A fully voiced intro with animated graphics sets up the backstory. Twelve years ago, a horde of orcs appeared and, to counter the threat, the kingdoms of Lanathor united under the banner of warchief Ustfa Nelor and his elite Disciples of Steel. Although they drove off the hordes, it was a Pyrrhic victory, as few Disciples survived, and they all disappeared on the return journey. The game casts the player as Nelor's step-son, encouraged by a mysterious sorceress to reform the Disciples and destroy evil for good.

You start by creating a party of eight characters. For most of its mechanics, the developers were heavily inspired by SSI's Wizard's Crown (1985). The similarities exist in the types of races (human, dwarf, elf, half-elf, gnome, halfling, ogre, and troll) and classes (Warrior, Knight, Priest, Mage, Illusionist, Rogue, Monk, Ranger, and Blacksmith), their associated skills and the basic mechanisms of magic and combat.

Thus, combat is wonderfully tactical. It takes place on a top-down grid full of enemies and obstacles, with characters acting in order of initiative and possessing a huge number of actions – moving, attacking, casting, scanning the battlefield, equipping items, hiding, picking up items, performing first aid, aiming to improve the chance of hitting the next round, etc. The several dozen spells divided among the game's three spell-casting classes – all of which give you the ability to adjust the number of points channelled into them only add to the tactical options.

Then there's a myriad of other nuances – weapons and armour can take damage and break; weight and encumbrance greatly affect combat ability; individual body parts can be injured and must be treated separately from hit points, etc. Moreover, buying and selling items is governed by a complex bargaining system, and the economy itself is far more advanced than other RPGs.