Last updated on February 10th, 2026 at 10:01 pm
Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy – Entertainment Game Review
Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy is a Entertainment/Roleplaying/Puzzle game from 505 Games (US), Inc., first launched in 19th November 2014.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 10,222+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy Stand Out
From the creators of Puzzle Quest comes the ultimate evolution of the Puzzle-RPG-Strategy mashup, Gems of War!
Immerse yourself in a world of adventure as you collect heroes from across the realm and battle foes with the power of the puzzle board. Unlock new realms with kingdoms to conquer and hundreds of troops to collect.Join the war and start your journey to becoming a puzzle legend today!
Features:
Match-3 Puzzles – Dive into this fun, easy to play puzzle game where you match gems for crazy combos
Build Your Team of Heroes – Collect over 300 troops and unlock spells to attack your enemies
Play Endless Mini Games – Enjoy different modes of play with a robust catalog of side activities and mini games
Conquer New Realms – Unlock the Krystara & Underworld maps with over 30 Kingdoms and 350 Quests to complete
Complete Weekly Events – Join live events and complete endless puzzle missions
Collect Daily Bonuses – Login daily to collect free bonus rewards
Play With Friends – Battle in asynchronous PvP and rise up the global ranks
Fans Have Spoken – reviews from real players:
“This game is Awesome! Challenging and entertaining. Not just some gem or gummy game. Terrific find!”
“This is like the version of Puzzle Quest I never knew I wanted. Oodles of quests, challenges, guild activities, cool monsters, arena fights, ranked fights, and man I could just play that treasure mini game all day.”
“This is gems and fee to play done right. You don't need to spend money but if you can, you will. It won't make you overpowered, but you will have fun with it. The game play is great and varied. There are tons of different options.”
“Different than other match 3 games, very fun and addicting. Keeps me entertained for hours.”
“This game is FANTASTIC! I was a huge fan of the original game
"Puzzle Quest" and this game is created by the same people. The other "Puzzle Quest" sequels have been disappointments and I haven't enjoyed them. This game however, has the same great game play.”
“It's refreshing to see a game without timers or stamina. I can play this game for hours without needing to wait.”
“This helped cure me of candy crush.”
“Over the years, many games have come and gone on my phone. But this one is always there. Free. No ads. No limited-play "lives" (think Candy Crush). No real downside. Your standard colored-gem matching game with a wonderfully nerdy twist!”
“My wife almost leave me because of this game, and it happened twice. Nuff said."
This Entertainment game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 10th December 2025
Recent improvements include:
The latest update for Gems of War has arrived!
Discover a variety of improvements to the game's Underspire mode, including:
- New Trap Rooms
- Additional Reward Rooms
- Menu and UI Enhancements
And much more!
For a full breakdown, visit our forums at community.gemsofwar.com
Download & Availability
Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Gems of War: Match 3 Strategy on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We were looking for a match 3 game night to relax, and saw Gems of War mentioned in a forum. What a great find. It provides a different take on the standard match formula and makes itself accessible and fun for even f2p players with hours upon hours of engaging gameplay.
The game resolution cant be adjusted and is not compatible with the iOS screen resolution, the game not running in full screen.
Simple casual game just what we look for in a mobile game no ads just chill.
Great game takes a little to power up allies.
We really do like the game. Smooth mechanics, solid gameplay and fun concept. However the game is very obnoxious constantly begging for purchases. We wish we could just drop a few bucks on the game and then not have to hear about the pay to win options the whole time.
Very enjoyable game. It has typical gotcha mechanics but you don't need to spend hundreds a week to have fun. There is a million things to do and its pretty grindy to unlock them. If you're looking for a toilet game this is not it. Art is a little tooney, but still kinda cool. There are over one thousand characters so if youre looking to line up gems, blast 'em, grind levels and collect stuff this game is right for you. Kind of sad we were so late to the party on this old dog.
Game does not hold your hand. Player base dropping. However, if you want an RPG match 3 game l, this is it. Lots to do and good graphics. Maybe too much and progression is slow unless you pay. But as a free player it has enough to keep you frustratingly motivated.
Would rate a 5 but the game says we have no linked accounts even though we had linked our account on our previous iPhone we had zhuul goth and all kinds of other things just to lose it all when we got a new phone. Very disappointing.
