When comparing Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows vs Dungeon Defenders, the Slant community recommends Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows for most people. In the question“What are the best PC Tower Defense games?” Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows is ranked 6th while Dungeon Defenders is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows is:
The main mechanic of the game is using gems that provide properties like splash damage, poison, chain lightning, etc to your towers in different combinations. Add to that the fact that there are 7 levels for each gem, you have to manage your mana, there are multiple difficulty levels that change the amount of experience you gain, there are multiple kinds of spells, 25 passive skills and talisman fragments among other variables that you have to balance and you end up with an impressive amount of choice and depth.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Addictive, in-depth gameplay based on combining gems that provide different traits to your towers
The main mechanic of the game is using gems that provide properties like splash damage, poison, chain lightning, etc to your towers in different combinations. Add to that the fact that there are 7 levels for each gem, you have to manage your mana, there are multiple difficulty levels that change the amount of experience you gain, there are multiple kinds of spells, 25 passive skills and talisman fragments among other variables that you have to balance and you end up with an impressive amount of choice and depth.
Pro More than 140 levels
With so many levels to play in the game will last a good while. Each map is varied and with that makes for an experience that does not get tiring either.
Pro A mix of tower defense, FPS, and RPG mechanics creates original feeling gameplay
Dungeon Defenders is a mix of many genres, resulting in game that feels original (although it leans most heavily on the tower defense model). This originality creates a situation where the game still feels familiar enough to grasp the gameplay, while still keeping things fresh enough for those familiar with the genres combined in the game.
Pro Combining numerous weapon loadouts with many character classes allows for a ton of replayability
Due to the wide assortment of classes and loadouts, replayability is pretty high. Each class has its own skills, each weapon will require different strategies. Mixing these together allows for numerous possibilities in gameplay.
Cons
Con Can seem too heavily luck based
Hit damage is luck based meaning that it is up to the game at points as to how much damage is given making for a bit of an imbalance when winning in just a few strikes in one game and then having to do many hits in another.
Con The screen
Dungeon defenders screen should give everyone the same amount of screen.
Con Single player is boring
Dungeon Defenders shines in its multiplayer mode, but playing alone is just boring.
Con Repetitive gameplay
Once you've played a few maps you'll have a taste of everything this game has to offer.