You explore a large city (64x64 squares) through a small first person window in the centre of the screen, using either keyboard or joystick. Unlike Wizardry and Bard's Tale, which used relatively simple 3D views which “jumped” as you moved to each map square, Alternate Reality provided full-colour textured walls which scrolled smoothly by as your character moved from one map square to another.

Combine that with other graphical effects such as numerous sprite animations, day-and-night cycle, rain and flashes of lightning and you have a game which was graphically and aurally way ahead of its peers. It made use of the Atari 8-bit unique strengths to achieve some special effects, such as maximising the number of colours on-screen, that programmers found challenging to port to other computers later on. It's elaborate opening sequence (almost 5 minutes long and with a theme song), movie-style credits and careful sync of sound and image were novel features which only became common many years later.

The music by Gary Gilbertson is memorable and well employed. There's a variety of songs for special locations and events – including a Game Over song with lyrics appearing on-screen. During encounters, the type of music can be used to determine the nature of the encounter and how hostile it is likely to be.

With the absence of any defined quests within The City, your goals are simply to develop a character with powerful stats, obtain high-quality equipment and amass sufficient wealth so that you may have a chance to survive in future scenarios. This is done through encountering the city's inhabitants and defeating them in combat, though wealth can also be increased through the use of variable-rate bank accounts – although a higher interest rate also means there is a higher risk of you losing your money!