An old-school RPG that challenges you thoroughly.
Gameplay -- Here's the biggest serving of your meal. This is what this game is all about, and you don't even have to have reflexes to make it work. This game is all decision based. You have 6 characters that you create in it's own very D&D-inspired character creation system. Then you take them into the dungeon beneath the city, where you go on a first-person view, step-by-step exploration of a labyrinth that you have no map for, nor will you ever (unless you use a hint guide, or make your own like the instructions suggest). This game has 6 floors of 20x20 mazes....and all of the floors are connected by teleporters, stairs, chutes, and more. Traps lay everywhere after the first floor, and the monsters get exponentionally harder depending on how deep you venture. Treasure chests can be found after monster fights, but without a skillful 'Thief' or 'Ninja', you'll never get that treasure without taking a big hit by a trap -- which could include not only damage, but loss of spells, dead characters, teleportation, instant monster summoning, and more. By the way, there's no animation in this game what-so-ever, so you cannot 'see' traps moving, monsters coming, or even yourselves! You see walls, floor, ceiling, doors, and the picture of any monster you're fighting....if they aren't camouflaged. You level up off of experience (like any normal RPG), but you don't actually 'level up' until you have a good night's rest at the town's Inn. And since you're characters can only hold 8 items (including equipment!) per person, you're going to be visiting town often, just to sell equipment and sleep for HP/level gains. In the end, you're supposed to power up enough (and get the required items) to be able to get the Staff of Gnilda taken to the 6th floor of the dungeon. But wait -- there's more! The PC version of this game DOES NOT INCLUDE the extra boss that the NES version has on the 6th floor. That's right, if you're good enough, and spend the years and years of leveling that it takes (and downright LUCK as well) to get the Staff of Gnilda, you'll receive the original ending, and then you'll be placed back in town, ready to go inside again and kill some boss that exists down there just to kill you. This game, like I said before, is made just to kill you.
Graphics -- Eh, you could do better...but then again, the pictures they used for the monsters are very detailed for 8-Bit graphics. In fact, the pictures of Greater Demons, Succubi, Gold Dragons, and even Orcs are very well done. So, you're getting pleasing STILL graphics to look at during your no-animation, first-person adventure. ...believe me, you're not playing this game for the eye candy -- you're playing it because you like to abuse yourself (read as: you like challenge).
Sound -- Same as above...well, maybe a touch worse. The sound fx aren't anything great....they're just average. The music, however, is pretty nice. Very low, brooding venturing music. Plus, it doesn't stick out too much, so it leaves you to think clearly about how to confront anything ahead of you. It's good background music, basically. ...once again though, you're playing this game for it's challenge.
Controls -- If you have trouble navigating menus, then don't play this game. That's all that there is in this -- navigating menus. Should I 'Fight'? 'Parry'? 'Magic'? 'Run'? ....how about 'Select a Character', 'Delete a Character', 'Inspect a Character'....? If you cannot handle this sort of stuff, then don't even bother hitting the 'Power' button. And that's all there is to the 'controls' of this game...menus.
Difficulty -- Infinite. It's SO hard, you'll cry before you hit the 2nd level. You could actually create a Mage that starts with 2 HP, and has no healing spell....and have no control over that destiny, except to delete him and try to make a better one. You could have a monster cast a single spell on you that wipes out your entire party -- and it's not one of those scenes where you're "suppossed to die"...nope, the game just hates life. You can actually have permanently DEAD characters in the game -- meaning, if they die, and are failed to be resurrected (yes, you can FAIL at casting your own curative spells!) 2 times (or just ONCE in some cases!), then it shows a tombstone for the character, and he's deleted off the game forever!! Oh, did I mention that this game AUTOSAVES after almost EVERY ACTION you take?! Yep. SO, if he dies, he dies. That's it. Period. Cry, and move on. There are special magical items that will make your character amazingly powerful! Then, if you use them again, then kill your character. Cry, and move on. So, when I say you're playing this game for 'challenge', I'm not joking. You better be a hardcore RPG player before thinking about this game.
Storyline -- Non-existant. Sure, there's a little 'cutscene' if you let the title screen sit, telling you about the story up-til-now. But that's about it. You gotta get the Staff of Gnilda (whoever you are) and return it to the city. Have fun!
Conclusion. VERY FUN, if you LOVE challenge. I took me over 8 years to beat this game. That's including little breaks in time, dead characters, pulling out the calculator in order to mathematically work out how many Murphy's Ghosts I had to kill in order to level up (in-game joke), crossing my fingers while casting Di (your 'Life' spell), exploring the monsterous mazes, etc, etc. Pick it up if you think you cannot be trumped on gaming. Turn it on, if you've got time to burn and ego to spare. Create your party, if you've got the guts to say goodbye to them at a moment's whim. Win the game, if you got the time, creativity, bull-headed-ness style required. And then, brag to no one, because unfortunately, barely anyone knows of this gaming diamond-in-the-rough.