I had just finished up GemCraft Chasing Shadows after 90 hours of intense gameplay.
It was a very enjoyable experience going for the 100% with just a few bumps on the way.
When looking at the sequel GC:FW I was a bit worried.
It had some bad reviews and complaints about difficulty and grinding so I was afraid I would dislike it based on my experience with GC:S. However it also had complaints about updates making it too easy and ruining any challenge.
So, I decided since I needed my fix after the previous game that I would go for it and buy it.

Note: Most of the guide will compare GC:FW to GC:S.

I started the game at the "normal difficulty" (hardest)
The first impression is naturally that it feels different to GC:S in a lot of ways, the UI is a good hint.
The first levels feel more difficult than in GC:S and some are quite close calls.
The enrage system is different, you no longer gem-bomb to enrage. You put the gem in the "enrage gem socket" on top of the waves that are on the left like usual.
Gem level like before influences how much the change will be. I found myself using it less since it seemed easier to guage the impact with the previous system. However I never got that familiar with it so I guess that its a better system when you get comfortable with it.
It also seems far more important in this game to gain exp. as a "required mechanism".
There are less gems (6) but 2 additional stuctures apart from towers and traps compared to GC:S.
The new ones are "Lanterns" and "Pylons", both are nice additions and see some good usage in the game.

Since the game has been updated, V-levels or in this game "Trial levels" are pretty much the same with no change that I can recall.
The other big change is endurance mode. You no longer get to continue the level. Instead you can chose endurance mode once you have beaten a level.
Intitally you only have like 40 or so waves in endurance, but everytime you beat it the number of waves goes up. This is a global change so all new endurance mode levels you enter will have the same level.
This means you can beat one level in endurance mode and increase the amount of waves for all levels when doing endurance mode.
While it is a big change it is not necessarily a bad one and it means that you can get free exp. easily like before, but since its separated from the normal stage it becomes more flexible in my opinion.

After a few stages I took a break and read some more on the Steam discussions.
I then realised that the higher difficulty mostly would result in a much slower early game and worse shadow core drops.
So I decided, without getting stuck that I rather would play it on the newer "Chilling" (easy) difficulty.
Basically it means double shadow core drop and 3 free buildings which is huge early on.
I pushed through a lot of levels before getting stuck and could to a certain degree agree on it being "too easy".
It had saved me from grinding and I had only done a single endurance through all levels.
I felt that I had made a misstake as I noticed I had barely any skils or traits.

As I said something did not feel right being so far in the game and lacking a lot of stuff.
It turns out "Wizard Stashes" which are basically revamped Tome Chambers that contain skills and traits.
They also give talisman fragments and shadow cores.
The game also has some cool new enemies and structures that cannot wait to take you by surprise but I will leave that to be discovered for yourself.

The next interesting thing that has been changed is the talisman.
You will have to collect talisman fragments (puzzle fragments) and match them together to build a 5 by 5 puzzle.
To make it harder you have to collect the shapes and sacrificce them to your catalouge to be able to change shape to them if they have the same category.
You only have access to 5 of the 25 slots of the puzzle and will have to spend a lot of shadow cores to unlock them.
Interesting to know here is that there is another aspect "runes". There can be 5 different rune shapes, if you have 3 of the different kind of shape vertically you get a minor buff to the mana you get from sending waves early.
However if you have 3 matching rune shapes horizontally you get a percentage base buff to your starting mana which is huge.

Beating the game in either difficulty should not be that hard but will take some time (Will do "normal diff" soon.)
However if you plan on getting all achievements, you will have to look up how to mana farm as getting to WL 1000, beating 360 waves on endurance and getting certain gem grades will most likely be impossible.
I feel like GC:S suffered from this too when you have to reach a certain mana pool level. You will not figure it out on your own, especially in GC:FW if you are new to the series.
Guides while harder to follow exist on GC:FW, but for GC:S it is way easier in my opinion. I was W-level 190:ish when I had done most of GC:S and could not figure out how to get the mana pool level higher.
One short video and I gained hundereds of levels and ended up being W-level 1200+ after just a few hours and runs.
I did not get to that point at this game as it took me well over W-level 500 till I got any significant jumps. I still never bothered to figure out exactly how to do exp-farming.
But I got about 100 levels on my final exp. farm run and ended my GC:FW run on W-level 1100+.
All in all it took me 113 hours to beat the game with all achievements and I spent over 25 hours farming for the last achievement (missing fragment shape).

In the end I am not a part of the small player base who aim to get higher W-level which is the "real" late game for GC:FW.
I got all the achievements and had a lot of fun, but felt more frustrated than with GC:S.
It will be nice to try the game again and see how useful my experiece is when doing "normal mode" again.
Looking forward to Wizard mode aswell, so hopefully it will be out soon.

I would give GC:FW 8/10 and GC:S 9/10 (for comparison).
GC:FW is a very good game and with the changes that has been made I do feel like most of the criticism is either trolls or players not giving the game a chance (or hardcore fans of the series).
It feels well balanced and offers a good variety of challenge.
The downside is that the game fails to explain things that are vital to 100% the game (mana farm etc.), needs more grinding, does not explain runes.
There is also the usual lag, which i feel is even worse in this game than in GC:S.
Did I mention farming for 25 hours to get the last puzzle shape...

The game has 636 achievements, takes around 100 hours to 100% but can offer far more playtime.
It is still being updated and has recieved a lot of improvements since launch.
I recommend it att full price given time and enjoyment it provides. (I got the bundle though).
I would say that buying GC:S first is probably a good idea as it is a bit easier and a little more fun.
Dont do them back to back though like me, atleast not in a few weeks, or you might start seeing things from the game.


