Shiren The Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon Of Serpentcoil Island PC Review

The Mystery Dungeon series has seen a lot of iterations over the years, be it Pokemon, Chocobo or Dragon Quest themed, but this latest installment heralds a return for the original dungeon-crawler, Shiren The Wanderer. This port follows the Switch release from early 2024 and, if you’re unfamiliar with the series, the Mystery Dungeon games are roguelike RPGs where you explore procedurally generated dungeons, battling monsters, collecting items, and solving puzzles. Death means starting again from scratch, losing all your progress and equipment. It’s a challenging but rewarding experience that demands strategy, patience and, perhaps most importantly, a bit of luck.

There’s a really cool setup to get the adventure up and running. Shiren and his little mate Koppa, a lovable talking ferret, make their way to the titular Serpentcoil Island, and you see them engaging in combat with what appears to be the final boss. However, Shiren is struck down and wakes up in a small beach settlement with no weapons or items, back at level one and, crucially, with no recollection of the events that took place. You dust yourself off and have another crack at besting the 31 “dungeon floors” to get back to the boss, defeat him and rescue the girl that he has captive, as well as solve the true mystery behind Serpentcoil Island. The 31 floors aren’t just the standard “getting deeper into a dungeon” fare, but are instead 31 steps on a journey from the starting village, across mountains and under an ocean and up to the peak of the ominous mountain upon the isle itself. It’s a simple but nice twist on things.

As they say, preparation prevents piss-poor performance. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail, but the thing about Shiren the Wanderer is that you cannot truly prepare. You have to go with the flow and be reactive to any situation that is thrown at you by the game. It’s a game of trying your best to get by, to survive, by using the things that you find on your travels through the thirty one floors – some with obvious uses and, as is often the case, many with secret, hidden uses that can make or break a run. It has more than a fair whiff of ‘ImmSim’ about it, allowing you to take a look at the items you’ve found on any particular run and put together some kind of plan based on what you’ve picked up. It’s a game where sometimes your best laid plans can fall apart in the space of a few seconds and where using an item as a hail mary attempt to stay alive can give you the luckiest of breaks. Because of this, it’s hugely compulsive, as even as you slowly gain a foothold in the world, you don’t truly know what your next run will consist of.

And when I said earlier that you start from scratch when you die, I mean it. There’s no traditional roguelike carryover, like levels or upgrades earned. When you die, you’re back to square one and every run starts from level 1 with a total fresh start. Sure, there are ways to mitigate this harsh restart, like the ability to send weapons and items to a couple of warehouses scattered along your journey (but obviously you have to sacrifice these from your inventory during any particular run!) and the occasional shortcut route that opens up that allows you to progress quickly throughout the dungeon’s floors, but other than that, you’re essentially back to square one, albeit armed with something more important than any additional damage or health you could acquire – the gift of knowledge and what happened on your previous run. There’s a hell of a lot to learn in Shiren the Wanderer and a lot of that is going to be learned through failure. 

And eventually, you win! You beat that end boss and essentially “finish” the game. However, that’s only really the true beginning of your time with Shiren The Wanderer. Completing a run of the initial 31 floors is basically a glorified tutorial – there’s basically nothing stopping you finishing a run of this game on your first go, even if it would be extremely difficult. Once you’ve “beaten” the game, you unlock absolutely loads of new dungeons – all unique – to go wandering into, each with new items and enemies and locations and stories to go with them! There’s so much to do here, so much to learn. The first time you ‘cook’ a rice ball in your inventory by being hit by an enemies fireball attack seems so tiny and quaint once you’re elbow deep in item synthesis, chucking various items into a pot (or into the gaping maw of a rare enemy type) and seeing what crazy, potentially game-breaking combination pops out.

Another brilliant element of Shiren the Wander are the ‘rescue missions’ that you can embark upon. When you are defeated by an enemy you can put yourself up for – most of the time – up to three rescue attempts per run. During this time you cannot begin a new game or continue playing in the traditional sense, otherwise you give up your rescue attempt and have to start afresh, but should another player pick up your rescue from the list of players who are holding out for a hero and battle through the same dungeon run you were tackling, you can continue from that point. It’s another really fun and clever idea on the mountain of fun and clever ideas found in this game.

However, perhaps the only true complaint you can fire at Shiren The Wanderer is that fact that when you are awaiting rescue, you cannot start any new adventures – only play any Parallel Plays (preset seeds created by the developers, like Spelunky’s daily runs) you’ve downloaded or embark on rescues of other players and – in theory, at least – this is a cool idea because it does encourage you to actually take part in the community and rescue players, instead of just endlessly playing the main adventure mode. The problem is, in my time reviewing the game (a game that is already out and available, I should stress. There’s no ‘reviewer’s curse’ at play here!) I received a grand total of zero rescues. I even left it a good 48 hours once between play sessions and was still dead, in the dungeon, waiting for some absolute legend to come and pull me out. You CAN attempt a self-rescue, but all that consists of is replaying the same dungeon you just died in from the start, so it seems a little pointless, but it’s an option for those who really, really want to continue a run or simply do not have an internet connection available. Shiren The Wanderer is a brilliant, brilliant game but unfortunately there just doesn’t appear to be too many people actually actively playing it. Already.

Shiren the Wanderer is so mechanically dense and refined that you honestly could be playing a game with ASCII characters for visuals and it would still hold up, but the cherry on top of the cake here is that Serpentcoil Island and its inhabitants provide a really enjoyable backdrop to the constant adventuring. The game boasts a vibrant art style that blends the look of, for my money, the N64 Shiren the Wanderer title with a modern 3D look. The characters are charming and memorable, and the story, while simple, provides a compelling little backdrop for the adventure. Serpentcoil Island doesn’t drastically reinvent the Mystery Dungeon wheel, but it refines the core mechanics that make the series so beloved. The turn-based combat is as engaging as ever, requiring careful planning and utilization of your limited resources and the randomly-generated dungeons are cleverly designed, filled with traps, hidden passages and some classic monsters redesigned.

Despite the near constant struggle that you’ll find yourself up against during your time with this game, it never leaves you feeling like something is completely unsurmountable. Extremely difficult? Sure. Sometimes even borderline unfair? Absolutely, but it always feels like there’s a playful sense of humour to how you can occasionally just get chewed up and spat out by Serpentcoil Island or one of the many other dungeons. It’s a delicate tightrope to walk but it’s something that has been honed and refined by this series and related games over many years, ensuring that things constantly sit on the side of

Overall, Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is a worthy addition to the PC roguelike library. It offers a challenging and rewarding experience that will appeal to fans of the genre and, in all honestly, the biggest issue I have with this PC port is entirely down to the apparent lack of people playing it, which is hardly the fault of the game itself, which is excellent. Other than that, this PC port is well-executed, with slightly enhanced visuals over the Switch original and its bags of charm, depth, and replayability make it a must-try for any roguelike enthusiast. Whether you’re a seasoned Shiren veteran or a newcomer to the series, Serpentcoil Island is well, well worth a visit.