Caverns of the Snow Witch (Standalone)

[h1] Classic old-school battle heavy Gamebook [/h1] This is a based on the classic book by Ian Livingstone. It has new art but you can still switch on the go to the old art which is very different compared to the other books. As a classic Fighting Fantasy adventure, this is your standard "go left, turn to XXX, search the room, turn to YYY". You roll your basic stats and you will fight various monsters during your adventure. This story is actually quite hard, with many difficult (as well as normal) combats and many luck checks which can kill you or leave you luckless. It's also based on a short story and the last part feels added to it but oh well, better than nothing, some parts seem silly but it's not too horrible. There is also a "cheat mode" which can help you bypass any checks/combats/missing item that would usually block your progress so you can make sure to beat the game. The presentation is well done in this app. You do feel the whole Ice/Frost/Cold theme. In case you want, you can always use a retro look to have it more like the classic book. I had a very small annoying bug, just that dice can get off screen and never you never see them rolling anymore, they always fall. Other than that, it's quite a good game. I recommend it to any Fighting Fantasy fan, there are much better offerings elsewhere though. You could also get the Fighting Fantasy Classic version (cheaper), but this version has more achievements in case you are interested in those.

A perfectly digitised version of the classic FF adventure book written by Ian Livingstone. This game features both the new and old art which can be viewed seperately. The Hardcore mode gives a REAL challenge to those veterans of the series and experts of this game. I had a seriously hard time completing the hardcore mode but it was a lot of fun to revisit this classic. The music is really nice though it can be repetitive and the combat system while very simple is just easy to use. The fast dice roller system is great for those of us who wish to fly through the tedious easy combats. Worth it as can be played on tablet or phone while on a flight or bus. Grab it if you are a fan!

Game rating Innovation: Extremely poor Indulgement qualities: Above average Illustration: Below average Creativity and writing qualities: Above average Overall size: Medium

Really enjoyed playing this again having bought the book back when it was released. I'd forgotten how much there was to do after you meet the Snow Witch!

Divertido.

A great port of the Fighting Fantasy book, stuff like dice-rolling and keeping track of your stats and items are all done automatically so you can focus on the story. This one doesn't have a map though. Caverns of the Snow Witch in particular is pretty long, maybe double the length of Forest of Doom, but be warned: this book is very unfair. Many strong monsters in this one, including an unavoidable fight against a SKILL 12 monster. Low SKILL characters have no chance of making it to the end.

So I get these are adaptions of the original gamebooks, and I used to like these as a kid, but the gamebooks had this kind of advantage that if things got overly frustrating you could cheat to get past a sticking point rather than having to go back to the beginning every time. The game says there's an easier and harder option at the start but it does not appear to have actually been coded in (or is so well hidden I can't find it.) This game could desperatately use a boost or skip function if the dice rolls just fail over and over and over. Because the game is so linear, it basically locks you into obligatory skill checks and fights at regular intervals that you frequently don't have any options to approach differently. (For example if you can see you're unlikely to fight head on, there's often no option to turn and run and go a different way, or try a different tact like bribery, stealth, sneak attack etc). It almost seems like if you are even one skill point down from your opponent your fail rate is 80%+. Not sure if I'm just really unlucky with the dice today, or if the RNG is broken. Your only other option is to spam the bookmark function over and over to restart the battles/luck rolls which isn't fun, or if your stamina/skill roll at the very start isn't quite high enough (looking at the guardian where because I was only 2 skill points lower I had to spam the bookmark restart like 30 times to get past it, only to find I didn't have the right item to go further) your best option to probably just to restart the whole game and continue to reroll your starting stats until you get one that will be high enough to pass. So yes, that's the other frustrating thing. If you don't have an item from often much earlier in the game, it's worse than just having to jump back to an earlier point in the game to find it, it's then you have to slog through all those rotten randomised skill checks that can fail you again at any time through no fault of your own, just because it is a randomised roll. For example perhaps you decided to take the stamina boost rather than fight the minions in one of the rooms? By doing that it causes a 100% fail state way later in the book. If you do fight the minions but don't sucessfully pass a skill check and look in the right place, then same thing. There is zero way to proceed or go back to look for it and you get an auto death. Time to spam the bookmark function again. There's also this thing where items you pick up are often useless. I mean I had a ring that could supposedly turn me invisible, and another that was means to summon help. Could I actually use either? No. Other I'm assuming glitches include companions suddenly becoming alive again with no explanation. I mean they died, and then died again when I killed their zombies, so I can't see how they could suddenly be alive and well once you leave the caverns but the story needs them to be alive so it seems they are again. Ability to regain stamina points is also very limited, so if you get into some "unlucky" fights and lose too many stamina points and your provisions run out, you're gone. Anyway. The completely unavoidable death spell thing is BS. It kicks in during what I gather is close to the end of the book when I was already low on stamina and had no way to regain it, so you die before you can reach the healer. This game desperately needs an optional cheat system to get an extra stat boost or skip if you continue dying at a point in the game. Being completely at the mercy of a randomised dice roll, especially when your back up boosts (like the rings) don't work isn't fun. Do yourself a favour and just read the original book if you want to play it and save yourself a heap of frustration.

A tough but fun adventure. Ian Livingstone's eerie fantasy world is evoked with sparse, straightforward prose, and Tin Man Games have brought it to life quite well, with new artwork and some subtle but effective music. As tricky as this gamebook is, a "Free Read" mode lets you explore the story backward and forward, trying out every path without worrying about a game over. And even the "Hardcore Hero" difficulty gives you unlimited "bookmarks" (save points), so it's a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. The Steam achievements give an added dimension to the game, encouraging you to visit every location (and you can get them in Free Read mode—well, except the ones for finishing the game on higher difficulties!). So, if you're a Fighting Fantasy fan, or you want to see what old school gamebook fans grew up on, give it a try. ;)

I think this is amazing. My wonderful mom bought this book for me off a rack in a Rite-Aid when I was a kid. I still have it.

This was my favorite CYOA-style book when I was a kid, so I admit my thumbs up is going to be heavily biased based on the nostalgia alone. From a general gameplay standpoint, it functions as it should. Choices are just a simple click. Combat and inventory management have been streamlined for you. You can even cheat if you feel like it using the bookmark system. Story-wise, it's an exciting fantasy adventure filled with all the puzzles and perils you might expect from the genre. It should go without saying, but if you don't like reading a lot, this probably won't be up your alley. Didn't notice any bugs or other hiccups. Recommending for casual players, fans of text-based adventures, and of course, fans of the original books.