Lord of the Balrogs is a role-playing game with graphical elements as you control five members of a party to find and destroy The Evil Lord, inside a Fortress in the Forest of Zorg guarded by Balrogs. The Evil Lord is planning to send a vast army out of the Forest and seize the Fair Land and send it into eternal darkness. Your party is made up of five different characters and they are a Warrior, Amazon, Hobbit, Cleric and a Sorcerer with each one being named by yourself and each one having a different level of health. The only way to have the power to destroy The Evil Lord is to find six sacred relics scattered around all six levels of the Fortress with other treasures to be find as well.

The game is viewed from above with just the corridor you are standing in and the exits you can move along shown and when you move, your previous location disappears into the darkness. If you find the Lamp of Daybright then any previous locations you have visited stay on the screen. Using the keyboard, you type in one letter commands to interact with your surroundings with anything of interest described with text. On your travels you will encounter various creatures and you can select a member of your party to fight with the selected character and the creature taking it in turns to fight until one is dead. Magic can be used in combat if the correct character is selected. Chests will also be discovered and when opened, reveals various foodstuffs which can either heal or poison you but the only way to find out is to feed on the item. Each character's health can be increased when a wand is found and if a chalice is found then a dead member of your party can be brought back to life.