FF05: City of Thieves

Written by Ian Livingstone - Illustrated by Iain McCaig

In City of Thieves, your quest is to free the town of Silverton from the evil skeletal demon Zanbar Bone and do this you’ll need to find the wizard Nicodemus in a place called Port Blacksand, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Now only Nicodemus knows how to take down Zanbar but finding out where the wizard lives is not even half the battle

This is an incredible adventure, one of the best and most chaotic that fighting fantasy has to offer. What makes it so unique is that It takes a traditional dungeon delve experience, classic tombs or crypts, tunnels and castles, and discards it all for an exercise of trust. 

Literally, everyone you meet in Port Blacksand is a douchebag, everyone you come across will lie to you, betray you, steal from you, try to murder you. There is no loyalty in the City of Thieves. Now you know it's bad when the pirates are probably the nicest people you'll meet here. 

Most of the encounters you'll be faced with will either result in your death or you losing a few gold pieces. There tends to be a lot of situations where you rarely come out on top, but that's all part of the fun!

It's such an open-ended gamebook too. Much like in Ian's last book "The Forest of Doom" you'll be free to explore the streets in whatever order you like meaning that every playthrough is a truly unique adventure. 

Livingstone's writing does a fantastic job of setting up this crime-ridden place and your experience playing through, really does reflect that. The illustrations by Ian Mccraig are outstanding too, some of the most iconic images from the series. Much nicer than Starship Traveller's pitiful images thats for sure!

City of Thieves truly is a masterpiece of gamebook adventure and a must-play for any fans of interactive fiction. If you liked Firetop Mountain and Forest of Doom, you'll love this one.

Reviewed by Harrison Marchant