Royal Gems

Royal Gems is more shovelware from 8floor, known asset flippers who keep copy + pasting the same mobile games with reskins onto Steam as cash grabs, this isn't really any different. It's a mobile app tier "Match-3", completely bland, generic and uninspired. Put your fingertip on your iPhone and swipe around a bunch of gems, link 3 or more together to remove them and cause more gems to fall down and replace them. Ho hum. Let's remember this is on Steam as a paid product when there's like a thousand or more of these on mobile app stores for free. This is a cash grab.

From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.

The game features simple, cartoony 2D graphics, of the type you normally expect to see in low effort mobile apps. 3D graphics programming does require a degree of skill and competence and unfortunately not all developers have the budget or talent to deliver this, despite 3D graphics cards hitting the mainstream in the 1990's. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.

The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just iPhone screen tapping stuff. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here.

This looks and feels like a mobile app, but it doesn't seem to have made it to the app stores. It's unclear why this was put on Steam instead of the app stores it seems to have been designed for. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all).

Regardless, for all intents and purposes Royal Gems might as well be a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones and play games that might as well be mobile apps.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 8 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.

Royal Gems has the cash grab price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam.

This is a match-3 game where you need to collect the necessary tasks to complete each level. It is really fun to play, however it does get repetitive after some time. I personally would not pay full price for this game, however the price is not too high. I would have loved if this game had some achievements or trading cards, but overall not a bad game.

a good game to play to kill time

This game has it all, except it hasn't. Unnecessarily it becomes mediocre game instead of becoming another bestseller classic. It is perfect quality, except it isn't. Call me to help you with remake of this game and I will help you make a legendary classic hit. I am so confident that I will fork for profit that you will make on top of your regular sales as a result of my advice. The project apparently lacked some sensitive artistic fan of match-3 games (me). The instructions were there, except they confused me and I didn't know what to do at first. The graphics are great, but little improvement would bring it much higher, to a new heights. The bonus icons ditched the serious gem style into infantile garbage. The introduction graphics make it for small children even though most match-3 fans are aged adults. The sounds are great but little bit of improvement could do a difference. The music is quality, but really it is annoying, heavy, chaotic and negative music in the result. Everything is almost great but then not. The authors tried to be inovative to not make you bored, but they did it in a way that screwed the feel and smoothness of the game.
At first I didn't know what to do! I played so many match-3 games that are based on different mechanics that I couldn't understand what is asked from me. The instruction "connect the gems" wasn't clear to me what does it mean. One simple gif image showing the move would do. The mechanics is putting the gems in chain, which wasn't clear to me. Then they invent many different tasks which is a bit unnecessarily chaotic. The well established model is that you make different modes of this game, yet these guys mixed all the modes into one, in apparent effort to make it more interesting, yet it didn't land. Main task for you as player is to create shapes (shapes like in the classic Tetris game) by chaining the gems. Yet somehow again the creators wanted to make it more challenging and screwed it: They must have found out that most difficult is to create Z-shape, so in order to make it less boring, they mostly ask from you to make exactly this shape. Which works exactly the opposite way as having to make Z-shapes all the time becomes boring and annoying.
I can't speak for more than the part I played, there may be some things to improve even in the scaling of the gameplay in later level.
It is really pity, that someone has come so close to the quality of the legendary bestselling match-3 games but did it without proper sensitivity and so screwed every aspect of it in a bit, dragging possible bestseller to mediocricity.
I am serious - if you want to remake it the proper way, don't hesitate to contact me here on Steam - I am not here daily, but I will come and read your message sooner or later. I believe this game can be remade into top bestseller. The word then will spread through time and you will see my word come to reality.

I bought this on offer, so I paid a fraction of the normal price. Also, I understand that the game is no longer being supported.

Having said that, I've spent quite a while on it already. Each stage needs you to have reached a certain level in previous stages which is sometimes very tricky, and I've played some levels several times. I'm not keen on the timed levels and you do have to pass them but I'm rather slow and I just about managed it.

But it's fun. I like being able to draw lines between jewels rather than having to swap them, and there are different challenges in each next stage of the game. It gets a bit samey but it also gets more challenging so it's held my interest so far.

The game is fine, I have 1000+ FPS *swag*, but there are some things I want to see in the future:
1. Achievements
2. More game modes
3. Better graphics
and that's all!

