A Fantasy That's Anything But Final: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)

Even though I'm not totally familiar with the history of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, I know that it's an important work in the extended world of TTRPGs. I also know that it would be very influential in the world of gaming. As chance would have it, a new video game version arrived a few years ago that allowed me to finally make myself familiar with it. Following a successful Kickstarter in 2015, a new digital version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain would arrive on Steam and the Nintendo Switch in 2016 and 2018 respectively. While being a bit late to the party, we're going to be looking at that Nintendo Switch version today. There's a lot to cover in this one, so let's dive right in!

As I stated earlier, my knowledge regarding the origins of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is very limited. Basically the only thing I know is that it was the start of the Fighting Fantasy series. Fighting Fantasy were a series of books that read similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure series, though they also used TTRPG elements like dice and stats. I don't really know much more than the name, and even that is mainly due to the fact that it was the reason Square had to change the name of their famous RPG series to Final Fantasy, after beginning development under the name Fighting Fantasy. For those interested in learning more about the Fighting Fantasy series, and The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in particular, the game actually has a neat history section that goes very in-depth regarding its creation. There's even a timeline of sorts that touches on the other books within the series. I won't go into to it too much here beyond the fact that there have been other adaptations of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in the past. These other games sought to make the book into a more standard RPG, with limited results. This newer digital version goes for a completely different route. Rather than attempt to mold the story to fit another medium, this is essentially a one-to-one digital version of that original book. Maps and miniatures are used to give the game a visual style similar to Dungeons & Dragons, combat and exploration resemble a board game of sorts, and the text is practically word-for-word from the book. There are plenty of surprises to be had that will surprise already existing fans, but this is close to a pure game adaptation as one can hope to get. With that bit out of the way, let's move on to discussing the actual game.

Even though there is most definitely a plot to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, it's not one that's easy to describe here. The plot revolves around several heroes who venture forth to the titular Firetop Mountain for reasons all their own. Some are looking for treasure, some seek to take out the Warlock Zagor who calls the mountain his home, and some have reasons that aren't made clear early on. Not every character wants to defeat evil and clear the mountain of its Big Bads, and some stories end earlier than others. You get four heroes to choose from at the beginning of the game, but you can unlock more through the use of "souls" collected from defeated enemies. There are plenty of NPCs, as well as both good and bad characters to interact with. Each of those interactions will change depending on the character you're currently playing as, and this sort of gives you multiple variants of the same main game. You can eventually unlock eight main campaigns, with some added bonus scenarios if you're really thorough in your unlocking endeavors. Seeing as this game is based off a book that let readers chart their own course, it makes sense that the narrative itself is rather loose. You can play it safe and stay away from dangerous encounters, and thereby avoid several potential plot-heavy scenes, or you can charge forth into every battle and attempt to experience the story to its fullest. The choices are yours, and I must say that appreciate this unique approach to storytelling. I probably would've preferred more interaction with the town at the base of Firetop Mountain, and most especially a player-controlled save system, but I can understand why the game plays out how it does. Unconventional or not, the story is stronger than you would think given its rather basic components.

It's time to discuss gameplay, and I'm not even sure where I'm supposed to begin. For starters, the game is mainly split into two parts: exploration and combat. Both require movement, and that takes place using 3D miniatures. You only directly control your character during combat, but their miniatures are still used for all in-game actions. You begin your journey moving into the caves beneath Firetop Mountain, and you make several choices depending on your current location. These choices often involve which direction you want to go in, but others require you to choose how you're actually going to interact with your environment. As I said earlier, you can play aggressively or cautiously, and shift between those two modes of play whenever you want. Sometimes you'll encounter an occupied room and choose to sneak through it, other times you'll want to go in swords out and ready to fight. Other times still you'll be tasked to complete dice checks to see if you succeed in a given task, and these checks go use your skill or luck stats. Unlike many other TTRPG systems, your goal is usually to roll under a specific number, rather than over it as you'd do in modern game systems like Dungeons & Dragons. This is something of a throwback back to the old days of TTRPGs when even D&D had checks that operated like this. I found it to be a welcome, if sometimes confusing, quirk of gameplay. Whatever goal you're aiming for depends on the character chosen, and it's worth mentioning that you're not able to go back to previous intersections unless your current path is blocked in some way. Saving occurs automatically, and you're able to respawn a finite number of times at bench checkpoints if you die. If you do reach a game over, not all is lost. The dungeon layout never changes, so you can actually use what you learned about its layout on subsequent playthroughs.

