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You are the Rogue! Lost in the underground passageways and damp chambers of the Dungeon Lord, your one reason to stay alive is to recover the Amulet of Yendor, stolen by the Lord many years ago.

The Amulet was left behind by the ancient magicians to remind mankind of its origins. The Dungeon Lord both envied and despised the Amulet's beauty and purity, and vowed to hide it in the deepest reaches of his tortuous maze, drawing those who would seek it out to sure destruction.

So here you are, extremely lost and with an irresistible urge to delve deeper into the Dungeon Lord's domain until you have the Amulet in your grasp.

Rogue could be said to be Epyx's answer to the fast growing clutch of Gauntlet, Druid, Dandy type game one or more of which many C&VG readers, being well versed in such things, will already have played or at least seen.

The Rogue screen is divided into three main areas with a status line at the top allowing you to save/restore games etc. The largest screen section, the level map, shows a plan view full colour map of the dungeon level you are currently in. The rooms and corridors of each level will only be revealed once you have explored them by using the mouse to drag your character around. The level map can be seen in zoom which is useful when you want to get your bearings. In zoom mode, the area immediately surrounding the player is shown together with any objects or monsters that may be present. Zoom mode is best for exploration and combat.

A player's potential hit points level increases with experience (like successful combat etc), but his actual hit points level, at any one time, may be diminished by blows from an adversary, but can be restored by resting.

Along a strip at the bottom of the screen is an adventure-like dialogue window giving a commentary on your progress through the dungeons. You also get a blow-by-blow description each time you go into combat, giving you such lines as "the ice monster swings and hits you" or "You clobber the bat".

Rogue owes more than little to the original Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games but makes good use of the computer to give a graphically pleasing and well designed game.