History Videogame / GemCraft

* DarkerAndEdgier: While previous games were not exactly bright, this game goes even further. The lore establishes that the wizards from the era before Forgotten killed those who opposed the ideas of creating the monsters, which is why the wizard you control was frozen in the first place. Soon enough you will find a frozen tower of another, less lucky wizard. Both landscape and monsters are much more malevolent in this game - landscape is a mostly barren wasteland (mostly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin snow]], but not only), with all that implies (for example at one moment you find a snow pit where dead were thrown which is now full of [[NauseaFuel swarmlings]]) and monsters now include some types that can break through any structure you build or have negative effect on your performance by ''just being on the field''. Not even speaking about their design, which might induce NightmareFuel and/or JumpScare.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While previous games were not exactly bright, this game goes even further. The lore establishes that the wizards from the era before Forgotten killed those who opposed the ideas of creating the monsters, which is why the wizard you control was frozen in the first place. Soon enough you will find a frozen tower of another, less lucky wizards. Both landscape and monsters are much more malevolent in this game - landscape is a mostly barren wasteland (mostly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin snow]], but not only), with all that implies (for example at one moment you find a snow pit where dead were thrown which is now full of [[NauseaFuel swarmlings]]) and monsters now include some types that can break through any structure you build or have negative effect on your performance ''just being on the field''. Not even speaking about their design, which might induce NightmareFuel and/or JumpScare.

!!!And ''Frostborn Wrath'' contains examples of:

* SequelDifficultySpike: A WordOfGod stated this before the release of ''Frostborn Wrath'' and they surely delivered. It doesn't help that the skill are now locked behind either Endurance mode or Trial Mode, the latter of which are basically Vision Fields from ''Chasing Shadows'' with difficulty to match where no amount of level grinding will help you due to set skillset. It got so bad with players complaining about the difficulty mere ''hours'' after the release of the game that the autors promised adjusting difficulty as well as an easier way of obtaining skills.

* SequelDifficultySpike: A WordOfGod stated this before the release of ''Frostborn Wrath'' and the surely delivered. It doesn't help that the skill are now locked behind either Endurance mode or Trial Mode, the latter of which are basically Vision Fields from ''Chasing Shadows'' with difficulty to match where no amount of level grinding will help you due to set skillset. It got so bad with players complaining about the difficulty mere ''hours'' after the release of the game that the autors promised adjusting difficulty as well as an easier way of obtaining skills.

The newest game, ''[[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106530/GemCraft__Frostborn_Wrath/ Frostborn Wrath]]'', expected to be released on 10 January 2020, reduces the number of gem types to six, while the Poolbound component becomes passive property of each gem:

It also introduces new buildings, Pylons and Lanterns, and new monsters, notably Wraiths.

** Depending on the style of the game either Bloodbound overshadows Poolbound or vice versa. For shorter lower level plays Poolbound dominates Bloodbound, meaning those playing Iron Wizard mode will have no use for the latter, especially since it requires a bigger detour. For Endurance Runs howevers Bloodbound quickly superannuates Bloodbound in every way.

* '''Red''': Bloodbound returns here. Increases the gem's damage and specials based on the number of successful hits.

The newest game, ''[[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106530/GemCraft__Frostborn_Wrath/ Frostborn Wrath]]'', expected to be released in 2019, reduces the number of gem types to six, while the Poolbound component becomes passive property of each gem:

* LeetLingo: The number of Endurance waves in 'Labyrinth' is capped at 1337, which has the meaning of Elite. Well, let's say that you definitely are if you're able to finish them all, especially with the 'Monsters become stronger faster' option checked, which also raises the maximum cap for their stats.

* OneHitKill:
** In ''Labyrinth'', the Shadow will perform TheSlowWalk towards your orb as a DesperationAttack. If it touches your orb before you destroy it, your lose instantly regardless of Mana left. In ''Chasing Shadows'', this ability is given to Spires.
** This can be turned on for ALL enemies in ''Chapter 0'' by playing in Sudden Death mode. If Swarm waves weren't annoying enough, now any one of them can kill you, no matter how tiny and pathetic they are.

