STEAMDB NEXUS

Steam app 296490 · updated 12 Sep 2026, 19:05 UTC

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.

GemCraft - Chasing Shadows Steam header artwork
Game in a BottleArmor Games Studios
173playing now
17324-hour peak
1,601all-time peak
96average, last 30 days

The last 30 days

−0.7Gain−0.68%% gain173Peak

720 hourly samples, with the daily peak drawn over them. Weekends are shaded.

0479314018713 Aug18 Aug23 Aug28 Aug02 Sep07 Sep12 SepThursday 13 August 2026125 peakFriday 14 August 2026113 peakSaturday 15 August 2026120 peakSunday 16 August 2026125 peakMonday 17 August 2026114 peakTuesday 18 August 2026117 peakWednesday 19 August 2026113 peakThursday 20 August 2026106 peakFriday 21 August 2026120 peakSaturday 22 August 2026129 peakSunday 23 August 2026139 peakMonday 24 August 2026131 peakTuesday 25 August 2026120 peakWednesday 26 August 2026121 peakThursday 27 August 2026113 peakFriday 28 August 2026115 peakSaturday 29 August 2026150 peakSunday 30 August 2026148 peakMonday 31 August 2026117 peakTuesday 01 September 2026120 peakWednesday 02 September 2026127 peakThursday 03 September 2026131 peakFriday 04 September 2026138 peakSaturday 05 September 2026163 peakSunday 06 September 2026165 peakMonday 07 September 2026170 peakTuesday 08 September 2026138 peakWednesday 09 September 2026134 peakThursday 10 September 2026126 peakFriday 11 September 2026143 peakSaturday 12 September 2026173 peak
Daily peakEvery hourly sample

All time

138 months, April 2015 to September 2026. The highest number of people in the game at once, each month, on a time axis -- a gap in the record stays a gap.

04328651k2k201520172019202120222024April 2015227 monthly peakMay 20151,026 monthly peakJune 20151,163 monthly peakJuly 2015634 monthly peakAugust 2015388 monthly peakSeptember 2015406 monthly peakOctober 2015325 monthly peakNovember 2015409 monthly peakDecember 2015464 monthly peakJanuary 20161,601 monthly peakFebruary 2016645 monthly peakMarch 2016426 monthly peakApril 2016353 monthly peakMay 2016311 monthly peakJune 2016370 monthly peakJuly 2016571 monthly peakAugust 2016283 monthly peakSeptember 2016270 monthly peakOctober 2016267 monthly peakNovember 2016276 monthly peakDecember 2016320 monthly peakJanuary 2017360 monthly peakFebruary 2017293 monthly peakMarch 2017288 monthly peakApril 2017296 monthly peakMay 2017265 monthly peakJune 2017304 monthly peakJuly 2017303 monthly peakAugust 2017238 monthly peakSeptember 2017293 monthly peakOctober 2017310 monthly peakNovember 2017268 monthly peakDecember 2017273 monthly peakJanuary 2018283 monthly peakFebruary 2018254 monthly peakMarch 2018255 monthly peakApril 2018250 monthly peakMay 2018256 monthly peakJune 2018304 monthly peakJuly 2018313 monthly peakAugust 2018254 monthly peakSeptember 2018278 monthly peakOctober 2018251 monthly peakNovember 2018243 monthly peakDecember 2018237 monthly peakJanuary 2019261 monthly peakFebruary 2019259 monthly peakMarch 2019239 monthly peakApril 2019243 monthly peakMay 2019341 monthly peakJune 2019258 monthly peakJuly 2019254 monthly peakAugust 2019291 monthly peakSeptember 2019251 monthly peakOctober 2019230 monthly peakNovember 2019254 monthly peakDecember 2019273 monthly peakJanuary 2020327 monthly peakFebruary 2020255 monthly peakMarch 2020221 monthly peakApril 2020247 monthly peakMay 2020309 monthly peakJune 2020191 monthly peakJuly 2020178 monthly peakAugust 2020179 monthly peakSeptember 2020192 monthly peakOctober 2020176 monthly peakNovember 2020171 monthly peakDecember 2020205 monthly peakJanuary 2021222 monthly peakFebruary 2021217 monthly peakMarch 2021185 monthly peakApril 2021173 monthly peakMay 2021174 monthly peakJune 2021194 monthly peakJuly 2021181 monthly peakAugust 2021172 monthly peakSeptember 2021167 monthly peakOctober 2021165 monthly peakNovember 2021171 monthly peakDecember 2021160 monthly peakJanuary 2022202 monthly peakFebruary 2022252 monthly peakMarch 2022184 monthly peakApril 2022192 monthly peakMay 2022198 monthly peakJune 2022191 monthly peakJuly 2022191 monthly peakAugust 2022165 monthly peakSeptember 2022176 monthly peakOctober 2022174 monthly peakNovember 2022171 monthly peakDecember 2022181 monthly peakJanuary 2023206 monthly peakFebruary 2023182 monthly peakMarch 2023196 monthly peakApril 2023187 monthly peakMay 2023163 monthly peakJune 2023160 monthly peakJuly 2023166 monthly peakAugust 2023157 monthly peakSeptember 2023187 monthly peakOctober 2023161 monthly peakNovember 2023230 monthly peakDecember 2023193 monthly peakJanuary 2024199 monthly peakFebruary 2024177 monthly peakMarch 2024171 monthly peakApril 2024161 monthly peakMay 2024158 monthly peakJune 2024183 monthly peakJuly 2024208 monthly peakAugust 2024238 monthly peakSeptember 2024527 monthly peakOctober 2024191 monthly peakNovember 2024195 monthly peakDecember 2024197 monthly peakJanuary 2025189 monthly peakFebruary 2025232 monthly peakMarch 2025175 monthly peakApril 2025176 monthly peakMay 2025166 monthly peakJune 2025151 monthly peakJuly 2025146 monthly peakAugust 2025156 monthly peakSeptember 2025148 monthly peakOctober 2025146 monthly peakNovember 2025162 monthly peakDecember 2025146 monthly peakJanuary 2026157 monthly peakFebruary 2026196 monthly peakMarch 2026195 monthly peakApril 2026149 monthly peakMay 2026163 monthly peakJune 2026169 monthly peakJuly 2026158 monthly peakAugust 2026167 monthly peakSeptember 2026173 monthly peak
Monthly peak

