I never thought ants smells like vanilla.
You can say that the Temple of Apshai Trilogy is a very early version of 'diablosque' type game. You play a lone hero romping the dungeons in search for treasures and killing monsters as you go. Also this is viewed as a 'top-down' perspective. The commands are simple to learn and can accept either joystick, keyboard or a combination of both.
The style of the game is heavily based on the pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons game as some of the terminology are used there (eg stats like Str, Int etc) and you can even create a randomise character or better still design your own hero.
The game itself looks bland as you only can see walls, a floor and the occasional treasure chest. This is where the manual comes into play. Again as mentioned above the game is loosely based on a D&D game hence you need the manual to read the room descriptions and of course requires from you a good imagination. This will definitely assist you during the Curse of Ra levels as the maps have a tendency to change but for a good reason.
It seems that Dunjonquest (division of EPYX - the creators of this game) has made a considerable effort in writing the manual as the history of Apshai is explained well and the room descriptions are quite detailed (you need to read the Upper Reaches of Apshai to understand why the chicken attacks you and why there are vampiric monks). Of course reading the manual entices you to locate the 'hidden' or 'special' rooms.
The game's musical score is quite good for it's time. There are melodies for opening treasure chests, engaging and killing monsters and so forth. Quite a nice touch. Even there are sounds for slashing, shield blocks (that one is a little odd) and searching. Overall a pretty good sets of sounds.
However there are major drawbacks to the game. Considering it's a RPG you will expect magic, buying weird and wonderful items and of course level enhancements. To my surprise and considering this is a remake, there are none! Experience points are meaningless, collecting gold, even though you can buy armour/weapons etc and bargain for it for a cheaper price (it's great to read the inns keeper comments) very soon you collect so much gold that you can donate your findings to the inns keeper as there will be nothing else to buy (save for a few healing salves). This is a total shame. And let's not forget about leveling up. Heck even the original Apshai game at least had level enhancements (up to level eight).
Overall considering it's regarded as an action RPG, it's a real shame about these drawbacks. If you are looking for a bit of a hack-n-slash game based in the eighties I would suggest to try out Gauntlet or Ultima IV than Temple of Apshai otherwise if you like killing ants (and there are plenty of them in the Lower Apshai levels) go for the original version of this game.