* NostalgiaLevel: Some of the vision fields resemble levels from older games, particularly fields 19 to 23 (whose layouts are taken from ''Chapter 0'''s Arcane Guardian battles, and which also feature Arcane Guardians as final bosses), and field 3 (with the same layout as ''Chapter 0'''s final level and the same 228 waves that you have to face if you forgo said level's main objective).

* DamageSpongeBoss: The five epic bosses in the first game. Aside from absurdly high HP, armor and banishment cost, they have no special abilities that set them out from standard enemies.

* MookMaker:
** The Shadows will regularly drop off monsters on the path.
** The Possessed Giants gain the ability to spawn Swarmlings when they're killed.
** The Sleeping Hive is passive and pretty nasty example if overlooked. Normally it does nothing, but throwing gems on it or firing with gems set on 'Structure' priority will make it spit swarmlings, whose stats raise exponentially. A word of advice: don't do this with a gem boosted by beam.

* NostalgiaLevel: Some of the vision fields resemble levels from older games.

* AirborneMook: Apparitions in ''Labyrinth'' just fly over the terrain, and have a lot of health. Thankfully, they don't hurt you, they're slow, they're uncommon, and they give [[MetalSlime 3 free skill points when beaten]]. A much nastier version is the Shadow, encountered only once as a boss in the storyline, but the player can choose to fight one as a BossInMookClothing via the level settings. These can fly anywhere on the terrain, have tons of life and armor, can spawn homing shadow balls that aim for your orb, and create a large and fast swarm of Mooks. [[DesperationAttack When low on health]], the Shadow will begin TheSlowWalk right at your orb and instantly destroy it should you fail to kill it in time.
** Shadows and Appritions make a comeback in ''Chasing Shadows'', along with a mook that steals your gems, and some "spire" that [[TheSlowWalk slow walks]] toward your orb is classified as such...

* BonusBoss: Some Vision Fields in ''Chasing Shadows'' feature these. Notably one battle is basically a RemixedLevel from ''Chapter Zero'', including Arcane Guardians that have ''much'' more HP than preceeding wave and high armor to boot. The key is to move your gems strategically along their path.

* ChainLightning: Lime gems (red gems in Chasing Shadows) can strike chain hits.
* CuttingTheKnot [=/=] DungeonBypass: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. The wizard in ''Labyrinth'' mentions that he can't just "hop over" to the labyrinth's center due to some kind of energy forcing him to pass labyrinth the usual way, field by field.
* DamageReduction: Via Armour level. Some particularly annoying mooks ( hint: AirborneMook ) ''gain'' armor every second.

* DiscOneNuke: One of the early stages in Gemcraft: Labryinth has a tower surrounded by eight amplifiers. Place a gem in each of the amplifiers, and the tower gem will '''kick ass'''. This nuke becomes MUCH more powerful if the player buys the "premium" version (it's free now by the way) and uses endurance mode with this strategy to get a ridiculous multiplier to their XP gained. A similar setup occurs in ''Chasing Shadows''.
** Red gems in ''Labyrinth''. They add a percentage of their kills to their damage. Meaning a red gem that's been there since the first wave can have a damage of over 1000 by the final waves. The gem won't dominate the game by itself, but becomes much more powerful when combined with the lime or yellow gems (which multiply the offensive power.) This power was nerfed slightly in ''Chasing Shadows''. The black gems now multiply both damage and specials and count hits rather than kills, but use hit levels rather than raw hits.

* ExpansionPack: Gemcraft: Labyrinth and Chasing Shadows contains a five-dollar "premium" version which unlocks extra modes, skills, and battlefields. There are many achievements, levels, and skills that can only be found by completing certain maps in certain sectors, and those that require completing a Premium-only level are thus inaccessible. Labyrinth's premium version has since been released for free on developer's website, due to complications that have arose with buying it properly years after release.

* GameBreakingBug: In Labyrinth, the glitch that allows the creation of near infinite strength gems has a chance of deleting your save file.

* OneHitKill: In ''Labyrinth'', the Shadow will perform TheSlowWalk towards your orb as a DesperationAttack. If it touches your orb before you destroy it, your lose instantly regardless of Mana left. In ''Chasing Shadows'', this ability is given to Spires.
** This can be turned on for ALL enemies in ''Chapter 0'' by playing a "Sudden Death" game. If Swarm waves weren't annoying enough, now any one of them can kill you, no matter how tiny and pathetic they are.