The last four months

Show:

The highest number of people in the game at once, each month. Four, because four is as far back as the source keeps anything finer than one figure a month.

04793140187July 2026August 2026September 2026October 2026July 2026158 peak — daily detail belowAugust 2026167 peak — hourly detail belowSeptember 2026173 peak — hourly detail below
Monthly peakHas finer data

July 2026

31 days, each one the highest figure that day. The source keeps no hourly detail this far back. Weekends are shaded.

0438512817101 Jul06 Jul11 Jul16 Jul21 Jul26 Jul31 JulWednesday 01 July 2026134 peakThursday 02 July 2026138 peakFriday 03 July 2026154 peakSaturday 04 July 2026156 peakSunday 05 July 2026152 peakMonday 06 July 2026158 peakTuesday 07 July 2026156 peakWednesday 08 July 2026138 peakThursday 09 July 2026140 peakFriday 10 July 2026137 peakSaturday 11 July 2026139 peakSunday 12 July 2026157 peakMonday 13 July 2026136 peakTuesday 14 July 2026134 peakWednesday 15 July 2026122 peakThursday 16 July 2026125 peakFriday 17 July 2026131 peakSaturday 18 July 2026137 peakSunday 19 July 2026133 peakMonday 20 July 2026124 peakTuesday 21 July 2026119 peakWednesday 22 July 2026133 peakThursday 23 July 2026131 peakFriday 24 July 2026129 peakSaturday 25 July 2026142 peakSunday 26 July 2026146 peakMonday 27 July 2026130 peakTuesday 28 July 2026140 peakWednesday 29 July 2026127 peakThursday 30 July 2026143 peakFriday 31 July 2026144 peak

August 2026

31 days as the curve, each the highest figure that day. Behind it, 437 hourly samples from 13 Aug, which is as far back as the source keeps every hour. Weekends are shaded.

