Possibly you’ve got performed a Thriller Dungeon sport like Pokémon Rescue, or the Ultimate Fantasy Chocobo one. They’re fairly good, proper? Now, what if I advised you that there is one thing else on the market that predates all of those wonderful video games and is simply pretty much as good, if not higher? And: what if that collection was nonetheless chugging alongside to this present day, quietly kicking ass with out the assistance of common licensed properties?
I communicate, in fact, of Shiren the Wanderer, Spike Chunsoft’s roguelike the place feudal Japan meets fantasy. A few of you might be already protesting as a result of you realize all about Shiren, however the actuality is that the idea as a complete is not that common. Essentially the most profitable Thriller Dungeon video games are the licensed ones, which have bought hundreds of thousands of copies, whereas the newest Shiren sport did not even break half one million gross sales. That sport, which launched in 2024, bought higher than all of the earlier entries mixed. Allow us to simply say that, for those who do know of Shiren the Wanderer you’re a connoisseur of style.
For everybody else, let’s put it this manner: Shiren the Wanderer: The Thriller Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is my most-played sport on the Swap 2. Granted, a part of this is because of the truth that the Swap 2 does not actually have a ton of video games but. However even within the face of video games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, nothing on that platform has been capable of maintain my consideration in addition to Shiren the Wanderer.
In it, you play a roving ronin who has adventures alongside a speaking ferret. You are plonked right into a randomly generated dungeon the place nothing strikes till you do. Each step you’re taking, the monsters on the earth additionally take motion. Already, the bottom idea requires a shift in strategic considering: it is turn-based, but additionally sort of not. Generally it is a greater choice to not transfer in any respect and let enemies come to you than it’s to take the offensive.
Actually, you need to strategy Shiren video games with quite a lot of care and deliberation. Each run begins with Shiren at degree one and 0 gear. You need to choose stuff up alongside the best way, and what you discover is totally random. Generally you may undergo a number of areas with nothing however a picket sword, and generally you may discover unbelievable gear, like weapons that assault round corners or allow you to take two actions directly. However regardless of how good your objects are, it’s extremely straightforward to get right into a harmful state of affairs, even amid lowly enemies. Shiren is tougher than your typical Thriller Dungeon sport, which is likely to be a part of the rationale it is not as common.
OK, so, it is troublesome. However the cause you need to play it’s this: Shiren the Wanderer can be probably the most permissive video games you may ever expertise. Objects can be utilized in all types of surprising methods, and the one actual restrict is whether or not you are intelligent sufficient to consider the answer. Surrounded? You would take some fundamental actions, like consuming the consumable that can plop you someplace random within the dungeon. Or perhaps you pull out the wand that can swap the place of you and a faraway enemy. Possibly you utilize the merchandise that allows you to break down partitions to create a path ahead that wasn’t there earlier than. Maybe you trick all of the monsters on the ground into considering that one in every of their fellow creatures is definitely you. My favourite: consuming the kind of meals that turns Shiren’s farts so rancid, all the things in your neighborhood runs away.
Initially, you will not know what number of of Shiren’s objects work. Even those that sound self-explanatory will discover a method to screw you: for those who use consumables that create standing results, you would possibly unintentionally give Shiren the ailment and never your opponent; what you needed to do was throw the merchandise at your rival. Equally, there is a scroll that stops monsters from stepping past its boundaries, however you may waste it for those who select to learn the scroll relatively than place it on the bottom. You’d suppose many of those nuances are straightforward to recollect when you encounter them, however you may nonetheless discover a method to screw up. As soon as, I used to be flying excessive and cruising by means of lots of the sport’s preliminary dungeons, solely to lose all of it in seconds. I had unintentionally used the scroll that turns any merchandise into an onigiri on my highly effective weapon, and I had nothing else to switch it. One other time, I used to be in a dungeon the place each single object was unknown till I both used it or recognized it. I used to be having luck simply utilizing all the things as I went alongside, till I made the deadly mistake of hitting a small-time enemy with the precise consumable that turned it invincible. There was nothing I might do however die.
You may spend quite a lot of time dying in Shiren. Enemies have all types of skills, like ones that make you drop your objects or powers that flip you into an object that may’t actually do something for a number of turns. There are additionally particular hellish areas referred to as monster rooms, the place the sport will all of a sudden spawn a ton of enemies in a small space that is helpfully additionally stuffed with traps. By the way, these areas are all the time stuffed with improbable objects.
Like many roguelikes, the most effective quiver in your arsenal is data itself. However the sport additionally provides some mechanics that may enable you alongside the best way. It is attainable, for instance, to fuse completely different weapons or shields collectively to get one merchandise with the entire earlier powers mixed. For those who handle to clear a run, you may additionally be capable of retailer any of the objects exterior a dungeon, to be used subsequent time. You possibly can top off on good objects this manner, however the kicker is that it is equally attainable to lose an merchandise that you just spent a number of runs crafting into one thing highly effective, and it will doubtless occur within the silliest method attainable.
One in all my favourite points of the sport is the precise rescue portion of it. Do you have to die, the sport permits you to put up an SOS on-line that different gamers can reply. It’s also possible to select to avoid wasting ‘your self’ with a brand new run; as soon as your new run reaches the identical depth because the final run and also you clear the monsters, you possibly can proceed the earlier playthrough from that time ahead. The largest incentive to serving to others is which you could win factors to spend by yourself rescue runs and make your subsequent Shiren barely extra succesful. Meaning if an unbelievable run involves an finish, you continue to have the opportunity of saving it. Shout out to this one Japanese participant who has repeatedly saved my Shiren from the stupidest conditions attainable. I would fall asleep feeling unhappy about my run and get up to the information that this nameless hero had as soon as once more saved the day.
I am effectively over 100 hours into the 2024 entry, and the sport continues to shock me. It by no means will get previous; as an alternative, Shiren regularly introduces new varieties of dungeons and nuances. A few of these particular dungeons help you carry your outfitted objects, whereas others pressure you to start out from scratch. Maybe you tackle the boss rush mode, or the one the place outlets seem on almost each ground. Possibly you enlist the assistance of AI buddies, or perhaps you go at it solo. The sport itself will randomly introduce short-term circumstances that maintain you in your toes as effectively. Challenges like being prompted to make use of a selected sort of merchandise a sure variety of occasions earlier than you allow the ground, or all of a sudden spawning a ton of cash that disappears after a set period of time, maintain the gameplay feeling recent. Critically, there’s all the time a reward for taking part in together with regardless of the sport has tasked you to do.
I am begging you, please play Shiren the Wanderer. Not solely might I exploit extra individuals to rescue my poor Shiren from a decent spot, however the collection deserves extra love as a complete. The final Shiren sport earlier than this one was launched almost 15 years in the past in Japan, and I would love to have the ability to play the subsequent one earlier than I hit center age. It is $39.99 on Swap, and an ideal expertise for on-the-go gaming. It is the identical value on PC, and it appears to go on sale extra on Steam than different platforms. Nice information for these of you with a Steam Deck! For those who already like different Thriller Dungeon video games, you owe it to your self to examine Shiren out.
