A Gnome's Home: The Great Crystal Crusade Demo

Everyone is familiar with dwarven mythology, thanks to video games and the great Tolkien. Hence, it is well known that they live underground, where they construct impressive kingdoms made out of stone and steel. They are not great magic users, but they tinker with powerful runes and stones that grant them power when an axe is not enough to solve their problems.

A Gnome's Home: The Great Crystal Crusade is a time management game that challenges you to take on the task of restoring a dwarven citadel, using fast reflexes, good coordination and the ingenuity of the bearded warriors. Even if it looks a bit more complicated at first, the game is no different from any other time management flick, although it is definitely more polished and refined.

Story-wise, it all starts when an evil witch steals a powerful crystal from a dwarven fortress, which causes the entire city to collapse. Because the said crystal is mandatory for the kingdom to rise once again, your task is to track down the witch and recover the artifact, while overcoming a plethora of obstacles along the way. Most of the story is presented using static images, but the artwork is great nonetheless.

The game mixes in some strategy elements as well, just to make the experience more enjoyable and challenging. As such, you have to constantly gather resources in order to do any work, which includes repairing bridges, fixing roads and restoring buildings. Whether it’s food, lumber or stone, every resource is important in the overall restoration process. Manpower is vital as well, which means that you can train additional dwarves to take care of business.

Although there are many things you must keep an eye on, fast reflexes are all you need to be successful and overcome the obstacles. The interface is designed to be as simple as possible, so you only have to use the mouse to interact with objects and with your dwarves. The visual quality is more than decent, thanks to the flashy artwork and the smooth animations.

Even if A Gnome's Home: The Great Crystal Crusade can get pretty repetitive after a certain point, the game holds its own, and you can have a lot of fun with it. Moreover, it gets more challenging as you manage to pass the missions, which makes it a pleasure to keep going back.