* StrongerWithAge: Bloodbound and Poolbound gems are two variants that revolve around this trope.

* AntiFrustrationFeature: if a monster is about to touch the orb and a projectile which would kill them has been fired, the shot turns into a lightning bolt which hits them instantly, leaving the orb unharmed. It saves a lot of frustration when trying to get a high streak of flawless waves. It also nets you an achievement if it kills a monster that would otherwise have killed your Orb.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: Purchasing the full Flash version not only unlocks higher difficulties which, with some practice, can boost your level in the thousands in the earlier stages, but you also unlock levels and even entire map pieces which in turn give you otherwise unattainable achievements and skills. Also, without it even the final level at the highest difficulty still won't get you the highest tier talisman pieces. The Steam version comes with the entire package and then some, but also ups the ante with Iron Wizard mode (which precludes grinding altogether) and adjusting the basic difficulty.

* DamageReduction: Besides Armored enemies, there's also Spires. Any damage higher than a certain threshold is reduced to said threshold, meaning that the best way to beat one is via DeathOfAThousandCuts or [[GradualGrinder poison status]].

* NoGearLevel: The Vision stages, where you get no bonuses from your talismans and lose all your spells and skills except a select few. Justified in that you're actually reliving a past battle.

** Let a Spire reach your orb, and no amount of Mana and Banishment upgrades will save you.
** Arcane Guardians that spawn at the end of some Vision Fields do pretty much the same and can be rather nasty surprise.

The latest chapter, ''Chasing Shadows'', was released to Website/ArmorGames in April 2014 and was released to Steam later in 2014. It removes Lime gems (moving their multi-hit to Red) and adds two more colors, changing the colors thusly:

* CastFromHitPoints: Everything you build in all games cost mana, which in turn is drained when monsters reach your orb. In other words, Mana is both health and money.

* ExpansionPack: Gemcraft: Labyrinth and Chasing Shadows contains a five-dollar "premium" version which unlocks extra modes, skills, and battlefields. There are many achievements, levels, and skills that can only be found by completing certain maps in certain sectors, and those that require completing a Premium-only level are thus inaccessible.

* [=L33tL1ng0=]: The number of Endurance waves in 'Labyrinth' is capped at 1337, which has the meaning of Elite. Well, let's say that you definitely are if you're able to finish them all, moreso with 'Monsters become stronger faster' option checked, which also raises the maximum cap for their stats.

** Lots of it. In Chapter Zero, you'll have to level up to 200 in order to max out all your stats, and in Labyrinth, there is no level cap for 3 of the skills. For the premium version, the Ritual skill will let you gain one starting and maximum mana for a set number of battle amulets you possess, based on its skill level.
** ''Chasing Shadows'' subverts it with ''Iron Wizard'' mode. The levels of your character are gone, instead you get 5 skill points per field beaten. While plenty of fields are optional, you will probably grind maximum of them for more skill points.
* LuckBasedMission: Prior to ''Labyrinth'', crafting causes you to receive given a random-color gem based on those available in the level. The same goes for using Gem Bombs on enemy-spawning buildings -- they may or may not destroy the building due to randomized damage.

* MarathonLevel: All levels become this in ''Chapter 0'''s Endurance, which contrary to what it claims, is limited. It's actually 510 waves of monsters, not that you're likely to reach the end of it, considering that monsters will grow in power exponentially, with last waves being able to have HP well in decillions or somewhere around that mark. The last level is also similar, though it's "only" 228 waves, which, while not the proper way to beat level, is more feasible.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Forgotten is sealed away in the Gem of Eternity, but the mage from Chapter 0 is foolish enough to lust for it... and breaks it.

* '''Yellow''': Multiple Damage[=/=]Critical. Changed from ''Labyrinth'' a bit; it now maxes out at 80% of multiple damage, though the multiplier still abides UpToEleven and beyond.

* '''Yellow''': Multiple Damage[=/=]Critical.

