n the game, the player controls a warrior who explores numerous dungeon levels in search of the legendary "Sword of Fargoal" artifact. The levels become progressively harder to survive as the player descends deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Each dungeon is covered in complete darkness that illuminates as the dungeon rooms and corridors are explored. When the Sword successfully found, a clock countdown begins where the player must successfully escape the dungeon before the time expires, or the Sword is lost.
The warrior gains character levels, (similar to the classic Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game), by gaining experience points which increases the character's fighting ability and hit points, (called Hits), as they progress through the dungeon. There are several items in the dungeon that help the character which can be found in treasure chests or on slain adversaries.
Combat in the game is controlled by the computer and the player has no control over how well or how bad their warrior fights. A warrior can flee an attack at anytime, unless they fall victim to a sneak attack (which is when a monster engages in combat before the warrior has a chance to move). The only escape from a sneak attack is by using a Teleport spell.
The warrior can move freely about the dungeon, whereas monsters take intermittently timed steps. Their movement increases in speed the deeper the dungeon goes until they move just as fast as the warrior. [source:wikipedia]