The Sorcery! series of mobile games are possibly the most accomplished in the text-based adventure genre, and this first installment ushers us into a world full of combat, exploration, and, well, sorcery.

As a hero on a quest to recover a powerful magic crown, we move around a beautifully hand-drawn map by dragging our character towards one of two or more paths, such as the safe low road or the unknown high road. When we arrive, we’re provided a description of where we are, who or what else is here, and are given a few choices about what to do. The writing is very descriptive but not too lengthy, and the artwork sets the tone wonderfully.

Impressively, each choice we make has the power to completely change our journey, even to the extent that decisions made in this first game can have an impact on things that happen in the final one.

Combat in The Sorcery! has us simply swipe our character towards the opponent to attack, but the further we swipe, the more aggressive our attack becomes. The opponent does the same, and then the attack unfolds. This creates a fun and incredibly unique combat experience, and by first reading the description of our opponent, we can even usually work out whether it’s best to defend or attack.

Combat takes some getting used to but is much more interesting than simply rolling a die, and it matches the game neatly. The massive spell system is also great, allowing for some interesting flexibility in our options.

Sorcery! is a $5.99 premium game on Android and $4.99 on iOS. As the first in a series, this is an excellent introduction. As a standalone game, however, it is very short, especially compared to the sequels. I still strongly recommend it as it’s one of the best examples of interactive fiction available.