The gameplay is typical Roguelike, played from a top-down perspective. You gain experience levels (resulting in higher hit points and battle skills) as you kill monsters, and finding new spells and magical items is key to success. The game introduced many features that have been superseded by newer Roguelikes like ADOM, but were very innovative for their time. For example, each level of the dungeon is randomly generated. Every time you enter a new level, you enter an entirely new layout with treasures, monsters, traps, gold, and the temple at a different location. There are many kinds of monsters, some smarter than others. There are hidden treasures, and several kinds of traps. Once a Pit Trap has been sprung, you can use it to climb down to the next level. You can also bait stupid monsters to fall in, if you timing is good enough. You can recuperate faster inside temples, which is also where you can offer gold to the gods in exchange for experience points, The list of fun features goes on and on.

Sword of Fargoal may not look like much now, but it was one of the great, largely forgotten milestones in Roguelike games. It's a lot of fun, and provides a great adrenaline rush when that countdown starts after you get the sword and must get the hell out ;) Two thumbs up, way up.