Lock’s Quest is a top-down strategy game played in two phases. In the Build phase, you use Lock’s archineering skills to build defensive structures such as walls, turrets and traps by dragging the elements from the bottom of the lower screen with the stylus and placing them on the available grid on the ground. You have a prescribed amount of time and a limited amount of Source to use to built your fortifications. Your objectives usually involve protecting Source wells or other characters from the invading Clockwork hoard. In the Battle phase, the Clockwork army attacks your structures in an effort to capture or destroy the items you are tasked to protect. As the Clockworks are dispatched, their remains give up the Source that powered them, giving you the chance to harvest the energy for your own purposes.

An opening cut scene leads to a tutorial section in which you are introduced to the game’s controls and how to use them. Gameplay is divided into days, each of which contains one Build phase and one Battle phase. Source obtained after each Battle phase is used to rebuild your defenses to prepare for the next confrontation with the Clockworks. After your home village is finally secured, you venture out into the world, where you meet a series of colorful characters and take on progressively more difficult assignments in your search for Emi. Each of these new sections is introduced by a cut scene, which fills in a bit more of the story.

Lock’s Quest also includes a multiplayer mode that requires each player to have a copy of the game. The host of the match sets the game’s parameters (number of days, time limits for each phase, number of Clockworks for each side, etc.). In the Build phase, players construct their defenses, configure their Clockwork squads and issue movement orders to their troops. When the Battle phase begins, players use their skills to defend their territories until the timer expires. A bar across the top of the screen shows which player is leading the match, which ends if one of the Source wells is captured or one of the Locks is killed.

In a catalog dominated by casual games that can be enjoyed in short segments, games such as Lock’s Quest offer players meatier stories that they can stretch out into many sessions. But is it the kind of game that can consistently bring you back for extra helpings? On to the numbers…