//ECE//

[h1]GemCraft - Frostborn Wrath[/h1] I had just finished up [b]GemCraft Chasing Shadows[/b] after 90 hours of intense gameplay. It was a very enjoyable experience going for the 100% with just a few bumps on the way. When looking at the sequel [b]GC:FW[/b] I was a bit worried. It had some bad reviews and complaints about difficulty and grinding so I was afraid I would dislike it based on my experience with [b]GC:S[/b]. However it also had complaints about updates making it [i]too easy[/i] and ruining any challenge. So, I decided since I needed my fix after the previous game that I would go for it and buy it. Note: Most of the guide will compare GC:FW to GC:S. [h1]Initial Thoughts, Some Differences (compared to GC:S) and Difficulty[/h1] I started the game at the "normal difficulty" (hardest) The first impression is naturally that it feels different to GC:S in a lot of ways, the UI is a good hint. The first levels feel more difficult than in GC:S and some are quite close calls. The enrage system is different, you no longer gem-bomb to enrage. You put the gem in the "enrage gem socket" on top of the waves that are on the left like usual. Gem level like before influences how much the change will be. I found myself using it less since it seemed easier to guage the impact with the previous system. However I never got that familiar with it so I guess that its a better system when you get comfortable with it. It also seems far more important in this game to gain exp. as a "required mechanism". There are less gems (6) but 2 additional stuctures apart from towers and traps compared to GC:S. The new ones are "Lanterns" and "Pylons", both are nice additions and see some good usage in the game. Since the game has been updated, V-levels or in this game "Trial levels" are pretty much the same with no change that I can recall. The other big change is endurance mode. You no longer get to continue the level. Instead you can chose endurance mode once you have beaten a level. Intitally you only have like 40 or so waves in endurance, but everytime you beat it the number of waves goes up. This is a global change so all new endurance mode levels you enter will have the same level. This means you can beat one level in endurance mode and increase the amount of waves for all levels when doing endurance mode. While it is a big change it is not necessarily a bad one and it means that you can get free exp. easily like before, but since its separated from the normal stage it becomes more flexible in my opinion. After a few stages I took a break and read some more on the Steam discussions. I then realised that the higher difficulty mostly would result in a much slower early game and worse shadow core drops. So I decided, without getting stuck that I rather would play it on the newer "Chilling" (easy) difficulty. Basically it means double shadow core drop and 3 free buildings which is huge early on. I pushed through a lot of levels before getting stuck and could to a certain degree agree on it being "too easy". It had saved me from grinding and I had only done a single endurance through all levels. I felt that I had made a misstake as I noticed I had barely any skils or traits. [h1]Progression and Learning the game.[/h1] As I said something did not feel right being so far in the game and lacking a lot of stuff. It turns out "Wizard Stashes" which are basically revamped Tome Chambers that contain skills and traits. They also give talisman fragments and shadow cores. The game also has some cool new enemies and structures that cannot wait to take you by surprise but I will leave that to be discovered for yourself. The next interesting thing that has been changed is the talisman. You will have to collect talisman fragments (puzzle fragments) and match them together to build a 5 by 5 puzzle. To make it harder you have to collect the shapes and sacrificce them to your catalouge to be able to change shape to them if they have the same category. You only have access to 5 of the 25 slots of the puzzle and will have to spend a lot of shadow cores to unlock them. Interesting to know here is that there is another aspect "runes". There can be 5 different rune shapes, if you have 3 of the different kind of shape vertically you get a minor buff to the mana you get from sending waves early. However if you have 3 matching rune shapes horizontally you get a percentage base buff to your starting mana which is huge. Beating the game in either difficulty should not be that hard but will take some time (Will do "normal diff" soon.) However if you plan on getting all achievements, you will have to look up how to mana farm as getting to WL 1000, beating 360 waves on endurance and getting certain gem grades will most likely be impossible. I feel like GC:S suffered from this too when you have to reach a certain mana pool level. You will not figure it out on your own, especially in GC:FW if you are new to the series. Guides while harder to follow exist on GC:FW, but for GC:S it is way easier in my opinion. I was W-level 190:ish when I had done most of GC:S and could not figure out how to get the mana pool level higher. One short video and I gained hundereds of levels and ended up being W-level 1200+ after just a few hours and runs. I did not get to that point at this game as it took me well over W-level 500 till I got any significant jumps. I still never bothered to figure out exactly how to do exp-farming. But I got about 100 levels on my final exp. farm run and ended my GC:FW run on W-level 1100+. All in all it took me 113 hours to beat the game with all achievements and I spent over 25 hours farming for the last achievement (missing fragment shape). In the end I am not a part of the small player base who aim to get higher W-level which is the "real" late game for GC:FW. I got all the achievements and had a lot of fun, but felt more frustrated than with GC:S. It will be nice to try the game again and see how useful my experiece is when doing "normal mode" again. Looking forward to Wizard mode aswell, so hopefully it will be out soon. [h1]The Veridict[/h1] I would give GC:FW 8/10 and GC:S 9/10 (for comparison). GC:FW is a very good game and with the changes that has been made I do feel like most of the criticism is either trolls or players not giving the game a chance (or hardcore fans of the series). It feels well balanced and offers a good variety of challenge. The downside is that the game fails to explain things that are vital to 100% the game (mana farm etc.), needs more grinding, does not explain runes. There is also the usual lag, which i feel is even worse in this game than in GC:S. Did I mention farming for 25 hours to get the last puzzle shape... The game has 636 achievements, takes around 100 hours to 100% but can offer far more playtime. It is still being updated and has recieved a lot of improvements since launch. I recommend it att full price given time and enjoyment it provides. (I got the bundle though). I would say that buying GC:S first is probably a good idea as it is a bit easier and a little more fun. Dont do them back to back though like me, atleast not in a few weeks, or you might start seeing things from the game. //ECE//