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GemCraft - Chasing Shadows

GemCraft - Chasing Shadows

An epic, challenging tower defense game with an emphasis on strategy and replayability. Summon gems of immense magical potency and harness their unique abilities against a seemingly endless horde of monsters. The archdemon seeks to swallow the world, and you must journey to stand against her.

Released Apr 30, 2015 Developer Game in a Bottle Publisher Armor Games Studios Platforms Windows Tower DefenseStrategyIndieSingleplayerAction
View on Steam ↗ $1.99 (US · as of 2026-07-26)

What players say

Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.

95.2%positive4,136 reviews
Recommended · 16 found this helpful

“you have no idea how long it took me to find this game. I played it like 10 years ago when I was a kid and it has been etched into my memory ever since.”

— a player, Steam review · 31 hrs played
Recommended · 8 found this helpful

“After 20 years of playing Tower Defense games I think the Gemcraft series might be the best experience I've had. You can make your build simple or complicated by digging into the many systems the game has and anything in between. The music, the UI, the art style all blend into a…”

— a player, Steam review · 55 hrs played
Recommended · 5 found this helpful

“There isn't a tower defense game that even comes close to the depth of the gemcraft series.”

— a player, Steam review · 854 hrs played
Read more reviews ↗

Player activity

Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 12:12 UTC · history via SteamCharts.

109playing at last check
13724-hour peak
1,601all-time peak
0 500 1k 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 636 avg · Jan 2016

Achievement stats

Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.

419achievements
18.9%median completion
2.1%rarest: I Have Iron Skills
88.9% of players 71.0% of players 68.6% of players 64.8% of players 59.9% of players 57.1% of players 55.3% of players 51.4% of players 49.8% of players 47.8% of players 45.3% of players 43.9% of players 42.6% of players 40.6% of players 39.3% of players 37.9% of players 36.1% of players 34.0% of players 32.7% of players 31.3% of players 30.7% of players 30.0% of players 28.4% of players 27.2% of players 26.2% of players 25.3% of players 24.8% of players 24.1% of players 23.7% of players 23.0% of players 22.4% of players 21.6% of players 21.0% of players 20.1% of players 19.2% of players 18.8% of players 18.2% of players 17.8% of players 17.1% of players 16.4% of players 15.9% of players 15.5% of players 14.7% of players 14.2% of players 13.7% of players 13.0% of players 12.7% of players 12.0% of players 11.6% of players 10.7% of players 10.4% of players 9.9% of players 9.2% of players 8.8% of players 8.4% of players 8.0% of players 7.8% of players 7.4% of players 7.0% of players 6.8% of players 88.9% 0% most earned rarest
Almost everyone has
88.9%First Blood Spilled — Kill a monster.
84.8%Lucky — Find a talisman fragment.
83.1%Novice Grade — Create a grade 3 gem.
Rarest badges of honor
2.1%I Have Iron Skills — Reach the Spiritforge in Iron Wizard mode.
3.4%Toss the Ice Shards — Kill 100 frozen monsters with barrage.
3.5%No Trespassing — Build 30 traps at field Q7.

Price tracking

US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.

$1.99−80% right nowcurrent · sampled 2026-07-26 08:39 UTC
$9.99base price
$1.99lowest since tracking began2026-07-23
US1.99 USD−80%
EU1.95 EUR−80%
UK1.70 GBP−80%
Australia2.90 AUD−80%
Canada2.59 CAD−80%
Japan240 JPY−80%
Brazil6.59 BRL−80%
China8.40 CNY−80%

Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.

China≈$1.2 Brazil Japan Canada US Australia EU UK≈$2.3

Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.

$0 $10 $20 07-11 07-13 07-16 07-19 07-22 07-26

Latest official news

Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.

Jun 15, 2026
GemCraft Legacy Collection

Try the game during NF and don't forget to Wishlist!

Jun 10, 2026
Legacy Collection Demo is NOW LIVE!

Hello Wizards! We're so thrilled to let you experience the GemCraft - Legacy Collection for the first time. The demo will let you play the first few levels of all 3 games and remember how awesome they

Feb 13, 2026
GemCraft Legacy Collection Revealed

Fellow Wizards! The time has come to travel back and begin your journey anew. The first three GemCraft games together in one ominous package. Experience Chapter 1, Chapter 0, and Labyrinth again (or f

Jan 15, 2020
GemCraft Frostborn Wrath is finally out on Steam!

After years in development, GemCraft Frostborn Wrath has been finally released on Steam! A new piece of the story arch with 600+ achievements, 130+ fields in 3 battle modes, and so much more to explor

Jun 21, 2019
GemCraft Frostborn Wrath is Coming Soon!

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/8624332/e087ff31fe6686accef7fc2b230195c786e0ada4.png Hey Everyone, The Coming Soon page for the upcoming GemCraft chapter, Frostborn

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From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.

GemCraft - Frostborn Wrath GemCraft - Frostborn Wrath 87.6% · 2,103 reviews shares Tower Defense, Dark Fantasy, Magic, Tactical Rock 'N' Roll Defense Rock 'N' Roll Defense 83.0% · 1,113 reviews shares Classic, Tower Defense, Tactical, Great Soundtrack Dungeon Warfare Dungeon Warfare 95.1% · 974 reviews shares Tower Defense, Tactical, Great Soundtrack, Top Down Kingdom Rush Frontiers - Tower Defense Kingdom Rush Frontiers - Tower Defense 95.2% · 2,627 reviews shares Tower Defense, Magic, Great Soundtrack, Difficult AI War: Fleet Command AI War: Fleet Command 84.4% · 1,225 reviews shares Classic, Tower Defense, Tactical, Great Soundtrack Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition 98.2% · 45,975 reviews shares Classic, Tower Defense, Tactical, Great Soundtrack Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 93.0% · 2,447 reviews shares Classic, Dark Fantasy, Great Soundtrack, Difficult Super Sanctum TD Super Sanctum TD 83.3% · 861 reviews shares Classic, Tower Defense, Difficult, Top Down

Screenshots

Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.

Facts & details

From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.

GenresAction, Indie, Strategy
Player tagsTower Defense · Strategy · Indie · Singleplayer · Action · Top-Down · Fantasy · Tactical · 2D · Classic · Difficult · Great Soundtrack (SteamSpy community voting)
FeaturesSingle-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing
LanguagesEnglish
ControllerFull support
Achievements419
Estimated owners200,000 – 500,000 (SteamSpy)
Official sitehttps://armorgamesstudios.com/games/gemcraft-chasing-shadows/
Minimum system requirements (PC)

Minimum: OS *: Windows Vista SP1 Processor: Intel Celeron N or better Memory: 2048 MB RAM Graphics: Intel HD Graphics or better Storage: 100 MB available space