There have not been very many RPGs on the Amiga, and those that have been were usually "lite" RPGs with stressed action elements and graphics over stats galore.
There are several possible reasons for this: The Amiga was especially popular with European designers, while RPGs are at home in the USA and Japan. RPGs are usually map-based (I couldn't name a single exception right now), and these maps are either displayed in first person (Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Might and Magic) or in a top-down view, as first popularized in the Ultima series. But the graphic capabilities of the Amiga, which were one of its main attractions, could best be displayed in a panoramic view popular with adventure games.
But while RPGs on the Amiga may have been rare and not very hardcore, there was always something special about them. Drakkhen was the first 3D RPG, the Ishar series excelled in its graphics and fleshed-out NPCs, and The Immortal, well The Immortal was the first isometric RPG and is sometimes said to have anticipated Diablo by years.
It must be said that even by Amiga standards, The Immortal is an RPG only if you stretch the definition of this genre to its limits. It is a strictly linear (replay value is generally agreed to be zero) action-adventure with lots of puzzles and some RPG elements thrown in.
Apart from the non-existing replay value the game suffers under its high difficulty and to a certain degree under the fact that the platforms of its day were no match for the designers' graphic ambition. There is a reason that isometric view never got really popular until 640×480 resolutions became the norm (though Ultima VIII showed that color depth may be a substitute for resolution), and the font used for text messages would have required a higher resolution to look good, too. Nevertheless The Immortal is a remarkable game and has its place in gaming history.
The Immortal was available for a number of platforms. Gameplay-wise they were identical, gameplay was optimized for a joystick and didn't use a mouse. The game was obviously very popular on the Genesis, but made little impact on the Atari community.
What we have here is a combination Action RPG and Adventure game, mixing some of the more interesting aspects of both. As you control your wizard hero in this isometric world, you have to dice up, dodge, or disarm the many traps that lie in your way while trying to descend through the seven floors of the labyrinth. And trust me on that "many traps" part. This game is freakishly difficult and does not let you forget it for a moment.
I had to secretly rent and play this one so my parents wouldn't ground me. A story in the local paper deemed this one "inappropriate for all ages" due to the violent content.
A great action-oriented isometric RPG featuring cool monsters and spells, The Immortal was a hit on the Amiga but its PC version version sadly fared worse. As a young sorceror who follows his master's voice in the dream to find secrets of the Immortal, you have many spells at your disposal, including the ability to shape-shift. The levels are well-designed, with a lot of traps and many neat magical items to find and use.
Apart from the arcade action, there are puzzles to solve too, and they're not easy either. One wrong move and you're dogmeat in both circumstances and it's back to the start of the level. You don't save games; instead there are codes which are displayed at the end of every level so the next time you play you enter the code and begin at the start of the level you were on.
