When comparing Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows vs Sanctum 2, 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 Sanctum 2 is ranked 16th. 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 Well balanced campaign that allows for 1 to 4 players while keeping the difficulty scaled in order to keep the gameplay challenging
The campaign remains balanced regardless of how many people are playing. The difficulty of play scales very effectively to ensure the level of challenge is appropriate.
Pro Teamwork is not optional, each player needs to cooperate with their team in order to have any success
Since tower slots are limited, it's important to coordinate the layout of your defenses as a team in order to fend off the enemies.
Pro High amount of replayability thanks to a large selection of in-game buffs
You can buff the monsters in each fight with one of five different buffs, giving you five different playing experiences for each level.
Pro Automatic server hosting and port forwarding
Players do not need to set up dedicated servers or port forward. It is done automatically.
Pro Integrates well with Steam matchmaking, making it easy to find online matches
Sanctum 2 allows for players to use Steam’s built-in matchmaking, which makes it easy to invite your friends or to find others to play with.
Pro Reliable netcode allows you to enjoy the game without worry of laggy or dropped connections
The netcode used is stable and there have been very few issues reported, which is great as there is no ned to worry about losing you connection, dropping the match.
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 Difficulty can spike from chapter to chapter
Con Boring
Con Tower defense games do not invite creative building plans
Con Boss models are reused too much
There is not a ton of variety in the boss battles; boss models are reused often. This can be repetitive for players.