0459013518001 Aug06 Aug11 Aug16 Aug21 Aug26 Aug31 AugSaturday 01 August 2026166 peakSunday 02 August 2026167 peakMonday 03 August 2026146 peakTuesday 04 August 2026135 peakWednesday 05 August 2026138 peakThursday 06 August 2026135 peakFriday 07 August 2026123 peakSaturday 08 August 2026142 peakSunday 09 August 2026138 peakMonday 10 August 2026118 peakTuesday 11 August 2026113 peakWednesday 12 August 2026108 peakThursday 13 August 2026125 peakFriday 14 August 2026113 peakSaturday 15 August 2026120 peakSunday 16 August 2026125 peakMonday 17 August 2026114 peakTuesday 18 August 2026117 peakWednesday 19 August 2026113 peakThursday 20 August 2026106 peakFriday 21 August 2026120 peakSaturday 22 August 2026129 peakSunday 23 August 2026139 peakMonday 24 August 2026131 peakTuesday 25 August 2026120 peakWednesday 26 August 2026121 peakThursday 27 August 2026113 peakFriday 28 August 2026115 peakSaturday 29 August 2026150 peakSunday 30 August 2026148 peakMonday 31 August 2026117 peak

September 2026

12 days as the curve, each the highest figure that day. Behind it, 283 hourly samples. Each dip is a night. Weekends are shaded.

0479314018701 Sep03 Sep05 Sep07 Sep09 Sep11 SepTuesday 01 September 2026120 peakWednesday 02 September 2026127 peakThursday 03 September 2026131 peakFriday 04 September 2026138 peakSaturday 05 September 2026163 peakSunday 06 September 2026165 peakMonday 07 September 2026170 peakTuesday 08 September 2026138 peakWednesday 09 September 2026134 peakThursday 10 September 2026126 peakFriday 11 September 2026143 peakSaturday 12 September 2026173 peak

October 2026

GemCraft - Chasing Shadows was released on 30 Apr, 2015.

Not out yet.There is nothing to draw for this month.
Nothing here is interpolated or estimated; where a sample is missing the line is broken.

Game information

Updated 12 Sep 2026, 19:05 UTC
App ID
296490
Developer
Game in a Bottle
Publisher
Armor Games Studios
Release date
30 Apr, 2015
Platforms
Windows
Genres
Action, Indie, Strategy
Game modes
Single-player
Controller support
Full
Achievements
419

Features & support

Steam features

Steam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudFamily Sharing

Controllers & input

Full controller supportDualShock Controller Support

Accessibility

Popular tags

Tower DefenseStrategyIndieSingleplayerActionTop-DownFantasyTactical2DDifficultClassicGreat SoundtrackMagicPuzzleDark Fantasy
About this gameFull description from Steam
The cult classic tower defense game beloved by millions comes to Steam with GemCraft - Chasing Shadows. Against swarms of vicious, demonic avatars, your only defenses are the gems you conjure that, when placed atop towers or into traps and amplifiers, become conduits for powerful magical and elemental attacks. GemCraft combines fast-paced real-time strategy as you deal with waves of incoming monsters, and cunning tactics that allow you to craft and combine magical gems. Create traps that poison or slow, discover powerful artifacts and unlock new abilities, and stand alone against The Forgotten, a seemingly unkillable archdemon whose endless armies threaten to swallow the world. GemCraft is packed with multiple levels of difficulty, hundreds of achievements, nearly two hundred levels, and much, much more, making it a rewarding, deep strategy game you'll come back to over and over again. Key Features: Conquer over 190 stages with unique challenges and conditions. Over two dozen passive skills to unlock and enhance as you level up and increase your power. More than 400 achievements that will reward you with more skill points as you earn them. Craft and combine nine gem types with different effects to suit your tactical needs. Combine and stack multiple tiers of difficulty and challenging battle traits for greater rewards, but also greater dangers. Socket fragments you find into your mystical talisman to impart new bonuses. Wield devastating spells to decimate your foes or enhance your gems. Control the speed of battle with fast-forward or pause to fit your play style. Want more monsters? Summon them with wave stones, but beware their greater power... Replay any stage you've completed for more experience points or with a new challenge. Hold out as long as you can after you win levels in Endurance mode for more rewards.
Content & age ratings2 regional ratings

Regional ratings

DEJUSl
IGRS3
System requirementsMinimum and recommended hardware

Minimum

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

Recommended

Recommended: OS *: Windows 7/8 Processor: Intel Core i3 or better Memory: 4096 MB RAM Graphics: Radeon HD / Geforce GTX grade graphics card Storage: 100 MB available space
Supported languages1 languages
LanguageFull audio
English

A blank audio cell means full audio was not marked in the returned language list.

Screenshots & trailersScreenshots and trailers

Trailers

AchievementsTotal count and selected achievements

419 achievements in total.

