One day, Alibaba discovers a thieves' treasure stash hidden in a cave and brings it home. He leads a Gatsby life until the thieves come back to reclaim their loot. Disgruntled, he decides to track the gang and give the treasure to the poor. With the help of his wife, he has to find the forty thieves hidden in ten mazes. Looking for the criminals, four per map, is not much of an issue; the challenge is clearing the path to reach them.

Alibaba and Forty Thieves is a puzzle game where you have to alter environments filled with obstacles. This includes natural barriers such as houses, trees and water, but also bombs and fire-breating dragons. Shown through a top-down perspective, you can move Alibaba in four directions and freely browse the whole map to plan your route. To progress, you have to use items, given at the start of the game or collected while playing. There are mirrors to reflect fire, a wand to rotate dragons or mirrors, a bomb to clear obstacles, torches to detonate bombs or melt ice, and water to pass through fire for an instant. You need to plan ahead, but there is an unlimited amount of tries and two difficulty levels. In between levels, your wife gives hints and you can overhear the thieves planning their next maze.

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