Hiōden is a strategy game with RPG elements. The player navigates several teams of characters, mostly monsters (up to six in each team) through isometric environments. Sometimes cooperation between different player-controlled teams is required to advance. The game plays in real time, i.e. enemy parties also move and perform actions without waiting for player's input. The RPG angle is present in form of character levels - characters grow stronger after defeating enemies. It is possible to put the teams on "auto-mode", having some of them move and perform actions on their own.

The game has a mouse-driven interface with a somewhat unusual feature for its time: windows. The movement field of different teams, character statistics, overview map, team management screen - everything has its own window. It is possible to enlarge any window to full screen, close it, open several small windows at the same time, and drag windows to arrange them on the screen in any way.