Most of Risky Woods involves Rohan running, jumping ledges and fighting monsters while freeing the monks from stone. At every third stage lay a boss, usually some gigantic floating insect that throws fireballs. Both the monsters in the levels as well as these insect bosses drop coins, though bosses drop considerably more. These coins can be used after each level to buy weaponry upgrades and extra life energy.
During the game, a number of other elements present themselves, such as evil monks who were also trapped in stone. Freeing them will cost you and even hurt you; they can be distinguished from regular stone monks by how their stone looks. However, some later levels switch which monks are trapped in what color of statue, which can be quite disorienting at first.