* L33tL1ng0: The number of Endurance waves in 'Labyrinth' is capped at 1337, which has the meaning of Elite. Well, let's say that you definitely are if you're able to finish them all, moreso with 'Monsters become stronger faster' option checked, which also raises the maximum cap for their stats.

* Cap: Almost everything is capped, but much later than you can reasonably expect:

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The Bolt enhancement allows a tower to fire powerful bolts that completely ignore armor.

* CurbStompBattle: The third Vision level pits you againts 223 waves of monsters...but gives you a maze which forces them to take the longest route possible, a perfect spot to set up a gem with 8 amplifiers, and starts you out with 100,000 Mana and all 9 colors unlocked. Unless the waves are heavily enraged, anything you can whip up with that much resources will one-shot everything.

* MookMaker: The Shadows will regularly drop off monsters on the path. Also, Possessed Giants gain the ability to spawn Swarmlings when they're killed.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Armor Tearing and Suppressing gems hold very conditional statistics that are barely manipulated by the game; Armor Tearing is only useful early on, when your weak gems cannot get through the armor easily. Even then, Poison gems not only ignore armor for their special, but they generally remain useful all the way up until Critical Hit gems become readily available. After that, a combination of Bolt and trapped Critical Hit gems will do most of the rest of the work. By the time Suppressing gems could become useful, the enemy's regeneration tends to be large enough that the displayed number is around the enemy's actual health pool, while the gem itself is probably nowhere near that.

** The Wake of Eternity spell. In addition to shredding armor, suppressing regeneration, and having a chance to banish enemies, it also deals 20% of their current health to them as damage.

* PowerAtAPrice: Corrupted Mana shards will give you plenty of extra mana if you place gems to harvest from them, but those gems will quickly see their damage reduced to CherryTapping levels.

* TakingYouWithMe: Demons and Spires will explode when you take them down, demolishing all walls in their vicinity. Not noticing that can let monsters slip through very quickly.

** ''Chasing Shadows'' subverts it with ''Iron Wizard'' mode. The levels of your character are gone, instead you get 5 skill points per field beaten. While plenty of fields is optional, you will probably grind maximum of them for more skill points.

* LevelGrinding: And lots of it. In Chapter Zero, you'll have to level up to 200 in order to max out all your stats, and in Labyrinth, there is no level cap for 3 of the skills. For the premium version, the Ritual skill will let you gain one starting and maximum mana for a set number of battle amulets you possess, based on its skill level.

Generally, AnAdventurerIsYou, assuming that said adventurer is always a noble [[FunctionalMagic wizard]] out to reach some goal on the other side of the world, come hell or high water. In this case, come monsters, by the bucketload. You, the SquishyWizard, must protect your tower ([[IncrediblyLamePun tower defense, get it?]]) at all costs, by placing towers next to, and traps on, the path leading to it. However, a key difference splits Gemcraft off from other tower defense games — instead of being able to upgrade your traps and towers directly, you must power them with gems. Gems are mostly obtained with a spell named Craft Gem (which is basically the source of the game's name), and have distinct colors (which affect the types of powers they possess) and levels (which affect their strength). By combining gems correctly, you can create better ones to better fight those evil monsters.

* '''[[color:red:Red]]''': SplashDamage in the first two games. Changed to "[[KillStreak bloodbound]]" in Labyrinth: The gem gets extra power from a percentage of the monsters it kills. This color becomes Chain Hit in the most recent game.

* '''Green''': Poison. Ignores armor, so useful for armored waves as well as swarmlings.

* '''Orange''': Mana Leech. One of the gems that kept it's color throughout the series.

* '''Cyan''': Regeneration suppressing: lowers monsters' health regeneration rate. (Shock was made into a Freeze spell).
* '''Black''': [[StrongerWithAge Bloodbound]] (from red). Increases the gem's damage and specials based on the number of successful hits.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: There is no level cap; rather, cap on how much experience you can get due to the fact beating the same field twice gives you only difference between your new and old record - fail to beat it and you get nothing.

