In the fantasy land of Thurania, Alex, a 8 years-old grandchild of a magician, watches in wonderment as his grandfather teaches him about the talisman, a floating magic stone. Suddenly, their city is invaded by demons. Alex is kidnapped by the cave-dwelling Golans, leaving his slayed grandfather behind. Ten years later, Alex, now a young man, must retrieve the magic stone to defeat the demons that killed his loved ones.

Talisman is a German point-and-click adventure with a fantasy plot. Is has 2D backgrounds and real-time 3D characters, something rare for the time of its release (1995).

Clicking objects and hotspots on the screen opens a scroll with verb icons. This list of verbs is context-sensitive, they change according to the object. Usually it displays a magnifying lens for "look", a hand for "use", and a chest for "take". Some objects have a candle to "ignite", doors have a "open" icon, and so on.

The inventory is always visible at the bottom of the screen. As the number of objects increase, it can be scrolled down with the right-side arrows.

Clicking in one of the characters initiate dialog, with a list of questions at the bottom replacing the inventory temporally. The main character can't move freely on the screen, he only goes from hotspot to hotspot. To make him leave a room, the player has to click on an exit and select the "exit" icon.