The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (video game)
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a 1984 action video game for the ZX Spectrum created by Crystal Computing and published by Puffin Books. It was released as a regular cassette and as a software pack that included the Fighting Fantasy book.
The game is loosely based on the Fighting Fantasy gamebook by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone (Puffin, 1982). In the game, you play an adventurer who must find the warlock’s treasure hidden deep in Firetop Mountain. The treasure is in a chest with fifteen locks, and keys are guarded by monsters such as orcs, slime moulds, and spiders. You’re armed with a bow and a sword, and you can open and close doors to slow down pursuing monsters. Each playthrough features a randomly generated maze.
Development notes: The game was announced in Micro Adventurer magazine issue 2 as Puffin expanded into software with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Crystal Computing had previously made Halls of the Things, and designers Neil Mottershead and Simon Brattel worked on this title after meeting Steve Jackson, who supported the project. Hidden text in the game’s code says they had only about three weeks to finish. The cover art was by Peter Andrew Jones.
Puffin briefly continued adapting Fighting Fantasy titles to video games, with The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom on ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
Reception: ZX Computing called it a variation of Halls of the Things but praised including the book to encourage reading. Micro Adventurer felt it was so similar to Halls of the Things that buying both was pointless. CRASH criticized the control scheme (many keys, including using N and M to move up and down) but said the graphics were good and the game was less difficult. Computer and Video Games felt it bore little resemblance to the original Fighting Fantasy book.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:28 (CET).