''GemCraft'' is a series of

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of 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, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...

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 A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

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 (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

on April 14, 2011 by

NTT Resonant , or NTT Com, is a Japanese telecommunications company which operates an international network in over 190 countries/regions, with locations in more than 70 countries/regions. The company has approximately 5,500 employees (NTT Communications ...

. The next game, ''GemCraft Lost Chapter: Frostborn Wrath'', was released in January 2020. In ''GemCraft'', players are given

gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

s to combine and place into towers. Different combinations of gems produce different effects, such as splash damage,

damage over time This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

, and critical hit capability. The player's life bar and magic energy are represented by the same statistic— mana. 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 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 ''Desktop Tower Defense'' is a Flash-based tower defense browser game created by Paul Preece in March 2007. The game had been played over 15.7 million times as of July 2007, and was one of Webware 100's top ten entertainment web applications of 20 ...

''."

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