Relics is an action-adventure game where you play as a spirit who possesses different characters to progress through the game. You appear at underwater ruins and there's no explanation as to why you became a spirit or what you need to do. In fact, you will only find out about the story when you see the real ending. There is no music in the game apart from the opening and the real ending, and the graphic style is compared to the works of H. R. Giger. Depending on the body possessed, you will get different skills and attacks and the game offers multiple endings depending on the player's actions. There was also a Famicom port developed, but it changes the gameplay fundamentally. The game spawned 2 sequels a decade later.