Show selected achievements (may contain spoilers)
First Blood SpilledAchievement
BichromaticAchievement
Novice GradeAchievement
LuckyAchievement
Puncturing ShotsAchievement
ImpatientAchievement
SupportedAchievement
BoomAchievement
Don't Let It Through!Achievement
Stones to AshesAchievement

View all Steam achievements

18 developer announcements, May 2015 to Sep 2026 · times in UTC

September

  1. Legacy Collection Releasing October 21st!

    The wait is over, Wizards!GemCraft Legacy Collection will be launching on October 21st at roughly 2pm GMT. The game will be $9.99 and discounted in a bundle with Chasing Shadows and Frostborn Wrath. Get ready to dive deep to earn all 385…

    tasselfoot

June

  1. GemCraft Legacy Collection

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

    Armor Games Studios
  2. 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 are... or experience their awesomeness…

    tasselfoot

February

  1. 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 for the first time) on Steam! Wishlist…

    steam

January

  1. GemCraft Frostborn Wrath is finally out on Steam!

    {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8624332/e087ff31fe6686accef7fc2b230195c786e0ada4.png 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…

    Game in a Bottle

June

  1. 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 Wrath, is now live! You can put the game…

    Game in a Bottle

August

  1. GemCraft Chasing Shadows v.1.0.6 is up!

    List of changes: - Fixed: outcome panel could show negative mana spent on amplifiers with high level masonry skill - Fixed: Spiritforge controlled towers with their gems stolen by a specter stated that a new gem can be inserted - When the…

    Game in a Bottle
  2. GemCraft Chasing Shadows v.1.0.6 is up!

    List of changes: - Fixed: outcome panel could show negative mana spent on amplifiers with high level masonry skill - Fixed: Spiritforge controlled towers with their gems stolen by a specter stated that a new gem can be inserted - When the…

    Patch notes

June

  1. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.5 is up, with 3 fixes.

    Fixed: - demolishing a tower while its gem was shooting a beam left the beam vfx stuck - waves right after a spark couldn't be unangered - orblets dropped by monsters banished by the Scythe Gate disappeared

    Game in a Bottle
  2. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.5 is up, with 3 fixes.

    Fixed: - demolishing a tower while its gem was shooting a beam left the beam vfx stuck - waves right after a spark couldn't be unangered - orblets dropped by monsters banished by the Scythe Gate disappeared

    Patch notes
  3. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.4 is up!

    A new version of GemCraft Chasing Shadows arrives with a bunch of long awaited changes and fixes: Improvements: - Resonance skill damage boost became +4.5% per level (previously +3%) - Touch of Wisdom spark always appears every 100 waves…

    Game in a Bottle
  4. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.4 is up!

    A new version of GemCraft Chasing Shadows arrives with a bunch of long awaited changes and fixes: Improvements: - Resonance skill damage boost became +4.5% per level (previously +3%) - Touch of Wisdom spark always appears every 100 waves…

    Patch notes

May

  1. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.3 is uploaded!

    A new version of GemCraft Chasing Shadows is out, putting an end to some annoyances and improving gameplay: Improvements: Shadows don't destroy nearby walls on death anymore Traps and Amplifiers skills are uncapped Spires can't move while…

    Game in a Bottle
  2. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.3 is uploaded!

    A new version of GemCraft Chasing Shadows is out, putting an end to some annoyances and improving gameplay: Improvements: Shadows don't destroy nearby walls on death anymore Traps and Amplifiers skills are uncapped Spires can't move while…

    Patch notes
  3. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.2 is up!

    List of changes: Hopefully fixed an error involving towers shooting at wizlocks Fixed field X6 not allowing building anything Fixed skill panel infobox not counting vision and achievement reset skill points to the total value Fixed: having…

    Game in a Bottle
  4. GemCraft Chasing Shadows Steam v.1.0.2 is up!

    List of changes: Hopefully fixed an error involving towers shooting at wizlocks Fixed field X6 not allowing building anything Fixed skill panel infobox not counting vision and achievement reset skill points to the total value Fixed: having…

    Patch notes
  5. GemCraft Steam launch update

    Hey Everyone, Just wanted to give a quick summary of what’s happened since the Steam release, and a bit about the future of GemCraft – Chasing Shadows. The release so far has been a great success, almost all of your reviews have been…

    Game in a Bottle
  6. GemCraft Steam launch update

    Hey Everyone, Just wanted to give a quick summary of what’s happened since the Steam release, and a bit about the future of GemCraft – Chasing Shadows. The release so far has been a great success, almost all of your reviews have been…

    Game in a Bottle

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