Caverns of the Snow Witch (Standalone)

Classic old-school battle heavy Gamebook

Know, oh player, that before the year when a knight left for Hades and its six gates, and long before the year of the rise of a Tarnished of no renown, there began a dream age, when Fighting Fantasy gamebooks spread across the world like die-and-retry jewels beneath the stars. Now in the digital age, Fighting Fantasy is still very much alive and kicking, 40 years on. May its STAMINA never fail and the luck of the gods go with YOU on the adventures ahead! YOU are the hero!

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!

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.

An atmospheric on-screen production of one of the early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
The game is set in the FF continent of Allansia and you must travel to the treacherous Icefinger Mountains to find and defeat (not just once, but twice!) the evil Snow Witch Shareella, who is planning to unleash a new ice-age on the world.
Ian Livingstone's original book has really been brought back to life (defrosted?) here. The game is exactly as it woz (all those years ago!) and not only are the original b&w artworks here, but new colour reworkings as well. The nostalgic feel of the game is perfect.
There are options for background music and sound effects, as well as a great series of 30 achievements ranging from difficult to amusing. There are also Steam trading cards for this game.
This game is rather more linear than most, with two distinct sections. I believe it was originally two shorter adventures combined into one longer story.
This game is extremely combat heavy, as well as requiring certain correct path choices to find items. The standard Adventurer mode is tough, even with high initial scores, and the hardcore hero mode is brutally difficult (ie near impossible) even with the highest possible starting scores, so there is plenty of (frustrating) replay value in this one.
Tin Man Games have produced five of the original FF games as standalone titles (more about them elsewhere) and this is a very good instalment.

Game rating

Innovation: Extremely poor

Indulgement qualities: Above average

Illustration: Below average

Creativity and writing qualities: Above average

Overall size: Medium

AHH FEEL THE NOSTALGIA!

As a child growing up in the 80's and being a big reader it was a labour of love saving up money to buy every fighting fantasty book as they came out. Caverns of the Snow Witch was in the typical setting of most of the fighting fasntasy books. Tin Man games has done a great job of transferring this book to the computer. If you read fighting fantasy books back in the day then I highly reccommend you pick this up for your self or your children.

Good low replayability interactive e-book-like game where you are the hero.

I like those, they remind me of when I was a teenager and was reading the real deal. To compensate for eye-ruining screens, they have included special effects, especially sound effects.

Buy only if you like books where you are the hero.

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. ;)

Great game.
My first game of this type, but i liked it a lot, it had great story and cept me going till the end.

Loved this as a kid, oh the nostalgia...

...Unfortunately things you remember with fondness from your childhood don't always hold up well into adulthood. In this case it's the randomness of the gamebook that just isn't fun after the 5th or 6th time that you get wiped by any particular beastie where you get bad rolls.

Do you take option a or b? a = progess, b = instant death.

Other publishers are way more liberal with their adaptation of a gamebook...that's probably for the best. Purists will probably like this title, in terms of gameplay I have to give it a thumbs down.

Not as good as the Forest Of Doom, but worth afew bucks as it's a decent adventure. Its a bit more harsher and a lot less forgiving. Bookmark often.

Being a big fan of GameBooks, and knowing that many of them are on Steam, including this one (Caverns of the Snow Witch), I bought it quickly and without regret. Only available in English, it's a transcription of the paper version with superb illustrations, correct music, font choices for the text, full of achievements to unlock and trading cards for badges. Recommended. On the other hand, the waiting time to get all the cards is excessively long. I had to leave the game open for 10 hours (!!!!) to get them.

I love love love the Fighting Fantasy game books from the 80's/90's The "choose your own adventure" books were incredible and seeing them transformed on all types of platforms really makes me happy.

Please make Warlock of firetop mountain and City of Thieves as well!

Choose your adventure type game with dice roll based combat.
Just when you thought the adventure was over it takes another turn.
In my opinion its the best book released thus far
8 / 10

A very nice port of one of the Fighting Fantasy books I grew up with as a kid. It's just like reading the book, but without throwing the dice and your pen & paper. Now the game does that for you!

The biggest feature is the 'bookmark', which is basically a SAVE function midstory. If you die (and yes, you will die now and then) you can just go back to your bookmark and continue from there. Or just use it if you think you've made a huge mistake or just want to know what might have happened if you made a different choice ;-)

Fun for everyone who read the book(s) or is interested in RPG or fantasy, no matter what age.

Very, very good game
I've never played one of this before so i'm new to this kind of game.
Pros:
Good writing,
Good art,
Interesting plot.

Negs:
Too random but i supposed it was made that way.

This is a choose your own adventure with random combat, and by random i mean random.
When you start a game you roll the dice to get stamina, luck and skill points, this is the most important part of the game because this points are used in combat and in random scenes when luck, skill and stamina will decide if you go on or lose the game.
The combat is too random but interestig, it takes the skill points as base and adds the number goten with the dice. After the outcome of a turn you'll have the oportunity to test your luck but every time you test it you'll loose one luck point and you'll won't want that.
I think the game is worth the price, i payed 54 mexican pesos, like 3 dollars on sale.
So it goes if you want a different kind of adventure and you like to read a little this is a great way to spend an evening.

This is a great game and it's really silly when people give it a negative review because they don't understand Fight Fantasy games or book games in general.

So if you aren't interested in the genre, save your money. If you are. Get this. Don't be like the dummy who gave this a negative review

I have not read the original Fighting Fantasy books, but I heard they were fun passtimes, so when this game went on sale I decided to go ahead and get it. I can say a few good and a few bad things.

Good: The game is fun in a very retro way. I didn't know of these books when I was a kid, but I was a big fan of both D&D and Choose Your Own style books, so it's quite nostalgic anyways. The redone art is nice (aside from a few things, like a "white dragon" being illustrated with a brownish/copper dragon, but whatever) and the retro art definitely reminds me of my AD&D days. The stat system is alright, but I really wish they would have introduced a point-buy method for the digital release, as I find myself restarting the game every time I roll a ton of 1's or 2's in my character creation section.

Bad: The game is unforgiving. If you like darksouls, that's fine, and I'm not saying it makes this game unplayable. I am okay with a game that requires a great amount of skill, but this game requires a great amount of luck. For example (this is a real example but the items/names are changed), if I went to fight a large ooze, it would tell me I had to either have a bottle of alchohol in my inventory or I'd be consumed by the acidic beast. Basically, if I didn't turn left at the last of three T-junctions I die. Yes, that is what happened to me while playing a few times. Yes, it is the same solution (I turned right instead of left so I died). The worst part is there are no hints. Just a generic "There is a T-Junction. Turn right or left?" page. Occassionally you'll meet someone who can tell you which way to turn, but that's hardly ever.

In conclusion, if you enjoy trial-and-error, this game is for you. Otherwise, you should move along.

This is a mobile port of one of my favourite Fighting Fantasy books. Sorry Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone wrote the best books in my opinion. This is essentially the book put onto screen with all the foibles that brings. There are page references even through the links take you to the correct paragraph and even shut down choices you can no longer choose.

The combat is done in game, no more having to remember to bring dice to your computer!

It is what it is, a book on computer with nice music and updated visuals. However I'm going to enjoy playing it.

If you want to see what it is like, I have included a short video of me playing the start.

http://youtu.be/9PtPnTEAitk