Double Fine launched a Kickstarter campaign today for a brand new strategy game called Massive Chalice. The game is championed by Iron Brigade creator Brad Muir and described as a blend of XCOM, Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and Game of Thrones. Double Fine seeks $725,000 in funding, a number that should be achievable given that the total at the time of this writing – on day one of the campaign – is past $150,000.
In Massive Chalice players take on the role of an immortal king training and deploying multiple generations of warriors to fend off a demonic invasion. The game’s story spans hundreds of years, and as characters get old they will weaken and eventually die. You can choose to force them to keep fighting or retire them in the hopes that they’ll settle down with one another and create new generations of mixed-class warriors.
Double Fine is shooting to release the game for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, but more platforms are a possibility thanks to stretch goals. A pledge of $20 gets backers the game itself, while the highest tier—$10,000—wins a board game night with the developers.
Double Fine kicked off the Kickstarter craze in 2012 when it raised $3,336,371, more than eight times its original goal, for the adventure game that eventually became Broken Age. The as-yet-unreleased game’s development represents only a third of the entire studio.
“Double Fine’s goal is for all our teams to remain independent and responsible directly to their players,” the Kickstarter page explains. “Kickstarting Massive Chalice allows us to maintain a pure creative vision, put out updates on our own schedule, respond to feedback without roadblocks, and release it all DRM-free.”
