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Various games in the Shiren The Wanderer (and Mystery Dungeon) series have been recommended to me over and over, but I’ve yet to play any of them. I likely won’t play the next, either. Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon Of Serpentcoil Island is headed to PC via Steam soon.
The Mystery Dungeon Of Serpentcoil Island is much akin to the previous games in the series. These are traditional roguelikes, in which you head into a randomised dungeon split across many floors and attempt to delve ever deeper using the resources you find along the way. It’s also got some neat online features, such as the ability to rescue or be rescued by other players should you collapse on a particular floor, so that you can continue with that character.
Serpentcoil switches up the setting, introduces somewhat rudimentary 3D graphics, and modernises the UI a little, but should otherwise be deeply familiar to anyone who has played previous games in the series.
The last Shiren game was The Tower Of Fortune And The Dice Of Fate, which you’d be forgiven for thinking was a relatively recent game, given it launched on PC and Switch in 2020. Alas, no, it first launched on Nintendo DS in Japan in 2010, and in the west for the Vita in 2016. That makes Serpentcoil Island the first new game in the series for 14 years.
Serpentcoil Island also launched on Switch back in January of this year, which means you can find out every detail about the game if you’re so inclined. It was pretty well received, with Famitsu giving it 38 out of 40.
Why won’t I play it? Because I find my patience for traditional roguelikes has lessened, these days. I might have plunged into my last procedural dungeon. Whatever appetite I do have left, I’m saving for the far more ambitious and wild Caves Of Qud, which is due a polished 1.0 release on December 5th. I do continue to enjoy listening to others wax lyrical about these games though, so if you think I’m wrongheaded and I should give Shiren his due, please pen a passionate ode in the comments.