元素召唤 Summon Elemental

An interesting and confusing game, with a very tentative thumbs up. I only recommend this game to people willing to deal with bad translations and poorly explained game mechanics! The core conceit is that you buy elemental gems that can put into stones on the map. The gems have specific abilities based on their element, but more importantly they can be combined into more powerful gems. There is an atlas you can check for what combinations are needed, and if you have a part of a recipe it is lit up to help you see what you can make. In addition, if you have the components on the map needed to build up to something better, the components show you this on the map. There is only one map, with no pathing, but as the game progresses the end moves further and further out, which is an interesting mechanic. There is a store, and items you can pick up if the monsters drop them. These items can be placed into a towers inventory. Every time you level up, you get a magic book, but you have to be careful, because not all the text shows, and some of them turn out to be bad! Not sure they are supposed to be, but I got one that reduced the foes magical defense by 10%, but it also raised their physical defense 20%! Ack. Not everything is explained, and not everything is translated. I changed the language to English but it seemed to make no difference, most of it was in English already so it's ok. That said, it adds up to what seems an interesting game, and I am going to play it some more. It is certainly not for everyone. I hope that it might still be getting attention, but I have no clue of that is true. Given the caliber of low-cost TD games I find on Steam these days however, it is a cut above, and I am enjoying it. One thumb up. AMENDMENT: Nineteen hours in, and I am quite addicted, two thumbs up. The learning curse is awesome, as you pick up thru experience how to build the better towers, which ones, and why. Not perfect, but great fun. ADDENDUM: Closing in on 90 hours, and I still love this game! ADDENDUM: 122 hours, start to finish for me. I got all but the secret achievement, and have run out of ideas on how to get it. It was a lot of fun, for all it's flaws though.

Very good and interesting game, but it needs few tweaks since the gameplay is more in line for what you'd get on mobile. Things to be fixed to be a solid 9/10 - Quicker scroll to zoom. - Must have better layout for 16:9 and 21:9 (ultrawide), actually, it is much better vertically (9:16). - Some Chinese still display while selecting English as a language.

Highly enjoyable (once I worked out how to upgrade towers) Tower defense title - just that little bit different. You start out with base towers that are drawn after each round and try to cobble together more powerful towers - the "recipes" are show under Atlas. To upgrade the towers must be on the playing field (not in reserve) and when the towers then highlight, you click on one of the lit up towers and then double click on the displayed upgrade tower. All the component towers will the disappear and you will find the new upgraded tower in your list of "available" towers. Missing a few english translations, but does not seem to hold you back. Developer very responsive. A very good value for money title.