The Shiren series of roguelikes has consistently maintained its high level of quality throughout each iteration including the previously released Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate (Switch/Vita). Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island follows this lineage with both a high level of quality and a ridiculously long name.
If you have not played a Shiren game before, you should because they are good, but you should probably have a general idea of the type of game is this. In short, you are going to die. A lot. And each time you die, you restart from the beginning with nothing, other than the knowledge you gain to not die that way in future runs. This is a roguelike and Shiren is one of the best.
There are a couple new stand out features in comparison to previous entries. The most obvious is the visual presentation. Instead of detailed 2D pixel-based sprites, Serpentcoil Island now sports 3D polygons. Although it still remains the cutesy, colorful aesthetic, I still prefer the sprite-based look. Make no mistake, this is not a bad looking game. I just personally would rather enjoy the 2D-based visuals especially when this title has gameplay that can easily entertain for dozens of hours.
Another major new addition is the Rescue option. Normally, when you die, that is it. Back to the beginning to try again. However, death necessarily isn’t the end in this sequel. Instead, players have the ability to rescue players that have collapsed so they can continue at the point of death. Granted, there are some checks and balances to avoid breaking the game, like having a limited amount of rescue attempts or having un-rescued corpses turning into monsters to fight later. The Parallel Play feature essentially let’s players take control of the ghost data of your run, something dedicated fans should also appreciate.
Quality of life features have also been added. For example, steps can now be tracked on the mini-map, a hotbar is available to quickly assign items, and a dash move let’s you sprint through dungeons at great speed. There are even new display options to allow for all game data, such as available inventory and character stats, to be visible at all times. Streamers and more serious players will want to explore these options.
Over the last few years, numerous roguelikes have been released each week on all game marketplaces. In fact, I have grown exhausted of this overused genre years ago because it seems like every other game released is some type of die-and-try-again (this, or simulators. So many friggin’ simulators). However, Shiren is the bright spot even if exhausted of this over extended genre. While the overall design and presentation has a lot to do with the higher level of quality, I think Shiren stands out thanks to its enemy and item variety. After the end of most encounters, the player is often rewarded with an item of some kind. These items might offer buffs, debuffs, or straight up attacks. The difference here though, the game wants you to use all these collected items. Since there are so many available at any given time, using the standard attack is usually not the best course of action. The game encourages the using of items because many of them expire in a short amount of time too. Learning what each item does and how they are best used determines the success of each run. Unlike RPGs, in which it is easy to stockpile items you’ll never use, Shiren does the exact opposite. If you do not use the wealth of items, and use them properly, you will not survive for long. Item experimentation is what makes each run entertaining and a learning experience.
Shiren remains the gold standard of dungeon roguelikes. From the whimsical story and visual presentation, to the depth of combat and gameplay options, Serpentcoil Island is not only a quality sequel, it is one of the better roguelike dungeon crawlers available… which says a lot since there were at least six other rogue titles released in the past week.
SCORE: 8/10
Not As Good As: most other roguelikes
Better Than: playing another subpar roguelike
Wait For It: the next inevitable Pokemon Dungeon sequel
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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