This game is fun until you try PVP and have a win locked down just for the board to freeze and force you to retreat. We do not recommend this game to anyone. FIX THE GEM LOCK!!!! We quit. Two matches in a row? STOP ADDING FEATURES AND ADDRESS YOUR GAMES ISSUE! We pay for the PVP season pass and this issue has ruined the game for us. You have lost a paying player.
Played the first three tutorial levels just fine, but now im stuck on the create your hero page, where we pick a character, but then it will glitch out instead of going to the game map and bring us back to the Create Your Hero page. We downloaded the app on our iPad and it has the latest iOS installed, so Im going to keep trying but we may just wait to get a Nintendo switch to play the game.
A match 3 game with combat elements. Really fun and slightly addictive. But in a good way.
Putting your team first is the quickest path to success.
Im a returning Gems of War veteran starting over from scratch and the game remains slick, enjoyable, and extremely free to play friendly. Almost zero ad clutter and enough content to occupy you for years. Devs made some changes over time that have not been well received and the updates can be clunky, but dont throw out the baby with the bath waterthis remains the best match three game out there bar none.
Gems of War is a game that takes you back to Nintendo final fantasy with some awesome gameplay and graphics. Great for midcore gamers that enjoy a comic book like read and not too immersive of gameplay. We for one love it so far.
We play on ps4 and phone im addicted to this game.
Wish they had a translation mode in chat or at least a copy option so you could talk to everybody. Other than that very fun and entertaining game.
Ai teams can one shot you whole team in two moves. Even if youre a higher level than them. Constantly get perfect four matches back to back. Game feels rigged to get you to spend money.
We have been playing for about 3 months and we spend the MOST time playing it than any other games from App Store. It may not be perfect and extremely delicate, but it is rich in game playing and free to play.
We have been playing the game for a while now. Its a fun game, very easy to F2P and still progress but plenty of option for spending money if you want to fast track. The in app purchases seem pretty fair and over legitimate bonuses if you choose to buy. The game has changed a lot since we started playing, for both better and worse. Minor UI changes would be nice, nothing major worth complaining about as it doesnt detracted from game play. Our biggest complaint would be when you ascend all troops, we would really like to know what troops we ascended and what their rarity is now. Just a simple pop up like when you open a chest to show all the characters that got upgraded.
One of the best battle match 3 games on any platform. Ive played this game for years and no matter how many other match 3s we test out, we always come back to GoW. Our mobile account and PC account are linked which makes for a seamless transition when Im out and about. They constantly add new troops and have a good mix of weekly and daily events. The only negative thing we could say about the game is how bad the PVP matchmaking is, but honestly almost every game is bad at that. All in all this is a great game and we would highly recommend it to anyone.
We love this game so much, started playing this game again after going a long time without it and we like it as much as we did before, but please give it some type of portrait mode option or version idek if it's possible but if it is please do it we bed.
Im late to the party on this one. We played magic the gathering gem match, and some kingdom building games with alliances etc. And of course candy crush and other matching games. This combines them all perfectly. Easy to learn, and filled with tons of side missions and games that can keep you busy as you get better, as well as if you want to play solo or as a guild member. Havent paid a dime and have gotten great cards. Has different games to get you better, and or force you to try new set ups, pretty balanced, and really fun.
It is fun to play, but it can get expensive very quickly.
We have been playing this game since its infancy and can honestly say it is a free to play game. The devs do an excellent job of giving free rewards while mixing in pay to play options. There will always be people out there complaining about pay options, but without them, this game or any game for that matter would not exist. The devs also do a great job of coming up with new and creative game modes. We admit, it can be confusing in the beginning, but there is going to be some sort of learning curve with any game you start. Of course there are glitches when new patches are uploaded but again, the devs do a great job of fixing these and compensating players for missed rewards. If you are a new player, know that they have made the grind much easier than it was when we started playing. Guilds and the community as a whole is very accepting and helpful. All in all, we really enjoy this game and would give it six stars if that were an option.
Simplest answer it is fun and flushed out. Play it, craft, and collect with strategy.
Love everything about this game. Good story lines. Great art work. Lots of levels and challenges. Always changing up scenarios and completely addicting.
Game is nice to play love the colors of it and the sound. All and all this is a very fun game to play.
Gems of war is a superior option in iPhone match games. It allows you to play and progress without time constraints or money constraints. Its an enjoyable game for its strategy gameplay, and its enjoyable for the progression. You unlock areas, and then you can upgrade them in several ways; you increase your income per day by beating areas, you unlock mini-games, which are enjoyable, and which profit your progression, you get permanent bonuses from unlocked armor, and you upgrade and collect characters. We prefer this over automatic battle games like idle heroes, because of the interactive strategy match 3 has.
