Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island was released earlier this year on Nintendo Switch. It had a lot of good acclaim and is finally on PC.
Game Name: Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island.
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Spike Chunsoft
Publisher(s): Spike Chunsoft
Release Date: December 11th, 2024
Price: $39.99
Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island takes place on Serpentcoil Island. Shiren hears of a villain on this island due to a vision he sees. A girl is kept captive and wants Shiren to save her. Shiren being the hero that he is prepares himself and makes his way to the lair, only to be knocked out and lose his memory. Now Shiren has to find his way back with his friend Koppa. You have to traverse 30 floors inside the dungeon to reach the trapped girl. This game, like all the other Shiren the Wanderer games, is a roguelike experience where when you lose, you go back to the beginning of the dungeon without any of your items, experience, or money.
The Good
Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is extremely addicting. Each attempt at the dungeon itself ranges from bad luck and getting killed quickly, to having amazing luck that allows you to make it to the end. That said, even with amazing luck that gives you the Fuuma shield and massive strong weapons, you need to be smart with your inventory.
The game is focused on strategy. It is turn-based in a sense. Each action you do, whether it is moving on the grid, or grabbing an item near you, the enemy then moves at the same time. It is wise to use the mini-map to figure out what enemies are nearby and then use the grid to be smart on what planned actions you can do, whether it is shooting an arrow at an enemy or getting out of range of a ranged enemy.
Even if you lose, and have to restart the dungeon again, there is a lot of incentive to get back to where you were in the form of events. When you start again you will notice red exclamation marks that show up on the dungeon path. These events show more of what is going on with the factions that are on the island. After every five floors in the dungeon is a small hub with a market, inn, and a new locale for the next five floors. These hubs are usually where the events happen. Once you see them, they can change to something different the next time around.
The Bad
When you are getting constant bad luck in Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island, it is annoying for several reasons. One big reason is the locale. The first five floors of the dungeon are always the same locale, even if the placement of enemies, islands, and items are randomized. Another reason is the enemies are all the same in the beginning floors.
It takes a while to unlock all the things since the game wants you to finish the story dungeon before the other dungeons open up. This is when you can start unlocking more of the advanced features the game has going for you, also it makes it less embarrassing when you need to utilize the rescue board.
The biggest con in Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is the game is addicting. I want to constantly go through and do a small run that then turns into a long run, then makes me want to restart and do a new run that makes it a longer time. I gave myself a half hour to do a run, and by the time I realized was was going on, two hours passed.
The Verdict
Shiren The Wanderer: The Mysterious Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is a solid roguelike and shows us what a pure roguelike looks like. The only benefit of doing a new run is the experience of the previous runs and not carrying anything substantial from the previous one over. It can get annoying if luck is against you, but once you get all the moments that hit correctly it is a satisfying experience! Story content gives incentive for continuing to run at the dungeons over and over, but also the characters are great!
Shiren The Wanderer: The Mysterious Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is currently available on Nintendo Switch, but will be released on December 11th, 2024 on PC.
Review Disclosure Statement: Shiren The Wanderer: The Mysterious Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island was provided to us by Spike Chunsoft for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is a pure roguelike experience. It also is a very addicting roguelike experience.
Pros
- Can take up a lot of your gaming time because it’s fun.
- The story elements add more incentive to attempt more runs.
- Finishing dungeons feels satisfying
Cons
- Luck plays a huge part.
- The first few floors are boring after the fifth run.
