This one wasn’t in the Year Plans. However, I didn’t know whether I could start playing a new game while working on a review for another, but I still felt the desire to post an extra before the end of the year. So why not talk about a game that I’ve already played aplenty? It’s a long one, so I can knock it out of the list for good. Plus, it’s a genre that I love.
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Just to prove how much time I spent on this game: I am
currently Level 1,100. |
I already covered the previous game,
Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows (shortened GCS), way back in 2018. At the time, today’s entry was in development;
Frostborn Wrath (FW), also made by Game in a Bottle, was released to Steam on January 10th, 2020. I already discussed the franchise in depth in the previous article. Thus, I'll focus my efforts on discussing the differences between this entry and the previous one, and how it helps them feel like new games with different challenges as a result, despite being the same concept of merging gems to beat monsters.
Not gonna lie, I’d love to see an “Early Days” Gemcraft collection (encompassing Chapters 1, 0, and Lost Chapter: Labyrinth). It’s become trendy to do that for browser/Flash games with a strong nostalgic value, and it could help give these three a new life. I spent so much time playing Labyrinth, it’s not even funny. If Chasing Shadows started as a browser game with microtransaction elements before jumping, Frostborn Wrath is exclusively on Steam. What's this one like?
Minimal story? No problem
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| Points given for the style and the art. |
This review is going to be more technical. There is a story that develops as we visit more fields, but it’s inconsequential to gameplay to the point it can be ignored. And I did, too, for a while. It adds flavor, explains some things, that’s about it. Our character was part of a caste of powerful wizards who began dabbling in demon-summoning black magic. The lone wizard rose against their kin, only to be forced to flee to northern lands, and frozen as retribution. One day, they unexpectedly thawed, but centuries had passed – they had to relearn magic. The mysterious recovery is explained by a warmth spell not so far away that got out of control. However, the wizard must now deal with the horrible surprises left behind.