A little bit addicting, noting new just match 3 kind of game. Meh

nice and good, ideal for childrens mind developing, however, the game itself has an inovative ideas, so enjoy it!

royal gems started out brilliantly, for a collection of match-3 levels anyway, then quickly turned into a mobile nightmare, and it's not even available on mobile, as far as I know.

it uses chain matching, so pick a gem, connect everything of the same color, then let go. diagonals aren't allowed and right click doesn't cancel the current selection, which is really annoying, but I love that matching tetris shapes creates power-ups. never seen this before and it was fun at first, but it's really difficult to line things up properly. bombs are created with 2x2 squares, chain bombs with 'Z', lightning with 'I', and an L-shape for chain lightning, but to make one appear, you need to match the same symbol 4 times, then obviously make it part of another chain to trigger it.

there are 160 levels in 8 chapters, only one unlocked at a time and you need every level completed and 35 of 60 stars to access the next chapter. levels are mostly turn-based with a few timed ones, so a relaxed/zen game mode would've been most welcome, even in a properly balanced game, which this isn't.

each level has various tasks, like creating a certain amount of shapes or power-ups, matching gems of a certain color, or reaching the required score. up to 3 stars and 30 purple gems are awarded per level, based on your performance. as long as you complete every task and don't run out of moves or time, it's 3 stars, achieving only some means a smaller reward, and score only matters if it's one of the goals. remaining moves/seconds create extra power-ups at the end of a level for some bonus fireworks and points, but as I said, points don't matter and there's no way to skip said celebration. in fact, when I tried to click through it a few times, it crashed the game and I had to re-do the level, so don't do that.

purple gems are used to upgrade power-ups and other helpers. there are 7 of them, each has 5 levels to unlock for 30, 120, 180, 270 and 420 gems respectively. the clock increases the turn/time limit, lightning and chain lightning increase the number of crystals destroyed, the bomb and chain bomb do the same. upgrading the slot machine lets you activate it with fewer gems and the lucky clover adds a multiplier to completed tasks when it shows up in the slot machine.

the problem is, 160 levels provide 4800 gems, which is way less than what you'd need to max everything out, yet you're encouraged to spend them in batches of 5 on the slot machine to unlock a 5th slot. the machine, once charged by matching enough of every gem, will hand out 4 (or 5) random bonuses (extra turns/time, more points, or the clover mentioned above to boost task completion a bit), but the rewards barely do anything. at some point my clover was level 2 (increases completed tasks by 1.25), got 3 clovers from the slot machine, all went to one task, yet 13/60 stayed at 13/60. surely that's not right.

the 35/60 star requirement doesn't seem too bad at first, 1 star is easy enough, most levels for 2 stars, don't even need any 3-star ones (and we've established you won't have enough gems to upgrade everything anyway), but tasks are beyond ridiculous and go way over the move limit. sure, necessary power-ups often use the shape you have to create a bunch of anyway, plus there are upgraded power-ups and the oh-so-useless slot machine can be charged multiple times, and of course you can luck into chains with multiple shapes and a bunch of required gem colors, but that's a lot of ifs and maybes.

in fact, when I gave up in chapter 5, I edited my save, unlocked all the levels (nothing new after chapter 1, in case you were wondering) and gave myself enough gems to max out every power-up, which is not possible by playing normally, and it still didn't make much difference. I don't consider myself a good match-3 player (or a good player, period) and I can accept a game being challenging because creating the desired tetris shapes is really hard, but there's no way anybody will 3-star every level within a reasonable amount of tries.

graphics are really nice, the music is fantastic, the best I've heard since bejeweled, and there are separate volume settings and windowed mode with a fixed size, though the slot machine doesn't shut up even when effects are turned off. and it doesn't help that sometimes text descriptions don't match the actual tasks, it's not possible to match more while another matching animation is in progress, and it can crash mid-level as well.

I have to say, the soundtrack alone was worth the 39 cents I paid (you should only buy any games by 8floor at 90% off), but as a game it's not recommended at all, and they're definitely not gonna rebalance goals or add a relaxed mode, which would easily make it one of the best match-3 games on the market instead of one of the worst.

This game reminds me of Bejeweled. Graphically it is very pleasing. However the gameplay is different. There is a simple tutorial at the start of the level to teach you about the basics. You collect gems by connecting at least 3 same gems along horizontal or vertical lines, not diagonally. You must do so in a limited number of turns. Each level will begin with simple tasks like collect specific number of certain gems, or make certain number of shapes with your combos. Making certain shapes will grant you power-ups like bombs or lightning to destroy the gems on the board, making it easier to play. What do you do with the gems you have collected? At the end of each level, you get to upgrade features like increase the number of turns you can make in a level, and the ability of the power-ups.

In short, a well made match-3 game, with its own unique gameplay. However, I wish they can add in achievements to get a sense of accomplishment and extra motivation to play the game.

Excellent Gem Game. Better than Bejeweled.
They sparkle, they shine, they got nice colors and sounds.
It is round based and you are rewarded for not using up all turns.

I think this is the most "intelligent" play style of any gem game I ever seen.
Worth the price!

This is a really fun game which reminds me very much of Tetris / Candy Crush. I love these kinds of games where you really need to think and act fast and I loved the challenge. If you want to see the initial gameplay I made a short video which you will find in the community hub. It might help you decide if you'd like to buy it. I feel it was well worth the AU$4.50 I paid as it's currently on special and can see some long sessions coming up :)