Ahriman's Prophecy is a nostalgic trip back to old-school RPG immersion (in the tradition of such greats as Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger), with a few new-school additions. You start the game as Talia, a young girl who is not yet aware she is about to be sent on a quest to save the world from total annihilation. You will meet interesting characters along the way, who may or may not be coerced into helping you on your journey.

The story, though typical of many RPGs, is nevertheless rich, with a modern-day sense of irony and a painstaking attention to detail. Many of the quests are amusing, but can be thoroughly frustrating due to the game's complexity and somewhat non-linear open-endedness. You can easily forget what you were originally trying to accomplish by getting distracted by exploration and side quests.

The graphics are typical tile-based RPG engine fare (RPG Tsukuru 2003), but the tiles are highly detailed, and the map designs are rich and beautiful. The anime-style character shots are a nice touch and overall, the game's graphics are rolex replicas of professional quality.

One of the more impressive aspects of Ahriman's Prophecy is the sound. The game uses modern looped tracks that blow old MIDI tracks away. The music really draws you in, but even more important to note is the use of looped "ambient" tracks which incorporate typical forest and city "noise" in such a way that it almost seems as if you really were in the middle of a busy town square or taking a hike in a majestic forest.

One drawback to Ahriman's Prophecy is the fighting system. The game uses a real-time fighting system, so no random battles... so far, so good. Unfortunately, the real-time battles are ridiculously unbalanced, especially at the beginning of the game - getting killed in one hit by a field mouse can be really embarrassing. Unless you're seasoned in the art of power levelling, this game can seriously get on your nerves, as having to fight a billion "newbie" monsters in order to reach the point when you can walk around somewhat safely in the next area can quickly become annoying. If you spend enough time building up your characters it gets better later on, but it involves a lot of patience getting there. Thankfully, to address this issue, Amaranth Games has provided downloadable "Goodies" which allow players who just want to get on with the story to start with beefed-up characters.

The other small issue with this game is the way menu navigation is handled. Ahriman's Prophecy is a keyboard-driven game, and this can make navigating through character and item menus a bit tedious after a while. However, in the game's favor, there are some nice features, such as being able to play in fullscreen or windowed mode (press "F4" to toggle between).

All in all, Ahriman's Prophecy is an excellent game, with gorgeous sound and graphics and an immersive storyline. I would definitely recommend it to any hardcore fantasy RPG fan. Be sure to check out the available Player's Guides at Amaranth's website if you need help figuring out controls, or just need a hint to keep you going in the game's storyline.