''GemCraft'' is a series of

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...

games created by Hungarian studio Game In A Bottle, in which magical gems are used as the primary means of offense and defense. The first game, titled ''GemCraft Chapter One: The Forgotten'' (also known simply as "''GemCraft''"), is a

flash game originally released on June 26, 2008. A prequel, ''GemCraft Chapter 0: Gem of Eternity'', was released on April 16, 2009, and a disconnected chapter, ''GemCraft Lost Chapter: Labyrinth'', was released February 17, 2011. On April 4, 2014 the sequel to the first game ''GemCraft Chapter Two: Chasing Shadows'' was released. The original game was released for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

on April 14, 2011 by NTT Resonant. In 30 April, 2015, Chasing Shadows was released on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

under the publisher ArmorGames. The next game, ''GemCraft Lost Chapter: Frostborn Wrath'', was released in January 2020. In ''GemCraft'', players are given gems to combine and place into towers. Different combinations of gems produce different effects, such as

splash damage Splash Damage Ltd. is a British video game developer specialising in multiplayer first-person shooter video games. The studio is best known as the creators of '' Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory'' and '' Enemy Territory: Quake Wars''. History ...

, damage over time, and critical hit capability. The player's life bar and magic energy are represented by the same statistic—

mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

. With mana, the player can forge and combine gems and build towers, trenches, and traps. A key aspect of strategy in ''GemCraft'' is to increase the player's mana gain to high levels, enabling creation of stronger and stronger gems. Combining two gems creates a single more powerful gem, with the gem's power level indicated by its shape.

Plot

The series is set in a fantasy world. It depicts the battles of wizards against a powerful demon known as "The Forgotten". Wizards used to regularly summon demons to do their bidding until they brought forth a demon too powerful for them to control, who was also capable of subduing other demons under her command. Described as "a fully black female torso with disfigured arms, a head with long hair and no face", the Forgotten commands her legions in order to conquer the "Spiritforge", the last bastion of the wizards, in order to become omnipotent. There is no known way to destroy The Forgotten or to banish her back to the Demon Realm from which she was summoned. Instead, she can be sealed away by a powerful artifact known as a "Gem of Eternity", but it can only contain her for a few decades before she escapes, and each time she escapes, a new gem must be crafted in order to capture her again.

Reception

Gamezebo ''Gamezebo'' (sometimes stylized ''GameZebo'') is a website which reports on and reviews video games. Founded in 2005 by Joel Brodie, it was billed as the first website to solely cover casual games and expanded its scope to social games in 20 ...

gave the original ''GemCraft'' game a rating of 3.5/5, stating: "While ''GemCraft'' isn't a revolutionary effort, it adds some new wrinkles into the usual 'build, defend, build' cycle in the genre re-popularized by '' Desktop Tower Defense''."

References

External links

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Peer's Take On ''GemCraft'' - Web Games Feature at IGNThe Joystiq Free Game Club: ''GemCraft'' - Joystiq
{{Armor Games Browser games Flash games Single-player online games Tower defense video games IOS games Video games developed in Hungary Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2008