As Jack, a captured space marine, you must escape the Anathema Mines. In each map, you must grab your flash-light and detonator and plan your escape. In the majority of the levels, your flash-light is nearby, but sometimes you must work to find it.
In the levels, there are various guards on patrol and various light sources which can help or hinder your progress. Bombs can be used to blow up walls or electronic equipment which unlocks certain doors. Other doors open with the correct colour key-card which you must locate first. A combination of exploration and checking the map is essential to plot your route. There are often secret tunnels to uncover by blowing up walls which can be a shortcut or a place to find items like the collectable cartridges which unlock bonus levels.
The game-play mechanics are simple and easy to learn. You move with the arrow keys, Z activates the flash-light, M brings up the Map, space-bar drops and detonates bombs. You have unlimited bombs, but only one bomb can be dropped at a time.
Although it is a stealth based game, you can go on the offensive and kill the guards. There is an 'achievement' system which gives you 3 targets to aim for in the map. This may be to “kill no guards”, “kill all guards”, “finish in under 1 minute”, “collect all gems”, “complete without dying”, “complete without using flash-light”. These targets can make the game harder and encourage you to adapt your play-style, and so adds replay value if you want to achieve everything.
Bombs can be used as a distraction since all guards in the nearby area will head to the sound's source. Once they arrive at the location, they just turn around and get back to their set patrol route. The basic AI makes it easy to plan your route, or create easy distractions.
The games simplicity makes it fun, and it still offers a fair challenge. If you do think the game is on the easy side, you can make your own maps or try other players creations which can be extremely challenging.