We really enjoy this game but this last week they made the PvP experience almost unplayable. The. Est team we can come up with is about 8000 power and the lowest team we can fight has a power of around 18000-20000. Its close to impossible to do anything. Ive hit a wall and nothing we can do.
This game is very, very, very fun but it gets bored after like a year so what we want you to do update the game weekly please. It'll make it much better all right mates. This is good.
Look, we absolutely love this game. We have it under 3 different accounts on 3 different consoles. But, please can someone fix joining a guild that was created on Apple Store Version??? We are in the guild our family created on two of the different accounts. Those are working. For some reason on the Apple Store version, it says there is no guild by that name.
The rpg elements, levels and customization adds to the tactical gameplay makes this game a true gem among the rest of the over crowded bunch of puzzle games in Apple Store we highly recomend it for all games out there who are looking for a challenge lots of fun.
This game is a staple app. Perfect for 5 minute game or more.
This is the best game. We have it on another account that we have but Ive been playing it for two years coming up on three years and every time when theres a new update, we keep learning more things about the game itself and we enjoy it and it is a lot of fun.
We used to play this game 5 years ago and it somehow we fell out of the wagon! Now that Im back the game has improved in so many ways! It hasnt lost its charm.
This game has a bunch of challenges and is super cool we love all the details and they how you can play on phone we just think this is a fun game for people who like anything matching mixed with fighting.
Love it, play it every day, however recently the settings button has disappeared from the interface, can't mute sounds.
Yet another super fun game that is ruined by pay to play and In-App Purchases. Id love to buy the game like a grown-up rather than being choked by micro-transactions and ads. Unfortunately Im deleting it until that point.
This is our first review on the Apple Store so here goes, Im going to keep this short and simple we love the game Ive been playing on and off for about 3 or 4 years and always have a reason to come back to it great pvp and pve and theres daily dungeons and dungeon delves also theres always events happening so like we said always a reason to come back to the game, back to the main topic only issue we have with this game on iOS there is only horizontal screen meaning we have to use two hands to play we hope the devs can find a way to implement a vertical screen feature for better accessibility.
If you dont spend money theyll mess with you.
It use to be good but with the addition to world quests which lock new players out of the two useful aspects which are the soulforge(useful early weaponsas well as endgame) and treasure hunt(allows to have a decent way to level up troops and keys) since the game get extremely difficult which causes gameplay to get stale fast.
In our opinion, which may not be much, this is the best game on any platform ever. Its so much fun. It combines gem matching with an adventure and army building game so perfectly, it will never be surpassed. Please dont change the game too much from what it is now. Youve created something great. The developers that made this game should be given whatever award there is out there for awesome achievement. Great job.
This latest update has been refreshing and so much more user friendly.
We dont mind UI changes, new game modes as long as we can play the game at all. But the last update basically killed the ability to change Delve troops. If we look through the collections tab the delve troops are shown, but when we actually begin the delve attempt and can pick from the available troops, the troops specific to that delve are not fixable. Not to mention that there are several troops whose pictures are still not visible on mobile devices. When these are fixed we will change our rating. Everytime the game is updated something gets messed up. You might want to slow down with getting the updates out until they can be patched without a new glitch please.
Awesome free game. Tons of fun.
We started playing it on the switch a long time ago. We seem to always come back and get addicted again. There is a lot to learn and the deeper the go, the more you appreciate it. The only negative thing is that you hit a wall fairly early on where you almost need to pay money to keep going. They should give more free rewards to keep you into it.
We quit this game because real life did not allow enough time to complete guild obligations. However, one complaint is that there needs to be some variety in guild events. They are too similar. Also, please revamp treasure hunt. All in all, super fun and there is tons of stuff to do. Many old-school D&D references.
Give back our old style cards, cant see if card is fully traited, plus mana colors not easy to see, plus bronze medal troops does not show, plus to many things going on a card that has been hit by another troop almost impossible to see how much armorand health left. Its totally a crappy design.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 9.0.0
- Size: 947.14 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, IT, RU, ZH, ES
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: 505 Games (US), Inc.
Last updated: 10th December 2025 | Genre: Entertainment, Roleplaying | Developer: 505 Games (US), Inc.