This post and a few more that'll follow will serve as an informal "manual" of Exiled Kingdoms. The wiki is certainly an exhaustive reference about everything in the game, but it does not "break down" the game for you as a new player. I hope to help a little with that.
The first contact with the game mechanics is, of course, character creation. However this is deliberately a fairly simple process; the player must choose a Class, distribute four Trait Points and assign one Skill Point. While I do love complex RPG systems with dozens of classes and hundreds of spells, the idea behind this simple setup is not forcing the player to make uninformed choices when all the game mechanics are still unknown. The options to endlessly customize your character will unfold later on.
The big choice
The Character Class is the single most important thing to define during character creation. It will make the game entirely different for you; each class is really unique and has different challenges and advantages. Certainly you can later on specialize your character many different ways within the same class, but important things like the wearable equipment is defined by class, as well as the base Health and Mana and their increments per level.
Each class offers eight basic skills, which can make your character play very differently. Later on will come the Advanced Skills learned from trainers across the world, but for now you don't need to concern yourself with that...
A brief introduction of the four classes may help you choose which one may suit better your gameplay style:
Warrior: likely the easiest and more straightforward class to play. High survivability, plenty of gear choices, and several skills that can harm more than one enemy at the same time. If you're unsure on what to play, a Warrior with the Whirlwind skill is a solid start.
Rogue: more fragile than the Warrior and with less equipment choices, the rogue relies in his skills to survive. Once mastered it can be far more formidable due to his insane damage output. A good first skill to try is Stab, as it can easily one-shot low level enemies.
Cleric: It has a relatively easy start if you pick the Heal Wounds skill, but later on requires careful skill choice to be up to the high level challenges. The cleric is a melee figther, but it is a common mistake to try to play it as a 'warrior that heals'. It is much more than that!
Mage: at the same time the most powerful and the hardest to play. In the early and mid levels your character is little more than an apprentice, struggling to survive. But later on... it really makes up for the hard beginning. Lightning Bolt is a good initial skill choice.
... and another fateful decision to make
You are also asked to define a difficulty level for the new game. This can NOT be changed later on, and Exiled Kingdoms is a real challenge so don't hesitate to go with Casual Difficulty if you are unsure; despite the name, it is still no joke.
This game doesn't just "look" like the classics, it also shares the challenge level of the old games. Victory is not just a matter of spending enough time, you have to earn it the good, old way. Some fights are designed to be almost impossible, until you realize the importance of certain items or potions for an encounter in particular. And there is no regeneration except in Casual difficulty, so your ability to go deep into dungeons or dangerous areas will depend on your ability to avoid damage. If you explore carelessly and lose Health to every goblin and wolf, you'll end up depleted and returning to the town too often.
Unlike in other games, if you are surrounded by 3 or 4 enemies you will die very quickly. Remember, in Exiled Kingdoms you can play a hero, but not a superhero.
Your adventure begins (and if you are not careful, ends just as quickly)
Pay attention to the few tutorial messages in the first area of the game. It's vital information that can make your life much easier later on!
This tutorial area is the only "linear" part of the game; don't worry too much about its outcome as your real adventure begins right after that.
Exiled Kingdoms is truly an open world, but beware what you explore and when. A few encounters will vary slightly in level related to the player, but the majority of the world challenges and rewards are not level-scaled at all. This means you can run into a high level monster if you walk into the wrong place... even at level 1. Luckily, there is an universal solution for that situation: Run away! You will be able to outrun most creatures, taking just a hit here and there. There's no shame in surviving to fight another day.
The final piece of advice is simple enough: complete as many quests as possible. In theory, you don't need to "grind" to reach the high levels and complete the game. However, this means that sometimes you'll have to leave "unfinished businesses" in an area and seek easier quests and challenges elsewhere. Some players obsess over "clearing" completely each geographical region before moving onto another, and that is why they end up grinding too much. This is truly an open world and nothing must tie your character to a particular place.