Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review
The decades-old Shiren the Wanderer series is famous for being bluntly unforgiving, and The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is no exception to that intimidating rule. I'm dumped into a randomised dungeon and expected to fend for myself using nothing more than whatever I find lying around on the floor, the stairs to the next level only promising more of the same pain. A monster strolls into the room, one tile at a time, and I freeze, carefully considering every step and sword swing I can make before I act.
What is it? An irresistibly tough roguelike packed with charm
Release date December 11, 2024
Expect to pay £34.99 / $39.99
Developer Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
Publisher Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
Reviewed on: Intel i9-13900HX, RTX 4090 (laptop), 32GB RAM
Steam Deck Unknown
Multiplayer? No
Link Official website
It's tense and unpredictable. Learning how to improvise is a necessity, especially as I can't guarantee when, where, or even if vital equipment will turn up. Spells rarely do something as simple as hurt the enemy ahead, and deadly traps could be hiding under any and every inch of the floor. Any mistake or careless slip could (will) quickly spiral into an unrecoverable disaster, and that would mean I'd lose everything, every item, weapon, and even my stats, and have to start over from the first floor. Again.
The odd thing is Shiren doesn't feel merciless in practice. It's more like trying to juggle chainsaws on horseback. If—if—everything goes my way and I don't blink, or sneeze, or breathe at the wrong time, then I'll have pulled off the greatest trick ever.
The first few floors cover simple concepts like attacking and diagonal movement in concise popups, keywords can be clicked on at any time (making it easy to find the answer to questions like «What the heck is the 'empathetic' status and do I want it?»), and the Monster Dojo back in the first village is a training ground and safe experimental sandbox all rolled into one. I love being able to pop in
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