* AirborneMook: Apparitions in ''Labyrinth'' just fly over the terrain, and have a lot of health. Thankfully, they don't hurt you, they're slow, they're uncommon, and they give [[MetalSlime 3 free skill points when beaten]]. A much nastier version is the Shadow, encountered only once as a boss in the storyline, but the player can choose to fight one as a BossInMookClothing via the level settings. These can fly anywhere on the terrain, have tons of life and armor, can spawn homing shadow balls that aim for your orb, and create a large and fast swarm of Mooks. [[DesperationAttack When low on health]], the Shadow will perform TheSlowWalk right at your orb and instantly destroy it should you fail to kill the shadow.

* CuttingKnot[=/=]DungeonBypass: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. The wizard in ''Labyrinth'' mentions that he can't just "hop over [to the labyrinth's center]" due to some kind of energy forcing him to pass labyrinth the usual way, field by field.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game had a bunch: there were no traps - only trenches that slowed monsters instead. The only thing gem bombs could do was damage enemies; no transmuting or wave angering. There was a soft {{Cap}} in the first game, unlike later games which just kept going until it was too high. There was no way to pause gameplay when building or thinking, which meant that everything was based on twitch-like gameplay, unlike later games which became closer to TakeYourTime.

* FlawlessVictory: Defeating a map in ''Labyrinth'' without letting any enemy touch your orb gives an xp boosting medal for that round. In ''Chasing Shadows'', the orb gives extra experience for each flawless wave.

* {{Mana}}: This is needed to build things, craft gems, cast spells, and as a last ditch ManaShield to banish monsters that get too close. It builds up slowly every second, but largely comes from monsters you kill (or leech), and gets increased by using orange gems in the right places.
* ManaShield: If a monster reaches the destination, it's either sent back to the beginning via a banishing spell or causes a game over.

* MetalSlime: Apparitions in ''Labyrinth''. They are uncommon foes that [[AirborneMook fly over terrain]] slowly and have a TON of hit points, but they can't harm you at all and will just enter and exit the map. However, killing these gives the player '''3 free skill points'''!

* OneHitKill: In ''Labyrinth'', the Shadow will perform TheSlowWalk towards your orb as a DesperationAttack. If it touches your orb before you destroy it, your lose instantly regardless of Mana left. In ''Chasing Shadows'', this ability is given to Spires. This can be turned on for ALL enemies in Chapter Zero by playing a "Sudden Death" game. If Swarm waves weren't annoying enough, now any one of them can kill you, no matter how tiny and pathetic they are.

* SplashDamage: Red gems give splash damage in first two games. Lime gems give a multi-hit version (which is likely why red gems were changed). Red takes the happy medium between splash and chain in Chasing Shadows, while the Barrage spell fires shells that do splash damage as well.

* StrongerWithAge: Blood- and Pool-bound gems are two variants that revolve around this trope.
** Bloodbound increases the efficiency of the gem the longer it stays in the middle of the battle. Constantly killing (or hitting in Chasing Shadows) enemies will make the corresponding gem stronger.
** Poolbound, in ''Chasing Shadows'', increases its power (or the whole gem as a component) the longer '''you''' stay in battle, provided that you continuously build more powerful gems as a result of the constantly growing manapool.

!!!''Chasing Shadows'' contains examples of in addition to the above:

* BanditMook: Spectres are a PaletteSwap of the completely harmless Spirits, and while they can't damage you directly they will make a beeline for your strongest gem and attempt to take it away.

* {{Curse}}: One of your skills is explicitly called this. It makes affected monsters [[DamageIncreasingDebuff take much more damage]] from all sources, causes your attacks to ignore their armour, and makes monster beacons have a 75% chance of failing to affect a monster.

* RocketTagGameplay: Endurance Mode culminates this kind of sort, provided with enough skill and level. So long as you build powerful gems, the monsters keep growing until either you overwhelm it with damage or they overwhelm your tower with their exponential health increase. Both sides win, as long your experience out-gains your previous attempt. (or in by some miracle of grinding, beat all '999 waves')

* ShoutOut: The Wake of Eternity icon looks a lot like [[Film/TheRing the iconic image of a certain horror movie]]... which is fitting, since the Forgotten is a [[IncrediblyLamePun dead ringer]] for said movie's antagonist.