There's a lot more to exploration I could discuss, but it honestly is something best left to experience on one's own. While I did find it irksome when I made an incorrect choice and was forced to live with it, I did like that this essentially put a lot of weight behind each decision you make. It's very easy to box yourself into a corner if you're not careful, but there's also a refreshing feeling attached to knowing that you have no one to blame but yourself for your current predicament. It's almost like playing an old Sierra adventure game and going for all the death sequences, but in a more controlled environment. Also, you still technically have the ability to get out of just about any dire straits you might find yourself in if you're skilled or lucky enough. This adds a layer of anxiousness to the gameplay that you don't often see in console RPGs today. This of course makes the game a tough and challenging experience, but isn't that what we're all here for anyway? Now if it were all exploration, and combat was just a dice check away like in the original book, we'd be all sunshine and rainbows. Unfortunately combat plays out in a far more complicated way than that, and it's about time that we discussed it at length.

If there is one aspect of the gameplay that turned me off of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain as a whole, it would have to be its combat system. No matter where combat takes place, you're moved to a small square grid to see it through. Sometimes obstructions are included in the combat area, like tables or barrels, but you often get an open area to move around and fight in. All actions are taken simultaneously, and you'll have to learn to anticipate enemy movement. Both you and the enemy can attack in different directions, and with different ranges, so it's best to be aware of all your available options before taking your turn. If you and an enemy both move into the same space, you'll bump into each other, and if you both attack at the same time, a dice check is made. The latter will occur a lot in the course of combat, and you once again have a target number to roll under. The problem with the combat is that the most common actions you'll be doing are moving around in circles, and attacking empty spaces. Most battles in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain devolve into the same loop: You and the enemy attack empty spaces and dodge around each for about ten turns, with you taking a stray hit or two if enemies surround you, and then you just commit to finishing the battle by any means necessary and fight a war of attrition. I'm not sure if the AI ever lets up, but I swear I've "tired" it out several times by just taking up twenty or so turns doing nothing. This nets me a win, but it just makes everything feel unfair. This also isn't a game where you level up your stats in a standard RPG way. Barring finding some in-game upgrades, you'll mostly find yourself facing off against stronger enemies with the same broken move set you had at the beginning of your journey. Healing is also not all that common, and is mainly done at those bench checkpoints I mentioned earlier. The sad thing about combat is that it's very simple and intuitive, but it's too annoying to actually be any fun. It's the one thing the game expands upon over the book, and it's also the one aspect of the game that ultimately made me want to put the game down forever.

Similar to combat, I have mixed thoughts when it comes to the game's visual style. I must admit that the miniature-heavy graphics are cool in theory, but I found many of them to be ugly in execution. I know that many of these designs came from the original book, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they're not very good. They have that barebones fantasy sketch vibe to them that some old school fans might appreciate, but I think they look rather bland. Speaking of bland, the locations also don't change all that much over the course of the game. I guess this can be expected considering the setting, but it left everything looking a little same-y. Coupled with the meh character designs, and you have a game that doesn't really have much visual flair. All that aside, I have to say that The Warlock of Firetop Mountain runs rather horribly on the Nintendo Switch. I'm convinced that it's near unplayable in Handheld Mode, as it struggles to do most things without slowing down to a crawl. Things aren't that much better in Docked Mode though, as the game still has the longest load times I've ever seen on the console. It takes several minutes just to start the game, and about a minute or two to move between areas. The latter loading is done on a single frozen screen, and I swore that the game had crashed the first time it happened. It makes for a very uneven experience, and made me wonder why the developers bothered porting the game to the Switch at all. I can only assume it was due to some Kickstarter nonsense, as there doesn't seem to be any other console version out there. I don't know if the game runs better, or loads faster, on Steam, but I have to assume it does. I guess my dislike for the visual style might be a personal gripe, but the performance issues really make playing it on the Switch a rough go.

