As such, Tunnel & Trolls: Crusaders of Khazan's design was done in the US, then sent to Japan, where the game was programmed. This can be immediately noticed in the unusual mouse-driven interface, similar to early Japanese graphical operational systems.

Overall the game plays mostly like an Ultima clone, with various cities, a large overworld, turnbased combat and a customisable four-character party. What truly sets it apart is the presence of countless Choose Your Own Adventure-like events, most taken directly from T&T's solo adventure game books.

Instead of having interactive NPCs, the game is filled with countless text-heavy encounters and events where you can pick one of many options, leading to vastly different outcomes; from a nice reward to instant death – some may even change depending on your race, class, stats and/or known languages!

However, while events are well-written and offer many role-playing opportunities, far too often a blind choice will wipe your party – for example, ignoring a castaway's plea for help can lead to an impossible battle against a horde of angry water elementals.

To make matters worse, enemies scale to your level in an unfair way. If there's a dragon blocking your way and you decide to grind a few more levels, chances are next time you'll face three dragons instead.

To survive you'll have to save after almost every step, because any harmless-looking empty square nearby may actually contain a deadly trap, ambush or event that can take you to the Game Over screen.

It's a shame, but these annoying issues ended up dooming what's otherwise an intriguing game. The excellent CYOA-like events set it apart from any other CRPG of the time (and even of today), but only those willing to endure a frustrating difficulty and many, many reloads will get to enjoy them.