* TripodTerror: Spires, albeit multiplied by two and making it have 8 eyes doesn't help the visual a.

* MoreDakka: One of the new features of the game gives your gems an extra attack with limited charges that they can use together with their normal attack: the long-ranged, armor piercing [[SniperCannon Bolt]], the continuous-firing [[BeamSpam Beam]], and the multiple explosive [[MacrossMissileMassacre Barrage]] shells.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Whenever a wizard trapped the Forgotten, she corrupted the Gem of Eternity. By going to the Spiritforge and performing the ritual with the fake Gem, you gave her the chance to activate all the corrupted replicas and blow the Spiritforge's gates open. Oops.]]

** If the monster waves run out before you manage to unlock a wizard tower or charge an ensnarement socket, the ritual fails and your orb gets destroyed.

* PowerAtAPrice: Corrupted Mana shards will give you plenty of extra mana if you place gems to harvest from them, but those gems will quickly see their damage reduced to the single digits.

* RocketTagGameplay: Endurance Mode culminates this kind of sort, provided with enough skill and level. So long as you build powerful gems, the monsters keep growing until either you overwhelm it with damage or they overwhelm your tower with their exponential health increase. Both sides win, as long your experience out-gains your previous attempt.

** Spires cannot be damaged for more than a certain portion of their maximum HP, so continuous fire from several gems is one of the best ways to defeat one.

* TripodTerror: Spires, albeit with altogether too many legs for comfort.

* '''[[color:red:Red]]''': SplashDamage in the first two games. Changed to "[[KillStreak bloodbound]]" in Labyrinth: The gem gets extra power from a percentage of the monsters it kills.

* '''[[color:yellow:Yellow]]''': [[CriticalHit Multiple Damage]]. The first two games gave a flat rate to deal triple damage. In Labyrinth, the multiple damage rate can be ramped up as high as you can make it (starting with double damage).

* '''Orange''': Mana Leech.

* '''Black''': Bloodbound (from red). Increases the gem's damage and specials based on the number of monsters the gem has hit.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Crafting multi-colored gems becomes less beneficial until you combine all 8 colors into one gem. At that point, it gains the power of all 8 gem types rather than the 3 dominant ones, and its damage, range, and firing speed all skyrocket. Averted in ''Labyrinth'': Supergemming in this manner doesn't exist.

* DamageReduction: Via Armour level. Some particularly annoying mooks ''gain'' armor every second.

* DiscOneNuke: One of the early stages in Gemcraft: Labryinth has a tower surrounded by eight amplifiers. Place a gem in each of the amplifiers, and the tower gem will '''kick ass'''. This nuke becomes MUCH more powerful if the player buys the "premium" version and uses endurance mode with this strategy to get a ridiculous multiplier to their XP gained. A similar setup occurs in ''Chasing Shadows''.

* KillSat: A Focused tower, a gem tower accompanied with a complete 8 supporting amplifiers in a 3x3 box, qualify in this trope. As amassing powerful gems in each amplifier (taking a fraction of its damage, range and firing speed), the tower gets a significant boost so wide it can fire across the map, disintegrating anything that simply spawns into battle. While Amplifiers alone are expensive, skill investment can be only thing that stops you from making one.

* {{Mana}}: This is needed to build things, craft gems, cast spells, and as a last ditch ManaShield to banish monsters that get too close. It builds up slowly every second, but largely comes from monsters you kill, and gets increased by using orange gems in the right places.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Forgotten. Also, epic bosses in the first game.

* SplashDamage: Red gems give splash damage in first two games. Lime gems give a multi-hit version (which is likely why red gems were changed). Red takes Lime's multi-hit in Chasing Shadows, while the Barrage spell fires shells that do splash damage as well.

''Gemcraft'' is a free-to-play TowerDefense series developed by Game in a Bottle and distributed by [[http://armorgames.com/ Armor Games]], a major source of WebGames. It has a distinct {{Fantasy}} setting with a rudimentary storyline that varies between installments.

The latest chapter, ''Chasing Shadows'', was released to Armor Games in April 2014 and was released to Steam later in 2014. It removes Lime gems (moving their multi-hit to Red) and adds two more colors, changing the colors thusly: