Stats are rolled and unrolled to determine Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

The only exception is the Strength stat, which affects carrying capacity, indirectly influencing the speed of level gain.

The lengthy, combat free prologue is represented by a set of progress bars, each accompanied by a line of text describing, among other things, the "foreboding vision" the character has.

With each group of monsters "executed" the quest progress bar will advance one step; once it is filled it will be reset and the player awarded either with a magic item, a piece of equipment or a stats upgrade including the learning or leveling of a spell.

The latter three are still open, but Knoram, Expodrine, and Oobag were permanently closed to the creation of new characters upon the arrival of Pemptus, which launched on February 8, 2007.

Progress Quest parodies the stat-gathering aspect of role-playing video games, in which the player advances their character by accumulating arbitrary statistic points.

[3] One particular upgrade added shaded bars to the screen, which caused some players to refer to the new version as Progress Quest 3D.

Fake "Progress Quest" screenshots from other games, obscure 3D RPGs, helped spread this rumour.

[6][7] Reviewer Nick Hide compared this with other MMORPGs in which players persevere through dull tasks, just to level up or obtain a new item, owing to an emotional attachment with the character.