The GemCraft Pentalogy

While not as popular as other tower defense games, such as Kingdom Rush or Plants vs. Zombies, I've always had a soft spot for the GemCraft series because of its moody atmosphere. Journeying through a storm-wracked wilderness riddled with winding footpaths and abandoned medieval buildings has a strange appeal to me.  It's something that I can't articulate well, but I'll try to explain as best as I can.

There are five games currently in the GemCraft franchise.  All five were made by an Hungarian development studio by the name of "Game in a Bottle."  The first three titles were flash games available to play for free on websites such as Kongregate, Newgrounds, and Armor Games.  The most recent two are for sale on Steam.  All the games in the series play similar to each other with only subtle changes marking any real difference from one to the next.  At the core are the gemstones which (depending on their color) have distinct properties.  They can be placed in towers or traps to harm enemies.  The potency of their attacks can be increased by combining two gems of the same color.  Alternatively, combining two differently colored gems creates a new gem with the power of both the originals (albeit slightly diluted).  It's even possible to combine three, four, five, six, seven or all eight colors (nine in the Steam games) to create a single rainbow gem.  Generally speaking though, there are certain color combinations that are more useful than others.

At the strategic level there are skill which are upgraded by applying points from leveling up.  To gain levels the player must clear maps (each with its own layout and limitations).  It possible to reallocate skill points between maps.  In this way, the player can increase the viability of whatever battle plan they have devised.  In addition to all this, there are pieces of a talisman that the player collects over the course of the game that grant addition bonuses.  In the maps themselves, the player has a variety of tactical options ranging from walls and traps to tower placement and gem bombing (sacrificing a gem in order to inflict a large amount of damage in certain area-of-effect).  

The opposition in the game comes in the form of insect-like monsters that infest buildings and swarm the player in in waves.  Some enemies are fast and weak, others are slow and tough.  There are even ones that have armor or health regeneration.  Each wave of attackers has a color association.  If the hue is similar to a gem they are being hit by then they take less damage, whereas if it is of a different color they take more.  Regardless of all these factors, the monsters are always single-minded in that they seek to destroy the player's base on the map for each combat encounter.

While I own (and have played) every single GemCraft game, I've only ever actually finished the original IP starter.  I think it is in no small part due to me not really grasping how all the subsystems work in tandem with each other.  I suppose I could do more grinding to make up for my inability to fully grasp the big picture, but replaying maps for extra points get repetitive very quickly.  That said, the starting menu screen with it's howling wind and blowing leaves (in GemCraft: Forgotten) or the sound of distant thunder in a cloud covered sky (in GemCraft: Chasing Shadows) still holds an irresistible allure to me.  One day, I will have to finish what I have started...