to 350 years where you need to accept that your starting party will not live to see the end of the tumultuous story. How do you prep future generations for the troubles ahead even before your children are born?

Based off my playthrough of a preview version on PC, Massive Chalice is a game of genetics, among many other things. It makes you consider the traits one game character would pass on to future children, whether it’s bear-like strength or resistance to particular status ailments. Then you have to consider how this child would complement the rest of your party. This is a band of warriors tasked in defeating The Cadence, an evil corruption that has overwhelmed Massive Chalice’s ten-region landscape. On a macro level, your party plays a tactical form of whack-a-mole; one region is temporarily cleansed of the corruption while The Cadence intensifies somewhere else. Double Fine assured us that this vicious cycle has an ending. At the same time, a lot can happen to a dynasty of warriors over 350 years, with many events occurring out of the player’s control.