Ravenskull is a top-down action puzzle game where the player must collect treasure pieces from the Castle Ravenskull in order to defend their village. The game was originally conceived after the authors created a new routine for hardware scrolling; when the player uses a speed scroll, the routine can be seen at full speed. Due to lower hardware specifications, the Acorn Electron version used a much smaller playing window and the speed scrolls were omitted.

The player is tasked with entering Baron Strieg's Castle Ravenskull in order to defend the village of Austberg and retrieve a stolen silver crucifix, which has been split into quarters and found on four different levels of the castle. The player may choose from one of four character types: an Adventurer, a Wizard, a Warrior or an Elf. The choice defines both the graphics for the character's player and the treasure pieces to be collected.