Published , by Lucas White
Published , by Lucas White
Despite roguelikes coming into vogue in the past decade or so, Mystery Dungeon has never received the flowers it deserves. Pokemon certainly helped bring mindshare to Chunsoft’s distinct take on hardcore dungeon-crawling, but it’s still been an uphill battle for visibility and acknowledgement. Still, niche support has kept the series alive and (for the most part) localized, with Chunsoft’s original character Shiren the Wanderer trucking along to the tune of six core games. The latest, Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island (Shiren 6), came out earlier this year exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. Now it’s on PC, and that’s a perfect opportunity to implore RPG fans to not miss one of my favorite hidden gems of 2024.
What does Shiren, or Mystery Dungeon as a whole, bring to the roguelike table? These games offer a very specific interpretation of console roguelike, emerging back on the Super Famicom and sticking to those roots while iterating and innovating. The basics are turn-based movement and actions, unpredictable items, and mystery around every corner. Toylike visual charm and a friendly tone that massages the pain of failure help wrap the package up with a nice bow that makes these games oddly pleasant despite their unforgiving difficulty.
Shiren the Wanderer is the ultimate juxtaposition between difficulty and charm. Shiren as a character is a simple silent adventurer, but is always joined by his adorable pal Koppa the talking ferret. These two buddies love getting into trouble wherever they go, and run into all kinds of oddball characters and high stakes scenarios. While Shiren and his friends have an inherent silliness to them, the Mystery Dungeons are no joke; falling in battle or tripping the wrong trap sends Shiren back to the beginning, losing not only his items and money but all equipment and experience. Unlike Pokemon or Chocobo Mystery Dungeon, Shiren sends you back to square one in almost every way.
Serpentcoil Island is particularly hard-nosed in this regard, shaving off many gameplay and meta-progression gimmicks that cluttered up the last couple Shiren entries. It’s possible to find ways to circumvent the total reset upon losing, but they’re hard to come by and far from bullet-proof. This is a back to basics Mystery Dungeon that has more in common with the Super Famicom originals than the more recent entries, such as the well-received (but too busy for its own good) Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate (Shiren 5). But it’s not rigidly about facing an impossible challenge and beating the odds.
The cool thing about Serpentcoil Island is that it expects you to fail, and wants you to know it’s no big deal. In fact, you aren’t just rewarded for finally reaching the end of the Island’s 30-floor challenge. You’re rewarded for reaching milestones and making discoveries, with failures often resulting in unlocking a new system, meeting new characters, or finding alternate paths or different challenges. Some of those new characters can even join you on your journey, and these friends actually retain their levels across runs, giving you a slight leg up on your seemingly endless struggle without trivializing your own efforts.
Another great piece of the Shiren 6 pie is how the experience is far from over when you roll credits. There are more dungeons, more characters, and even more pieces of the story to uncover in a massive postgame. A DLC pack, which came months after the Switch version came out but is available at launch with the PC version, adds even more, offering not only new dungeons but alternative playable characters. You can even play as Koppa, which rules. There’s a ton of game on offer, and for a budget-friendly price.
At one point, it seemed like Shiren was in trouble, especially since the last game had a hard time finding a prosperous home. The PlayStation Vita wasn’t going to help Shiren find a new audience, to say the least. But it eventually came to the Switch and PC via Steam, helping make Serpentcoil Island a possibility. Launching exclusively on Switch isn’t as problematic as a PlayStation exclusivity in 2024, but performance was an issue. A shift from the previous game’s 2D style to 3D came with a risk the Switch version would be hit with some performance and resolution issues, and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened. It’s not a horrible experience, but it’s fuzzy and a little jittery.
Now on Steam, Serpentcoil Island is running on all cylinders. It looks great, with the clarity of 1080p giving life to all the little details that were hard to make out earlier, such as the wear and tear and stickers on Shiren’s hat. The frame rate is perfectly smooth as well, making the moment to moment movement feel a lot better. Even though Shiren is turn-based, having everything be tight and responsive makes things like aiming diagonal movement and running around hub areas feel so much better. And since this isn’t a demanding game by any means, you don’t lose the portable appeal of a game like this if you have a Steam Deck or other handheld PC in your collection. I prefer playing on ROG Ally, as the front-facing speakers make Serpentcoil Island’s excellent soundtrack stand out with clarity.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island isn’t just another game in its series. There’s nothing else like Mystery Dungeon to begin with, but this is easily one of the best. There’s a back to basics approach to the fundamentals that make Mystery Dungeon’s charm and challenge sing, and help the few additional systems stand out and breathe. The toylike visuals shine bright and clear on a powerful, high resolution platform, although the Switch version is still a totally solid option. If you’re into roguelikes but somehow missed the latest Shiren adventure earlier this year, don’t close out 2024 without giving it a shot.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is available on the Nintendo Switch and PC. A code for the PC version was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this article.