Things fare a bit better when it comes to music, as the soundtrack does give off the right level of dread and excitement one expects to find in a game like this. I wouldn't say that any of the tracks particularly stood out from the bunch, but it was a great collection of music overall. There's also plenty of said music here too, with each piece perfectly fitting the scene it’s used in. I personally would've gone for something more rock-orientated, but I still appreciate what is here nonetheless. Sound effects are great too, but there's another aspect of the sound design that I think should be pointed out. During my time with the game I found myself wishing there was some sort of voice acting, as there is a lot of reading here. I can't stress it enough that you'll be spending most of your time reading, and it would've taken a bit of the edge off if parts of that were narrated to you. This might sound like a bit much when you consider the overall scope of the game, but I know that audio book versions of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain exist, so I'm not sure if it would be asking too much to see some of that put into this package. Even if we didn't get a fully-voiced narration, some voiced bits would've added so much to the overall presentation. Seeing as the world is made up of miniatures, and much of the game is reading pages and pages of text, hearing a bit of voice acting would've really given the world some life. We'd of course run into the potential problem of having BAD voice acting, but that's a gamble I'm willing to take.

Discussing replayability in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a bit tough, as there really are two ways to look at it. The dungeon itself is never-changing, as are the core options available, but there each run is likely to be very different. Each character's "story" can end at different points, they all have different goals, and their skills might change outcomes for each playthrough. Add to this all the unlockables and bonus features and modes, and you get a game that feels like a great improvement over the original book version. Decent amount of content or not, I can't help but feel that its current asking price of $29.99 feels a bit high. I know I just praised it over the written version, but you can grab said book right now on Amazon for half the price. A lower price point would've really helped this one out, especially when you factor in that it was a game created through a Kickstarter, and the goodwill of longtime fans. It's definitely not a deal-breaker by any means, but it makes it hard to recommend to anyone not already in love with the concept or material. Maybe some more random elements, or continued updates, might've swayed my opinion, but we don't have those here.

At the end of the day, I guess I'd still give The Warlock of Firetop Mountain a recommendation. It's not for everyone, but it is neat enough to warrant checking out. If you're a fan of the original Fighting Fantasy books, you've probably already picked this up, but it's a must-buy for anyone in love with TTRPGs in general. I do think that potential players are better off checking it out on Steam, but I guess the Switch version is still playable if you have more patience than I do. That said, maybe wait until it's on sale before buying it, just to avoid the sting of that high price tag. Anyway, get out there and get adventuring! I'll see you in the next one!

Check Out The Warlock of Firetop Mountain on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-warlock-of-firetop-mountain-goblin-scourge-edition-switch/

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Story: A
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: B
Value: B-

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A faithful adaptation of the original Fighting Fantasy book.
+ Offers a unique mix of Choose Your Own Adventure style gameplay, and old school TTRPG combat.
+ The many playable characters, each with their own goals and stories, make the game highly replayable.
+ The visual style is rather impressive with its use of miniatures and detailed dungeon areas.
+ There's a charm and humor to the writing that's hard to explain here. It truly capture a specific old school fantasy vibe.
+ Feels like the definitive way to play this classic game.

Cons:
- The actual dungeon layout, and its many obstacles and events, never change. You'll pretty much always be playing the same core adventure.
- Combat is very near broken. Attacking empty air, chasing an enemy in circles, and being overrun by increasingly more powerful enemies, is not my idea of fun.
- Death comes quick, and coupled with the possible short length of some characters' campaigns, you can find yourself done with the game not long after it starts.
- Considering the amount of reading you have to do, the lack of voice acting is quite noticeable.
- Feels a bit overpriced at $29.99.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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I'm really not exaggerating about the loading times...

#WarlockSteam