Descpription:
A player may control either Thor the Warrior, Merlin the Wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie or Questor
the Elf. The hero being controlled is dictated by the player's position on the cabinet.
(There is only one of each hero.) Each hero has a unique specialty/advantage: The Warrior
is strongest in hand-to-hand combat, the Wizard has the strongest magic, the Valkyrie
has the greatest armour and the Elf is the fastest in movement.
Players must cooperate to traverse the perils of a dungeon via a top-down view. The game has
no actual goal. The only way to stop playing is to either die, or wait for the health timer
to go down to zero. The NES version does, however, have an end (after 100 levels).
The players traverse the dungeon levels controlling their assigned heroes, attacking
monsters and collecting treasure, food, and potions. The monsters of the first
Gauntlet game included ghosts, grunts, demons, lobbers, sorcerers, and thieves.
Each kind of monster was generated in specific houses spread in each level. A
special enemy, "Death", was able to drain the life force of the four heroes.
The players must cooperate by sharing food and luring monsters into places
where they can be engaged and slaughtered more conveniently.
The heroes continuously lose health during gameplay, regardless of what they are doing — even if they are just standing still.
