Tin Man Games, possibly the most prolific purveyor of interactive fiction on mobile, has just released their most ambitious title yet. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain ($7.99) is an adaptation of the famous gamebook by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone (legends of gamebooks and interactive fiction) that comes to life as a 3D representation of a tabletop game. As such, while there’s still a bunch of reading of events and lore to pick up on, the game winds up being an interesting affair as it’s also very much a strategy game, as you have to engage in grid-based combat, using your movement and abilities skillfully to dodge attacks, hit moving enemies, and to engage in clashes that you are likely to win.

Warlock of Firetop Mountain doesn’t abandon its gamebook roots, as the story is very much told in text and images from the original gamebook; characters are represented as figures that move around a la Hitman Go ($4.99) but the world is dynamic and features various effects as you traverse it. It’s a fascinating mixture of elements, and I’m interested to see how mobile players take to this one. If you’re playing this, join the forum thread to chat about it!